Columns / Letters From

Iris Gonzales delves into some of the reasons why the vaccine rollout in her country is encountering drag.

Iris Gonzales reflects on a violent national obsession that has only grown under coronavirus restrictions.

Iris Gonzales reflects on the human cost of the state’s war against its critics.

Why do Filipinos get so starry-eyed when choosing their leaders? wonders Iris Gonzales.

Iris Gonzales joins a repatriation flight bringing home Filipino workers – a bittersweet rite of passage.

Letter from Johannesburg. Yewande Omotoso ponders how belonging to a city goes beyond the bald fact of living in it.

Yewande Omotoso’s apartment is slowly being taken over by plants, much to her delight.

Ways of belonging. Having travelled to the land of her birth as the coronavirus pandemic began to gather pace, Yewande Omotoso feels the tug of home.

Befriending a namesake leads Yewande Omotoso down paths she hadn’t followed before.

Yewande Omotoso reflects on why no-nonsense Johannesburg is the place that suits her best.

Yewande Omotoso moves through the unknowable city, looking and listening.

Parsa Sanjana Sajid visits a popular shrine and witnesses the everyday mingling of the social and the spiritual.

Her acquaintance with an Urdu poet reveals to Parsa Sanjana Sajid the deep waters of identity and prejudice.

Parsa Sanjana Sajid has been buying her colourful wares for over a decade, but behind the fragile ornaments is a life consumed by work.

What is required to be an authentic person? Parsa Sanjana Sajid ponders the answer from the bright lights of a photo studio.

Parsa Sanjana Sajid shines a light on the stigma faced by single men looking for housing.

A pocket of the city, vibrant with blossoms, is the site where destiny is always taking shape, observes Parsa Sanjana Sajid.

Spending some time away from Marabá, Dan Baron Cohen discovers unexpected solidarity with the Amazon in a country mired in violence and despair.

Joining his neighbours one evening, Dan Baron Cohen finds himself immersed in a spontaneous conversation about culture, justice and sustainability that would be rare inside the halls of academe.

The lines painted on his skin lead to the heartlands of identity, discovers Dan Baron Cohen.