Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

“Kwaito” Music Moves South African Youth
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
06 Jul 2020
🖨️ Print Article

Margaret Kimberley · “Kwaito” Music Moves South African Youth

Xavier Livermon, professor of African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, sees “many parallels” between the US-based Hip Hop phenomenon and the Kwaito music beloved by young South Africans. LIvermon is author of the book, “Kwaito Bodies: Remastering Space and Subjectivity in Post-Apartheid South Africa.” Livermon doesn’t see Kwaito as purely commercial and self-commodification. “South African youth play with and engage the system,” he said, “but also push back against it.”

South Africa

Related Podcasts

BAR Radio
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Report October 2, 2026
02 October 2026
In this week’s segment we hear about the right-wing politics of the anti-migrant movement in South Africa, ANC failures, and upcoming elections in
South Africa anti-immigration march
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
South Africa's "March and March" Collaborates with Right Wing Afrikaners
02 October 2026
Our guest is Nairobi based political writer and strategist Clinton Nzala.
BAR Radio Logo
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Radio July 17, 2026
17 July 2026
In this week’s segment, we discuss the Supreme Court ruling that ends Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian immigrants.

More Stories


  • Liberalism & Fascism: The Good Cop & Bad Cop of Capitalism
    Gabriel Rockhill
    Liberalism & Fascism: The Good Cop & Bad Cop of Capitalism
    21 Oct 2020
    Fascist modes of governance are a very real and present part of the so-called liberal world order.
  • Reformism Isn’t Liberation, It’s Counterinsurgency
    Dylan Rodríguez
    Reformism Isn’t Liberation, It’s Counterinsurgency
    21 Oct 2020
    You can’t abolish systemic anti-Blackness and racial-colonial violence by protecting the system itself.
  • Letters from Our Readers
    Jahan Chowdhry, BAR Comments Editor
    Letters from Our Readers
    21 Oct 2020
    This week Third World unity, police brutality in Democrat-run cities and the failures of the presidential debates were on your minds.
  • BAR Book Forum: Yarden Katz’s Book “Artificial Whiteness”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Yarden Katz’s Book “Artificial Whiteness”
    21 Oct 2020
    The models of the human “self” offered within AI commit to white male superiority and individualism.
  • Health Justice and Black Liberation: Dr. Angel Love Miles
    Gwendolyn Wallace and Roberto Sirvent 
    Health Justice and Black Liberation: Dr. Angel Love Miles
    21 Oct 2020
    Health and disability are interrelated and distinctive social categories that have significant implications for the black community.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us