We start out episode this week talking about politics in Mali, South Africa’s recent election and give you an update on the political situation in Uganda. We talk about the arrest earlier this week in Kenya of Boniface Mwangi, who we spoke with on our podcast during episode 35. This week’s conversation is with Dr. Read More…
Author: ufahamuafrica
Ep. 67: An Africa podcast mashup
Our show this week begins with the elections in Benin, peacekeeping in Liberia, elections in South Africa and Malawi, and the Caster Semenya gender and racing saga. We also share an update on Ugandan musician-turned-politician Bobi Wine.This week’s in-depth conversation is really special: it features a mashup of four podcasts: Ufahamu Africa, On Africa, Into Africa, and African Tech Roundup. The hosts of all four shows come together to talk about a few things, including why we launched our respective shows. In addition to Ufahamu Africa’s hosts Kim Yi Dionne and Rachel Beatty Riedl, you’ll hear Travis Adkins (@TravisLAdkins), adjunct professor at Georgetown University in African Studies and Security Studies and the host of On Africa; Judd Devermont (@JDevermont), the director of the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and host of Into Africa, and Andile Masuku (@MasukuAndile), a Zimbabwean broadcaster and entrepreneur based in Johannesburg, South Africa and host of African Tech Roundup. We all owe a big thanks to Judd and his team at CSIS for hosting this mashup, which begins at 12:55.
Ep. 66: A conversation with Abdourahmane Seck on Islam, modernity, and more
We begin this week’s episode talking about Benin politics, a Malawian musician, the deployment of a malaria vaccine, a Russian company’s involvement in Sudan’s response to protesters, and the 25th anniversary of South Africa’s elections ending the Apartheid regime.This week we feature a conversation with Abdourahmane Seck, an anthropologist and historian at the Faculty of Civilizations, Religions, Arts and Communication at the Université Gaston Berger in Saint-Louis, Senegal. Dr. Seck is the author of several works on Islam and south-south migration. He is currently a visiting scholar in the Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa, part of the Buffett Institute for Global Affairs at Northwestern University. His conversation begins at 15:13.
Ep. 65: A conversation with Jeffrey Paller on urban politics, democracy in Ghana, and more
We start our episode this week talking about recent pieces on Sudan published in The Monkey Cage, the row between Uganda and Rwanda, African migrants stuck in Mexico, and the latest on events in Mali. This week’s conversation is with Jeffrey Paller (@JWPaller), an assistant professor of politics at the University of San Francisco. He was formerly a fellow at the Earth Institute at Columbia University and a Research Associate at the Center for Democratic Development in Ghana. Our listeners might be familiar with Jeffrey’s weekly news bulletin, This Week in Africa. We spoke with him about his new book, published this week, Democracy in Ghana: Everyday Politics in Urban Africa. Our conversation with Jeffrey begins at 10:34.
Ep. 64: A conversation with Hannah Armstrong on politics in Algeria, the Sahel, illicit trafficking and borders
In this week’s episode, we talk about Saharan Futures, protests and political change in Sudan, political maneuvering in Senegal, and what Cyclone Idai teaches us about governance of disasters and in urban spaces.Our featured guest this week is Hannah Armstrong, the Senior Sahel consultant at the International Crisis Group. She has worked across North Africa and the Sahel as a writer and researcher for various publications and organizations since 2006. She served as a Fulbright fellow in Morocco and as a fellow of the Institute of Current World Affairs in Niger, Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Algeria, and the Western Sahara from 2012 to 2014. Rachel spoke with Hannah earlier this week when she was visiting Chicago from Dakar, where she is based. Their conversation begins at 13:03.
Ep. 63: A conversation with Muna Ndulo on international financial transparency, investment vs. insurgency, and more
We begin this week’s episode talking about the resignation of Algerian president Bouteflika, mistrust challenging response to the Ebola outbreak in Eastern Congo, and we mark the 25th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. This week’s conversation is with Muna Ndulo, the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of International & Comparative Law at Cornell Law School. Professor Ndulo is an expert on constitution making, governance and institution building, international criminal law, African legal systems, and human rights. Rachel sat down with Prof Ndulo and asked him about international financial transparency, investment vs. insurgency in Northern Mozambique, the role of the judiciary in African elections, and the confrontation of customary law and gender equality in the colonial and contemporary periods. Their segment begins at 12:16.
We’re on (spring) break
It may not be spring in the southern hemisphere, but up here in North America, Ufahamu Africa’s hosts are on Spring Break. Don’t worry, we’ll be back next week, when we talk about politics in Algeria, Ebola in DRC, and more. Our guest next week will be Muna Ndulo.
Ep. 62: A conversation with Khalid Medani on protests in Sudan
We begin this week’s episode discussing protests and democracy in Benin, the damage from Cyclone Idai in Mozambique, Malawi, and Zimbabwe, and the consequences of climate change more broadly. Our featured conversation is with Khalid Medani, an Associate Professor of Political Science and Islamic Studies and the Chair of the African Studies Program at McGill University. He has published widely on the on the roots of civil conflict and the funding of the Islamic movement in Sudan, the question of informal finance and terrorism in Somalia, the obstacles to state building in Iraq, and the role of informal networks in the rise of Islamic militancy. He provides insights on the current protests in Sudan and puts them in context. His conversation begins at 10:02.
Ep. 61: A conversation with Sally Nuamah on girls’ education
This week’s episode begins with discussion of events in DRC, Malawi, and Algeria. We also talk about a new study showing how democracy is good for our health.
Our featured conversation is with Sally Nuamah, an assistant professor at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy. Her research sits at the intersections of race, gender, public education and political behavior. She made the award-winning film, HerStory. We talk with Sally about her first book, How Girls Achieve, released this week by Harvard University Press. Our conversation begins at 10:53.
Ep. 60: A conversation with Nyokabi Kamau on feminism in Kenya
This week’s episode kicks off Women’s History Month and celebrates International Women’s Day, starting with a conversation about women’s protest participation in Algeria and women’s representation in politics in Africa more broadly. We also highlight critiques of the theme for International Women’s Day 2019: #BalanceForBetter.Our conversation is with Professor Nyokabi Kamau, who is the Executive Director of the Centre for Parliamentary Studies and Training in Kenya. The conversation was part of a global salon hosted at the Lewis Global Studies Center in 2018 and was facilitated by Smith College Professor of Comparative Literature Katwiwa Mule. They talk about Kamau’s new book, Conversations about Gender: The Reflections of a Kenyan Feminist. Her segment begins at 12:31.
Ep. 59: A conversation with Matt Buehler on how governments spoil opposition alliances in North Africa
This week’s episode features a lot of discussion on North Africa. In the news wrap, we cover the protests in Algeria and Sudan (as well as election results in Senegal and Nigeria). Our featured conversation for this week’s episode is with Matt Buehler, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Tennessee and Global Security Fellow at the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy. Matt talks about his new book, Why Alliances Fail: Islamist and Leftist Coalitions in North Africa.
Ep. 58: A conversation with Wendell Marsh on the history (and modernity) of Islam and the African world
This week’s conversation is with Wendell Marsh (@theafrabian), an Assistant Professor of African American and African Studies at Rutgers University-Newark and Postdoctoral Fellow at the Buffet Institute for Global Studies at Northwestern University. He conducts research and teaches on the encounter of Islam and the African world as mediated in Arabic and vernacular texts. His segment begins at 12:21.