John Aerni-Flessner

‘KABELO’: A film about big dreams, pain and perseverance Ntsane returns to international screens Lesotho-born actor Lebohang Ntsane, best known for his international breakthrough role in The Forgotten Kingdom, returns to the screen in the powerful new film ...

New #Sesotho-language film, KABELO, starring #Lesotho's Lebohang Ntsane will debut on 5 March at the #Johannesburg Film Festival.

Write up here:

newsdayonline.co.ls/kabelo-a-fil...

This is the first thing I thought of this morning.

Should say, this was the 21st century (very early in it, yes, but still...)!

BBC was my main source of news when teaching in pre-cell phone #Lesotho.

I would sometimes sit with my Ghanaian colleague, both of us with our own short wave radios, listening simultaneously. One of the best pics I have is of him with a huge grin and the shortwave held to his ear!

UT-Austin to merge race, ethnic and gender study programs More than 800 students are pursuing degrees in the affected departments, which include African, Latino and gender studies.

UT-Austin to consolidate race, ethnic and gender study programs

More than 800 students are pursuing degrees in the affected departments, which include African, Latino and gender studies.
www.texastribune.org/2026/02/12/t...

No big and easy ways to actually go about getting that funding, but it called attention to the problem and made the Provost/President/Board have to talk about it at public meetings/Faculty Senate/etc

Laying groundwork for the argument...

It is true. Pushing for more institutional funding for research is a cross-disciplinary strategy.

Just finished a year-long ad hoc committee report around here looking at just that issue--how the institution does (and does not) fund research, leaving lots of gaps

Yes, we must fight on this front, but it is also a local fight for all of us.

Equity in institutions demands that arts and humanities receives institutional funding in adequate measures to ensure thriving departments/research because otherwise we are all tech schools w/a gen ed teaching arm

Opinion | At the University of Minnesota, neutrality has become censorship "In theory, neutrality policies protect free debate by allowing the community to disagree on controversial matters. But in practice, these policies are easily weaponized to achieve the opposite — cens...

The UMN leadership - ultimately my bosses - has failed this test, as they have failed every test except, perhaps catering to the needs of power.

Gift link.

25 years ago their land was taken from them. They still haven’t been compensated The community of Ha Rapokolana was moved for the Mohale Dam which supplies water to South Africa

Community of Ha #Rapokoloana in the #Maseru District gave land tot he #Lesotho Highlands Water Project (#LHWP) 25 years ago and is still waiting for #compensation.

This is the same place as the (abandoned) "High Altitude Training Centre" in #Lesotho

groundup.org.za/article/leso...

Photos: The flying doctors of Lesotho won't let their wings be clipped This band of airborne health workers bring essential medical care to isolated communities in the southern African nation. In addition to turbulence, they face a new obstacle: budget cuts.

Story on the Flying #Doctors (and #nurses, and #dentists, and #HealthAides) in #Lesotho and how they have been forced to re-organize in the wake of #USAID cuts last year.

Rural #HealthCare

www.npr.org/2026/02/15/g...

Lesotho dam project misses deadline to pay multi-million compensation claim Following a landmark appeal case, dozens more community associations have come forward to demand compensation that the Lesotho Highlands Water Project was meant to pay in 2013.

The Lesotho Highlands Water Project has missed a Court of Appeal-set deadline to pay compensation claims to communities affected by the Katse Dam.

Read groundup.org.za/article/leso... by Sechaba Mokhethi

The Guardian view on the BBC World Service: this is London calling | Editorial Editorial: With just seven weeks before its funding runs out, the UK’s greatest cultural asset and most trusted international news organisation must be supported

And another bites the dust?

The BBC World Service will run out of funding in just seven weeks. Its funding arrangement with the Foreign Office finishes at the end of March. There is no plan for what happens next.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Events Get FREE delivery to all EXCLUSIVE BOOKS stores nationwide. FREE delivery to your door on all orders over R450, within South Africa.

Johannesburg!

Are you interested in the history of #water?

Specifically the history of the #Lesotho Highlands Water Project ( #LHWP )?

I wrote a book on it (in @HSRCPress)!

Launch: 6 March, Exclusive Books, Melrose Arch, 1800

RSVP here:

exclusivebooks.co.za/pages/events...

Yes, AI assistant on Adobe. There is *NOTHING* I want less than for you to turn my student's assignment into a PODCAST so I can just listen to the paper I am trying to grade.

Why would I want to simply grade when it could be a podcast?!?!

WTF, folks? Stop trying to push your bullshit on us!

Cambridge University museum set to return Benin bronzes to Nigeria A Cambridge University museum  will shortly return around 100 Benin bronzes to Nigeria as part of a major restitution initiative, the UK's weekly newspaper the Observer has reported.

Cambridge University's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology will shortly return around 100 Benin bronzes to Nigeria as part of a major restitution initiative - more here:

www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20...

Cambridge University Museum to return 116 Benin bronzes from the UK to Nigeria:

The pieces are mainly wood and ivory sculptures and commemorative heads and were stolen by the British army in the late 19th century in what is now Nigeria.

>> Our article to come soon

Lesotho dam project misses deadline to pay multi-million compensation claim Following a landmark appeal case, dozens more community associations have come forward to demand compensation that the Lesotho Highlands Water Project was meant to pay in 2013.

Even as construction moves forward on #PhaseII of the #Lesotho Highlands Water Project (#LHWP), compensation is still owed on Phase I to communities impacted by #Katse Dam

groundup.org.za/article/leso...

#Gauteng
#Water
#Development

JUST IN: A federal judge in Michigan has rejected the administration's attempt to obtain the state's voter rolls.

Judge Hala Jarbou, a Trump appointee, said the law does not require the state to turn them over.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History The Place of Sugar in Modern History

For those interested in why Black & Caribbean people are going off about the sugar cane from last night's halftime show: sugar is a plantation commodity that fueled slavery & colonialism

bookshop.org/p/books/swee...

It was transforming the biggest NFL stage in the world into a sugar cane plantation that did it for me.

Like, the multiple layers of turning an American icon into a plantation and highlighting the history of exploitation of Black and Brown bodies by the NFL and American colonialism simultaneously?

Thank you!

Alt:

My book is out! Order it today!

#Lesotho
#SouthAfrica
#LesothoHighlandsWaterProject
#History
#Apartheid
#ColdWar
#Development
#ServiceDelivery

Home Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity is a learning organization built upon an extraordinary legacy of excellence in artistic and creative development.

Wow, the site of the 2026 American Society for Legal History Conference share.google/xKwvzDOCRbIK... is the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity! share.google/l1NqChfrtKPV...

We see so much content but so little art that when it breaks through it's like breathing again.

Those of us who knew the work of those no longer in the field in their youth can have some idea of the shadows in the field where their contributions would have been.

But that knowledge was contextual. I can sense the shadows of missing papers/books, but I can't know what they would have been.

Should be noted that this is what has happened due to the massive dis-investment in the arts and humanities over the past few decades.

Cannot tell you how many brilliant young scholars in my personal field of African History are now doing other things.

The loss most will never know or realize.

I didn't pick it. The press did! :)

Events Get FREE delivery to all EXCLUSIVE BOOKS stores nationwide. FREE delivery to your door on all orders over R450, within South Africa.

Cape Town!

Are you interested in the history of #water? Specifically the history of the #Lesotho Highlands Water Project (#LHWP)?

Well, I wrote a book on it!

Launch: 27 Feb, Exclusive Books, Waterfront, 1800

RSVP here and come hear me talk!

exclusivebooks.co.za/pages/events...