Africa

There’s only one country that can claim to be the birthplace of humanity. This country today is home to over 75 ethnicities, and is the only African nation to resist colonial rule. This country is Ethiopia.

Mireille Tushiminina launched the African Festival of Boston 13 years ago to celebrate the Independence Day anniversaries of many African countries, including her native Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since then, the festival has become a community staple, bringing together African immigrants around Boston to celebrate their heritage and their chosen home here in the Hub.

“Nehanda” is a performance by artist nora chipaumire that defies description. The piece probes the Zimbabwean fight for independence and its colonial history, through the legend of Nehanda, a spirit that embodies only women and is venerated by the Shona people in Zimbabwe and central Mozambique.

According to paleontologists, the human species took root in Africa. This view is based upon fossil skeletons found in Ethiopia and Tanzania’s Olduvai Gorge. The skeletons are considered to have been about 3 million years old and are the earliest known human remains.

The Ugandan government’s recent announcement of a $12 trillion gold discovery has generated a ton of domestic intrigue as well as a bit of foreign skepticism.

Diverse stories are at the heart of the third floor reinstallation of the Art of the Americas wing at the Museum of Fine Arts. The reinstallation, titled “Stories Artists Tell: Art of the Americas, the 20th Century” acts as an artistic anthology, telling a different story in each gallery from Native perspectives of the Southwest to images of the midcentury jazz age.

In partnership with Global Arts Live, “SanDance!,” an independent documentary film about the age-old dance culture of Africa’s San (Bushman) First Peoples, will stream live on Facebook and YouTube on Sunday, Feb. 6 at 2 p.m.