Three new collections of essays attempt to break down cultural barriers 'Known and Strange Things' by Teju Cole published by Faber and Faber Acclaimed for his novels Every day is for the Thief and Open City, Cole's first collection of essays examines the collapsing and outdated boundaries between mainstream culture and the periphery.A multi-disciplinarian who teaches art history, takes photographs and is the photographic critic for the New York Times Magazine, Cole's interests take him from the US where he lives and was born, to Nigeria where he grew up, and Switzerland where he follows in the footsteps of James Baldwin.Whether considering the reception and representation of black bodies in Europe, or recalling a less than flattering encounter with VS Naipaul, or celebrating the photography of Malick Sidibé, Cole is always keenly aware of the many aspects of human experience and cultural production that connect us - and ultimately free us from questions of who has the right to speak about what, and from where.It's an eclectic and rambling collection that reflects the curious intelligence of a citizen of the world in the age of the increasing democratisation of culture.'Flyboy 2: The Greg Tate Reader' published by Duke University Press Since starting at the Village Voice in the late '80s Tate has carved himself a space as a hip examiner of black culture in the US.This collection covers 30 years of his sharp-edged speculations on everyone from Miles Davis to Jimi Hendrix, Michael Jackson, Wangechi Mutu and the political realities of black life in the US today.Tate's idiosyncratic vocabulary and mashing up of ideas to create new ways of thinking about black experience presents race as more than a political classification.As he writes in his introduction, it represents "a far broader body of concerns where you can readily leapfrog between sex, death, religion, criminality, linguistics, music, genetics, athletics, fashion, medicine, you name it, in the name of African liberation and self- determination".Flyboy 2 is a freewheeling collection of ideas as maddening, exhilarating and absurdly engaging as the myriad dimensions of the culture it explores.'Sigh the Beloved Country' by Bongani Madondo published by Picador Africa At over 500 pages, Madondo's collection of essays also includes an interview, an exchange of letters, and cameos by other writers. It's a sometimes frustrating, messy but enthralling attempt to try and capture what fellow chronicler Rian Malan describes in his introduction as "the geography of our hearts and minds, as described by a sweet dude who is capable of astonishing feats of empathy".Madondo has always had a far-reaching curiosity about the wonders and perplexity that his beloved country throws at him. These essays demonstrate his attempts to make as much sense as he can of them, using his tool kit of literary, musical and personal knowledge.His essays on music are particularly excellent, whether he's reflecting on the under-appreciated guitar genius of Philip Tabane, the tragic life of Moses Molelekwa, the haunting evocations of Busi Mhlongo or the cultural significance and far-reaching influence of Buena Vista Social Club.The collection reflects not only its author's constantly questioning intellect but also the importance of shedding light on culture in a place that is, as he writes:"Groaning under its debt. Under the moral and spiritual debt it owes its people, in particular those who believed the fiction that there exists a rainbow still on the horizon, with its magical hues and all they portend ... A country which ahistorically and proudly, arrogantly, steps out into the dark."..