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Culture Special

Art with a developmental connection - compiled for you by the D+C editorial team.

Plattenladen im Kenyatta-Markt in Nairobi

Development in culture

From time to time, the D+C editorial team presents books, music, films and other pieces of art that we appreciate and would like to recommend. The oeuvres are tackling issues of developmental relevance, and we would be pleased if our recommendations inspired you to read, watch or listen to them. 

Content

    Recent Articles

    New contributions to our culture section

    We hope you enjoy our reviews of films, books and songs - it's also worth taking a look at older reviews, as we usually cover timeless works.

    Scene from the music video for “Maandamano” by Bien and Breeder LW.

    Music

    Dancing under tear gas

    For the second year in a row, thousands of young people took to the streets in Kenya in mid-2025 to protest the government and especially the high cost of living. The so-called Gen Z protest movement is also driven by music – there are countless videos that show dancing demonstrators confronting armed police. The soundtrack to both waves of protest has already achieved cult status.

    by
    by Katharina Wilhelm Otieno
    A market in Zanzibar at the beginning of the 20th century.

    Fiction

    A story is always part of the currents of its time

    by
    by Dagmar Wolf
    Tamikrest in Hamburg.

    Music

    The desert alliance

    by
    by Katharina Wilhelm Otieno
    Jhumpa Lahiri 2022 in Rom.

    Migration

    Belonging to more than one nation

    by
    by Maren van Treel
    2022: Activists in Kolkata protest against the early release of men convicted of a brutal rape.

    Film

    Justice for victims of rape

    by
    by Konstantin Auwärter
    Black and white schoolchildren in a school bus in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1973.

    Literature

    How can we infer the colour of a person’s skin?

    by
    by Dagmar Wolf
    Historical portrait of Jind Kaur.

    Novel

    Powerful Punjabi queen opposed British Empire

    by
    by Hans Dembowski

    Books

    Novels, non-fiction, autobiographies and more reading material related to development.

    A market in Zanzibar at the beginning of the 20th century.

    Fiction

    A story is always part of the currents of its time

    The novel “Desertion” by Nobel Prize winner Abdulrazak Gurnah is set in Zanzibar. It is a tale of resistance to social and cultural norms and of the power of love, interwoven in historical, political and cultural contexts. This is the eighth item in this year's culture special with reviews of artists' works with developmental relevance.

    by
    by Dagmar Wolf
    Jhumpa Lahiri 2022 in Rom.

    Migration

    Belonging to more than one nation

    by
    by Maren van Treel
    Black and white schoolchildren in a school bus in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1973.

    Literature

    How can we infer the colour of a person’s skin?

    by
    by Dagmar Wolf
    Historical portrait of Jind Kaur.

    Novel

    Powerful Punjabi queen opposed British Empire

    by
    by Hans Dembowski
    Margaret Busby at the 2023 Booker Prize ceremony in London.

    Literature

    The literary power of Black women writers

    by
    by Dagmar Wolf
    Tsitsi Dangarembga in court in Harare in September 2022.

    Novel

    The fate of a girl from Zimbabwe

    by
    by Sabine Balk
    Sabine Balk
    Cusco is one of the stops that Timm and his father Hamid make on their trip through Peru.

    Novel

    A father-son relationship in crisis

    by
    by Maren van Treel
    Student protest in Frankfurt in 1969.

    Migration

    Adapting to fast-changing German society in the 1960s

    by
    by Hans Dembowski
    Feminist ideas are often passed from one generation to another through face-to-face conversations.

    Novel

    Experiencing feminism in Uganda

    by
    by Dagmar Wolf
    Arti performed in Benares in 2019: the Hindu ceremony figures in Krupa Ge’s novel.

    Gender justice

    Eight decades of gender relations in South India

    by
    by Hans Dembowski
    “The game changer” is an artwork created by street artist Banksy to thank hospital workers during lockdown: here at Southampton General Hospital.

    Post growth

    “A good life doesn’t have to cost the Earth”

    by
    by Dagmar Wolf
    Hindu supremacists marching in Assam in early 2022.

    Summer Special

    Rahman Abbas: South Asian lessons from Nazi Holocaust

    by
    by Almuth Degener
    Demonstration against racism in Düsseldorf.

    Culture Special

    A journey of self-discovery

    by
    by Maren van Treel
    A woman from Cameroon tries to enter the US with her child at the Mexican border.

