We start this week’s episode discussing the swarm of locusts wreaking havoc in East Africa, how COVID-19 will push the African region into its first recession in a quarter century, and the long term consequences of the pandemic for democracy and rights. Our featured guest this week is Dr. George Ogola (@Ogolah), a scholar of media in the global south at the University of Central Lancashire’s School of Journalism, Media, and Performance. Kim and George discuss African media coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, the media’s role in checking political power, and the “pockets of indiscipline” where citizens can access quality reporting that has evaded state power.
Books, Links, & Articles
- “A humanitarian crisis looms in Africa unless we act fast to stop the desert locust.” by Qu Dongyu and Mark Lowcock
- “Africa is watching a potential health disaster turn into an economic crisis, quickly.” by Yinka Adegoke
- “How Will Remittances Affect the Somali COVID-19 Response?.” by Nisar Majid, Laura Hammond, Khalif Abdirahman, Guhad Adan, Nauja Kleist
- Afrobarometer
- “Coronavirus: Beware the power grab.” by Eda Seyhan
- “Coronavirus in Africa: Whipping, shooting and snooping.” by Dickens Olewe
- Wrestling with the Devil: A Prison Memoir by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
- “Special podcast episode: Ory Okolloh and Nanjala Nyabola.” by The Dickens Olewe Podcast
- From Pews to Politics: Religious Sermons and Political Participation in Africa by Rachel Beatty Riedl and Gwyneth H. McClendon
- “Why Africa’s journalists aren’t doing a good job on COVID-19.” by George Ogola
- “The Political Economy of the Media in Kenya: From Kenyatta’s Nation-Building Press to Kibaki’s Local-Language FM Radio.” by George Ogola
- Africa Works: Disorder as Political Instrument by Patrick Chabal, Jean-Pascal Daloz