i write what i like

[santilla]

Be careful out there this weekend 😝 🗞📷 stolen from @missmillib's apartment.

[africa-talks]

Exploring African identity in Australia

Should people of African background, born either in Africa or Australia, be known as African Australians or Australian Africans - or simply Australians? These are some of the questions of identity explored at a recent forum in Melbourne, sponsored by the Wheeler Centre. Harriet Conron went along. For many people of African heritage growing up in Australia, finding a way to identify themselves poses a great challenge.

[africa-talks]

[africa-talks]

The way the media reports on a community can have a powerful impact on the way the broader society perceives them. The less that’s known about that community, the more power the media wields, as a primary source of understanding.

Media coverage can foster understanding and empathy, by highlighting achievements by community members, sharing examples of collaboration and goodwill, and telling personal stories that illuminate challenges faced and struggles left behind. But it can also stoke prejudice and cement stereotypes.

How does the Australian media report on Africa and the African community – or communities – in Australia? Is there a perception gap between reporting and reality? And how does this impact on African-Australians?

[africa-talks]

[africa-talks]

The relationship between Australia and Africa is anything but straightforward. While Australia has diplomatic ties with every African state, the continent occupies a sometimes inscrutable position in our foreign policy priorities. For Australia, Africa represents both obligation and opportunity.

Earlier this year, Australia’s foreign aid to Africa was reduced by 70 percent, leading World Vision’s Tim Costello to argue that Australia has effectively abandoned the continent. Yet many regard Africa as the next frontier of the global economy, and Australia’s business and investment interests in Africa are worth tens of billions of dollars. It’s not just about the resources sector, either – Australian involvement in African economies is increasingly reaching into other areas including education, health and the arts.

At a time when China and the US are expanding their involvement and interest in Africa, where does Australia sit? What’s the nature and extent of investment and trade (not to mention private enterprise) in Africa – and why are Australian businesses comparatively slow to invest in African prospects?

Africa Talks host Santilla Chingaipe speaks with Roger Phillips and Andrew Barnes about the opportunities and questions of Australia’s relationship with Africa.

[africa-talks]

[africa-talks]

[santilla]

We asked some Wheeler Centre regulars to tell us what they're most excited about seeing at The Interrobang, our festival of questions. Santilla Chingaipe is an award-winning journalist for SBS World News, and host of Africa Talks.

[santilla]

A fascinating panel I moderated earlier this year - did not want the conversation to end.

[santilla]

Express Media : A Postcard from Santilla Chingaipe

Award winning journalist Santilla Chingaipe writes a postcard to share her advice, ideas, experience and skills with young writers.

Shared my advice to young writers over at Express Media <3 <3

[santilla]

Season One of #babenbrilliant is done and dusted. Had such fun creating and producing this podcast series. Each of the women featured is truly unique, special, crazy talented and above all a brilliant babe! Grateful to them for taking time out to take part and dropping so much inspo and wisdom and badassness. We're publishing a fun book to accompany the podcasts early December. And a very special shout out to the brilliant babes that helped me bring this to life. @teganiversen who killed it with the illustrations and @edembadu who's graphic design skills I could not live without. If you still haven't caught up or would like to listen again, head to the iTunes Store and search for 'wearegriot' or catch it all at babenbrilliant.tumblr.com 🙏🏾🎙💕

[babenbrilliant]

Jenna Wortham is many things - but she’s primarily known for her work as a writer for the NY Times.

There she writes mainly about technology and culture.

Prior to the Times, Jenna was a tech and culture reporter for Wired.com and a freelance writer for Wired magazine.

Her work has also appeared in Bust magazine, The Hairpin, Vogue, The Morning News, Fader and various other publications.

She is also the queen of side hustles.

From starting a zine celebrating women she admired, aptly titled GirlCrushZine to helping curate an Emoji Art show to co-histing a radio show called Heartline to a series about Sexting in the age of technology.

There’s nothing Jenna isn’t keen to explore in the digital realm.

Interviewer: Santilla Chingaipe

Artwork by Tegan Iversen

To find out more on the series, visit http://wearegriot.com/

[babenbrilliant]

Ajak Deng is one of Australia’s most successful international runway models.

She’s graced the covers of many magazines including fashion bible Vogue and walked for every major designer from Chloe to Valentino and every one in between.

The 25 year old was born in what was then part of Sudan and is today known as South Sudan.

She was forced to flee the conflict there and ended up in Kenya before migrating to Australia with her family.

But there’s much more to her story than that.

She’s also quite the thrill seeker and hilarious too.

But despite dominating runways overseas and headlining major fashion campaigns, she’s still relatively unknown here in Australia.

Interviewer: Santilla Chingaipe

Artwork by Tegan Iversen

To find out more on the series, visit the

http://wearegriot.com/

[babenbrilliant]

There’s very little that Yassmin Abdel-Magied hasn’t done yet.

She was named Queensland’s Young Australian of the Year for 2015.

She’s a mechanical engineer, writer, social advocate, and a self-described petrol head.

At 16, she set up her own not for profit organisation Youth Without Borders - which aims to improve access to opportunity and enable young people to work for positive change in their communities.

She’s been named one of Australia’s most influential women, writes for various publications, shakes things up on the ABC’s popular Q&A program and regularly speaks around the country inspiring other young people to live life fully and with purpose.

She literally is the definition of an over achiever - in the best way possible, and the world is certainly a better place because of her enthusiasm when tackling some of the most challenging questions in our community.

And by the far has one of the coolest jobs in the world - working as an engineer on an offshore oil and gas rig.

Interviewer: Santilla Chingaipe

Artwork by Tegan Iversen

To find out more on the series, visit the http://wearegriot.com/

[santilla]

I recently answered a few questions about my career journey so far for PocketMentor, an organisation aimed at helping uni graduates land their dream job.

You can read all about it here

[santilla]

Oh look! It's part deux of the #AfricaTalks series. Still a few places left, so book now to avoid some serious fomo. As we say in Africa, walala wasala - or to the uninitiated, you snooze, you lose. 😏✌🏾️ link in bio