Author Archives: dianabuja

About dianabuja

With a group of BaTwa (pygmy) women potters, with whom we've worked to enhance production and sales of their wonderful pots - fantastic for cooking and serving. To see the 2 blogs on this work enter 'batwa pots' into the search engine located just above this picture. Blog entries throughout this site are about Africa, as well as about the Middle East and life in general - reflecting over 35 years of work and research in Africa and the Middle East – Come and join me!

May 23rd is National Taffy Day

Five Facts about Taffy:  Salt water taffy was “invented” in Atlantic City in 1883. Modern technology allows confectioners to produce 1,000 pieces of taffy a minute. In one hour enough pieces of taf… Source: May 23rd is National Taffy Day

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أم كلثوم; Umm Kultūm – ‘al-Sitt’ (the Lady of Egypt)

Originally posted on DIANABUJA'S BLOG: Africa, The Middle East, Agriculture, History and Culture:
37 years ago, on the 3rd February, the great Egyptian diva and songwriter – Umm Kalthum – died, well into her 70s.  Last night BBC Worldservice …

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Easter Season in Egypt, 1834: ‘Smelling the Breeze’, Making Kishk, Eating Colored Eggs & Salted Fish

Originally posted on DIANABUJA'S BLOG: Africa, The Middle East, Agriculture, History and Culture:
A bowl of kishk topped with sautéed onions, an Egyptian dish made with thickened milk or yogurt and topped with fried onions. It is described in the…

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Meenakshi’s sacred forest

Echoes in the Mist On the left, the forest caretaker, on the right, Mr. Selvapandian. The sun was warm in early February. The trees were beautiful and tall, having grown up in just a few short years on land that … Continue reading

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THE OLDEST KNOWN COPTIC ICON: CHRIST AND ABBOT MENA

Originally posted on DIOSCORUS BOLES ON COPTIC NATIONALISM:
The oldest known Coptic icon was found in Bawit in Middle Egypt in 1900 by the French archaeologist Jean Clédat (1871 – 1943) who discovered the large Coptic Monastery of St. Apollo that…

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The politics of wages & violence in the FARDC

Originally posted on Scholarships for African Students:
Photo from Richard Mosse’s series of infrared portraits in eastern DRC Grant Gordon has a fascinating new working paper which offers a reinterpretation of the connection between violence against civilians and the FARDC’s…

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An Eternal Curse upon the Reader of These Lines (with Apologies to M. Puig)*

In retribution for the ‘prying’ or ‘intrusive curiosity’ inherent in the reading of another’s words, the Argentine novelist Manuel Puig entitled a 1980 work ‘Eternal Curse on the Reader of these Pages.’ The same sentiment appears in Egyptian magic. A … Continue reading

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Posted in Ancient Egypt, Ancient Egyptian Curses, Colophones, Egypt-Ancient, Uncategorized | 3 Comments