Ep. 34: A conversation with Judd Devermont on Nigeria’s civil war and how analysis can go wrong

In this week’s episode, I chat about the Nigerian Civil War with Judd Devermont, the National Intelligence Officer for Africa at the U.S. National Intelligence Council. He is also a lecturer at George Washington University’s Elliot School of International Affairs. Devermont has worked and lived in Nigeria, South Africa, and Côte d’Ivoire. He holds an MA in African Studies from Yale University and a BA in History from UCLA. He is a guest on Ufahamu Africa in a personal capacity – as a citizen, not as a representative of the U.S. government. We talk about Devermont’s recent publication in African Affairs, “The US intelligence community’s biases during the Nigerian civil war.” Our conversation begins at 2:33.

Ep. 33: A conversation with Kiara Hill on African art, black womanhood, knowledge production, and more

This week we chat with Kiara Hill, one of the curators of “5 Takes on African Art,” an exhibition at the University Museum of Contemporary Art (UMCA) at the University of Massachusetts. I talked about the exhibition with Amy Halliday in last week’s episode. Kiara Hill was one of the five curators, her exhibit [WOMB]AN explores the saliency of femininity and womanhood in West African cosmology. Kiara holds an M.A. in Women Studies from the University of Alabama and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Afro-American studies at the University of Massachusetts. Our conversation begins at 3:40. Listen to us talk about gender, power, race, and knowledge production:

Ep. 32: A conversation with Amy Halliday on contemporary African art

Episode 32 features a conversation with Amy Halliday, director of the Hampshire Gallery at Hampshire College. Amy works at the intersection of curation, education, arts administration and management. She holds an M.A. in Art History from University College London and an M.A. in teaching from Smith College. We talk about contemporary African art and “5 Takes on African Art,” an exhibition at the University Museum of Contemporary Art (UMCA) at the University of Massachusetts. Our conversation begins at 2:34.

Ep. 31-1: Part 1 of a chat with the founders of Mawazo, a research start-up in Nairobi

This week’s conversation was great, but ran long—so I’ve broken it up into two parts. I chat with Dr. Rose Mutiso (@MutisoRose) and Rachel Strohm (@RachelStrohm), co-founders of the Mawazo Institute, a start-up non-profit research institute in Nairobi, Kenya.

Both Mawazo founders are researchers themselves. Dr. Mutiso’s research focus is on African energy sector development. She holds a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. Her co-founder Rachel Strohm is a PhD candidate in political science at the University of California Berkeley. We talked about their decision to start Mawazo and some of the structural challenges facing African women researchers. Our conversation begins at 1:45. Here is Part 1:

Ep. 30: A conversation with filmmaker Christiane Badgley about Guangzhou Dream Factory

After an unplanned break, the podcast returns this week, highlighting a new film: Guangzhou Dream Factory. In a conversation with filmmaker Christiane Badgley (@pipelinedreams), we talk about African migrants in China and the missed opportunities in these entrepreneurs’ home countries. Much of Badgley’s earlier work is set in Africa. In recent years, she has focused her attention on the extractive industries and controversial U.S. investments in West and Central Africa, writing and producing film and new media work for multiple broadcast and online outlets. Guangzhou Dream Factory is Badgley’s latest documentary (with producing partner, Erica Marcus), and was made with funding from The National Endowment for the Humanities and The National Endowment for the Arts. Our conversation begins at 4:59.

Ep. 29: A conversation with Professor Landry Signé on development in Africa

In this week’s episode, we speak with Professor Landry Signé (@LandrySigne), a Distinguished Fellow at Stanford University’s Center for African Studies, founding Chairman of the award-wining Global Network for Africa’s Prosperity, and Professor of Political Science and Senior Adviser to the Chancellor and Provost on International Affairs at the University of Alaska Anchorage. We talk about development in Africa and Read More…

Ep. 28: A conversation with Dr. Kathleen Klaus on Kenya’s annulled elections and more

In this week’s episode, we speak with Dr. Kathleen Klaus (@KathleenKlaus), Visiting Assistant Professor of Government at Wesleyan University. She earned her PhD at the University of Wisconsin and was recently a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University. Her research examines elections, violence, and land rights and she is currently finishing a book manuscript that draws Read More…