    Culture Special

    American joy and sorrow

    by
    by Sabine Balk
    Sabine Balk
    The medina (old town) of Meknès.

    Culture Special

    They did not belong anywhere

    by
    by Dagmar Wolf
    Afghan women in the illegal refugee camp in Pedion Tou Areos, Athens’ largest park.

    Summer Special

    Fleeing civil war

    by
    by Dagmar Wolf
    Haji Ali Mausoleum is a Muslim landmark in Mumbai.

    Summer Special

    Alluring and fascinating city where nothing is safe

    by
    by Hans Dembowski
    A café on the Place des Abesses, similar to many cafés where Parisians enjoyed their evening on 13 November 2015.

    Summer Special

    Khalil – inside the mind of a terrorist

    by
    by Dagmar Wolf
    Chickens are protagonist Chinonso’s best friends.

    Summer Special

    Descent into Hell

    by
    by Linda Engel
    The novel “My Sister, the Serial Killer” does not show the Nigerian police in a good light.

    Summer Special

    Murder, sex and a special sibling relationship

    by
    by Sabine Balk
    Sabine Balk
    The extinct dodo is the national animal of Mauritius and a symbol of a lost paradise.

    Summer Special

    The shattered soul of Mauritius

    by
    by Katja Dombrowski
    Threatened environment: eroding shoreline of a Sundarban island in the Ganges Delta.

    Summer Special

    Kolkata, New York, Venice

    by
    by Hans Dembowski

    Films

    Documentaries, Hollywood blockbusters, indie films, series and much more to watch with a development connection.

    2022: Activists in Kolkata protest against the early release of men convicted of a brutal rape.

    Film

    Justice for victims of rape

    The Oscar-nominated documentary “To Kill a Tiger” tells the story of a father and daughter in India pursing justice after the girl is raped. Their fight involves defying the patriarchal structures of society and the justice system. This is the fifth item in this year's culture special with reviews of artists' works with developmental relevance.

    by
    by Konstantin Auwärter
    “Enmity Djinn” is one of the six winners of a short film competition by UNESCO and Netflix.

    Short films

    Reimagining African folktales

    by
    by Jörg Döbereiner
    Contaminated for millennia: the exclusion zone surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

    HBO miniseries

    “Chernobyl”: The cost of lies

    by
    by Mustafa Shrestha
    Seh-Dong-Hong-Beh, a leader of the Dahomey female warriors, painted by Frederick Forbes in 1851.

    Film

    “The Woman King”: Emancipation and bloodshed

    by
    by Jörg Döbereiner
    “Flee” is an animated documentary film.

    Culture Special

    A man flees

    by
    by Jane Escher
    Hala trains to become a police officer in Syria.

    Summer Special

    Emancipation in Syria, both personal and political

    by
    by Aviva Freudmann
    Regenerative agriculture means fields with a wide variety of plants and trees.

    Summer Special

    Healthy soil, healthy climate

    by
    by Sabine Balk
    Sabine Balk
    Sabrina Jean at the 2016 CONIFA World Football Cup.

    Summer Special

    The last colony

    by
    by Katja Dombrowski
    Margaret, age 94, seen here at a wedding celebration, must defend herself against accusations of witchcraft.

    Summer Special

    Witch-hunting, then and now

    by
    by Aviva Freudmann
    Amandla Stenberg as Starr Carter in “The Hate U Give”.

    Summer Special

    A shy girl becomes the face of anti-racist protests

    by
    by Sinikka Dombrowski
    Film director Mamadou Dia speaking to an audience at Frankfurt’s Film Museum.

    Summer Special

    A battle for the soul of Islam

    by
    by Aviva Freudmann

    Music

    Artists and groups from Africa, Asia and Latin America whose history and music are linked to development politics.

    Tamikrest in Hamburg.

    Music

    The desert alliance

    Tamikrest combines the music of the Tuareg with elements of western rock music. The band chooses guitars over guns to fight for the cause of a community that has been oppressed in the Sahara for decades. This is the seventh item in this year's culture special with reviews of artists' works with developmental relevance.

    by
    by Katharina Wilhelm Otieno
    The group’s first album is named after the Egyptian city of Aswan on the Nile.

    Intercultural music

    Music of the Nile

    by
    by Katharina Wilhelm Otieno

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