In this week’s episode, we talk about conflict in Cameroon, work by the writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, land restitution in South Africa, and Nanjala Nyabola’s new book. This week’s featured conversation is with Abdulbasit Kassim, who visited Northwestern University’s Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa earlier this week. Kassim is a PhD student in the Department of Religion at Rice University, where his research focuses on the Intellectual History of Islam in Africa, Contemporary Islamic Movements in Africa, Postcolonial African States, African Religions, and the International Relations of Sub-Saharan Africa. He is the co-editor of The Boko Haram Reader: From Nigerian Preachers to the Islamic State. The Boko Haram Reader is an unprecedented collection of primary source texts, audio-visuals, and nashids translated into English from Hausa, Arabic, and Kanuri. It traces the history and evolution of the Boko Haram movement. Kassim’s segment begins at 5:53.
Author: ufahamuafrica
Ep. 44: A conversation with Anthonia Kalu on writing and African storytelling
In this episode of Ufahamu Africa, we talk about a new West African currency, media freedom in Tanzania, and an Ethiopian satellite that will launch soon. This week’s featured conversation is with Dr. Anthonia Kalu, a professor of comparative literature and gender and sexuality studies at UC Riverside. In our chat we talk about kola nuts, cross-cultural digital possibilities, writing, and African storytelling. Her interview begins at 6:44.
Ep. 43: A conversation with Jennifer Kyker about the mbira, gender, and more
Welcome back to Ufahamu Africa. This week’s episode is the first in Season 3. We are excited to announce a new co-host, Rachel Beatty Riedl (@BeattyRiedl), an associate professor of political science and director of the Program of African Studies at Northwestern University. We’ve also brought back the weekly roundup of things we’re learning and reading about the continent to open the episode.
This week’s episode features a conversation with Jennifer Kyker, an associate professor of music and of ethnomusicology at the University of Rochester. We talk about the mbira, an instrument you’ll hear featured in this week’s episode. Kyker is the author of a book on popular music in postcolonial Zimbabwe, Oliver Mtukudzi: Living Tuku Music in Zimbabwe, published by Indiana University Press. Our chat begins at 6:44.
Ep. 42: A conversation with author Petina Gappah on politics, writing, and more
This week’s episode features Petina Gappah, a writer and international lawyer from Zimbabwe. Thanks to the efforts of Chipo Dendere, Petina visited the Five Colleges earlier this year and we had a chance to sit down and talk. In addition to chatting about her forthcoming historical novel on David Livingstone’s companions, we talk about Gappah’s award-winning book The Book of Memory, and her two collections of short stories, An Elegy for Easterly and Rotten Row. In our conversation, she shares why she became a writer and her approach to writing.
Ep. 41: A conversation with Jennifer Tappan about health and medicine in African history
In our second episode during Black History Month, I chat another historian of Africa: Jennifer Tappan, Associate Professor of African History at Portland State University. Her research focuses on the history of medicine and health. This week we talk about her book, The Riddle of Malnutrition: The Long Arc of Biomedical and Public Health Interventions in Uganda. We also talk about a new project she’s started on the history of yellow fever in Africa.
Ep. 40: A conversation with Abou Bamba on Françafrique, the Ivorian miracle, and more
To kick off Black History Month, this week’s episode features a conversation with historian Abou Bamba (@bambaab1), a professor at Gettysburg College, where he teaches courses in Africana Studies and History. We chat about his book, African Miracle African Mirage, which was published by Ohio University Press.
Ep. 39: A conversation with Lade Adunbi about oil wealth and cooperation in Nigeria
This week’s episode features a conversation with Omolade Adunbi (@LadeAdunbi), a political anthropologist and associate professor at the University of Michigan in the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies. We talk about his award-winning book, Oil Wealth and Insurgency in Nigeria, which was published by Indiana University Press in 2015.
Ep. 38: A conversation with Cajetan Iheka on the environment in African literature
This week’s episode features a conversation with Cajetan Iheka (@profiheka), an assistant professor of English at the University of Alabama. Iheka’s research and teaching focus on African and Caribbean literatures and film, postcolonial studies, eco-criticism, and world literature. In Episode 38, we talk about his book, Naturalizing Africa: Ecological Violence, Agency, and Postcolonial Resistance Read More…
Season 1, An Epilogue
Have a quick listen to hear what our most popular episodes were in Season 1 and what to expect in Season 2. Book, Links, & Articles Previous Episodes We Mentioned
Ep. 37: A conversation with Dr. George Karekwaivanane on the struggle for power in Zimbabwe
This week’s episode features a conversation with Dr. George Karekwaivanane (@ghkare). Dr. Karekwaivanane is a lecturer in African Studies at the University of Edinburgh and the author of The Struggle over State Power in Zimbabwe: Law and Politics Since 1950, recently published by Cambridge University Press. I spoke with George last week at the annual meeting of the African Studies Association in Chicago.
Ep. 36: A conversation with Hilary Matfess on women and Boko Haram
In this week’s episode, I chat with Hilary Matfess (@HilaryMatfess), a doctoral student in political science at Yale University, where she studies the intersection of conflict, governance, and gender. In our conversation, we talk about her new book, Women and the War on Boko Haram, which just came out this week.
Ep. 35: A conversation with Boniface Mwangi on photography, running for office, and more
This week’s episode features a conversation with award-winning photojournalist and political activist Boniface Mwangi. Mwangi recently ran to be a member of parliament in Starehe constituency, which is in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city. Thanks to the efforts of friend of the podcast Dr. Chipo Dendere, Mwangi recently visited the Pioneer Valley to give a lecture at Amherst College. While he was here, I sat down with him and asked about his recent campaign for office and about his book, Unbounded, which features stories about his life juxtaposed with a sample of some of his amazing photography. In addition to being sold in Kenya, Unbounded is currently available in the United States via Amazon. Our conversation begins at 2:14.