Opening my Romanian Secret Police File

When American anthropologist Katherine Verdery worked in Romania during the Cold War, little did she know that the country’s secret police - the Securitate - was compiling a dossier on her of nearly 3,000 pages. The file contained reports from 70 informers, including a number of her close friends. She got hold of it in 2008, and went on to meet with some of those who had informed on her. Katherine has written a book about reading her file called My Life as a Spy: Investigations in a Secret Police file.

Tresor Riziki's path to superstardom in South Africa started with a journey across half of the African continent. He is a multi-platinum selling artist with his own brand of Afrobeat pop music. But he’s not from South Africa, and he had a pretty tough journey getting there. Tresor started life in Goma, in the Eastern DRC. It’s a small city that has had quite a dramatic recent history. There have been decades of armed conflict, and even a volcanic eruption, but Tresor has fond memories of his childhood there.

(Image: Katherine Verdery. Credit: Juan Carlos Arevalo.)