Writers like Frantz Fanon put pen to paper so that the next generation could understand history and its atrocities, says Fatma Alloo.

Gijsbert Oonk’s history of the Karimjee Jeevanjis, a prominent South Asian family in the East Coast of Africa, speaks ‘volumes on the era of migration and issues of identity’, writes Fatma Alloo. Part of a wave of new writing ‘from Asian-African perspectives’, ‘it could be that now is the beginning of coming of age of a community which so far has engaged in life in East Africa, but has not put down in a concerted way from its own perspective what that life is and how they feel about it’, says Alloo.

I am presenting a kenote address at the University of Cairo later this month on how ICT impacts change and I have used Pambazuka as a case in point. Maybe I shall send you a copy once I have finished my paper. I personally feel PAMBAZUKA is playing a vital role in providing a forum for analysis of our continent. I am a media person, founder of Tanzania Media Women's Association (TAMWA) and now also teach part time and a lot of my students really access your network.