In this week’s episode, we speak with Dr. John Aerni-Flessner (@LesothoJohn), an assistant professor of history at Michigan State University. His research focuses on youth, nationalism and the 1960s in Lesotho, a small landlocked country in southern Africa. We talk this week about the Lesotho elections, which were held on June 3rd.
Our featured song this week is a recent recording of Basotho Kopanang featuring a group of top Lesotho artists, including Meloh, who we spoke with this week by phone about the song. Kopanang translates to “come together” and the song was recorded to encourage Lesotho’s citizens (Basotho) to come together during this election period.
Books, Links, & Articles
- “Masculinity and its Discontents.” by Sisonke Msimang
- “My Improbable Graduation: From A Tiny Village In Ghana To Johns Hopkins.” by George Mwinyaa
- “Op-Ed: Lesotho elections – maturing democracy or a failure of institutions?.” by John Aerni-Flesser
- Dreams for Lesotho: Independence, Foreign Assistance, and Development by John Aerni-Flesser
- Afrobarometer Geocoded Data