In this week’s episode, we feature remarks by Dr. Zachariah Mampilly (@Ras_Karya), an Associate Professor of Political Science, International Studies, and Africana Studies at Vassar College. In 2012-2013, he was a Fulbright Visiting Professor at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He is the author of Rebel Rulers: Insurgent Governance and Civilian Life during Read More…
Author: ufahamuafrica
Ep. 23: A conversation with Dr. Ken Opalo on the Kenyan elections
In this week’s episode, we speak with Dr. Kennedy Opalo (@kopalo), an assistant professor at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. His research focuses on the political economy of development, legislative development, and electoral politics in emerging democracies. Ken blogs regularly at his blog, An Africanist Perspective, and currently is writing Read More…
Ep. 22: A conversation with Dr. John Aerni-Flessner on the recent Lesotho elections
We talk this week about the Lesotho elections, which were held on June 3rd.
Ep. 21: A conversation with Dr. Souleymane Soumahoro on development and politics in Africa
In this week’s episode, we speak with Dr. Souleymane Soumahoro (@soumduce), an economist currently consulting at the World Bank. Originally from Côte d’Ivoire, Dr. Soumahoro earned his bachelor of arts degree in political economy from Université Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, Senegal, his masters in economics at the Université D’Auverge in Clermont-Ferrand, France, and his Read More…
Ep. 20: A conversation with Dr. Adia Benton on global health, Ebola as a ‘charismatic disease,’ and more
In this week’s episode, we speak with Dr. Adia Benton (@Ethnography911), a professor in anthropology and in the Program of African Studies at Northwestern University. In 2015, the University of Minnesota Press published her book, HIV Exceptionalism: Disease through Development in Sierra Leone. We talk about her book and we also discuss the change in Read More…
Ep. 19: A farewell conversation with Sarah Agatoni on identity, community, and more
In our final week recording together (before Sarah Agatoni, Smith College Class of 2017, graduates), we take a moment to reflect on the year we’ve spent together and what we have hoped to do with the Ufahamu Africa podcast. We talk about identity, community, and studying/understanding Africa from afar. Our song of the week is Read More…
Ep. 18: A conversation with Nicole Amarteifio, creator of ‘An African City’
This week’s episode features a Q&A with Nicole Amarteifio (@AllThingsAfrica), creator of the hit web series “An African City.” We talk about the show as well as a new TV show she’s created — “The Republic,” a political thriller set in Ghana’s capital Accra. We also talk about a recent public service announcement she created, #HowShortWasYourSkirt, which Read More…
Ep. 17: Conversations with Dr. Rachel Beatty Riedl and Dr. Jennifer Brass about two new books on African politics
This week’s episode features two conversations about recently published books on African politics. First, I chat with Dr. Rachel Beatty Riedl (@BeattyRiedl), Associate Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University. Her award-winning book, Authoritarian Origins of Party Systems in Africa, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2014. My second conversation is with Dr. Jennifer Brass (@jennifer_brass), Assistant Professor at Read More…
Ep. 16: A conversation with Dr. Candis Watts Smith on her book Black Mosaic
In this week’s episode, we chat with Dr. Candis Watts Smith (@ProfCandis), assistant professor of public policy at UNC. Her first book, Black Mosaic: The Politics of Black Pan-Ethnic Diversity, was published by NYU Press in 2014. We talk about her book and about racial and political attitudes among millennials in the U.S. Most Read More…
Ep. 15: A conversation with Dr. Lahra Smith on refugees and migrants in the Horn of Africa
In this week’s episode, we speak with Georgetown University professor Lahra Smith. Her book, Making Citizens in Africa: Ethnicity, Gender and National Identity in Ethiopia, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2013. Dr. Smith has taught and conducted research in refugee camps in East and Southern Africa, and has ongoing research on civic education Read More…
Ep. 14: A conversation with Rwandan filmmaker Kivu Ruhorahoza on memory, audience, and art more broadly
In remembrance of the genocide in Rwanda in April 1994, in this week’s episode, we speak with Rwandan filmmaker Kivu Ruhorahoza (@KivuRuhorahoza). His debut film Grey Matter, which came out in 2011, won the Jury Special Mention for Best Emerging Filmmaker at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. His second film, Things of the Aimless Wanderer, Read More…
Ep. 13: A conversation with Constantine Manda about increasing authoritarianism in Tanzania
In this week’s podcast, we speak with Constantine Manda (@msisiri), a doctoral student in political science at Yale University who hails from Tanzania. We talk about recent events in Tanzania, including the firing of Tanzania’s information minister and the arrest of rapper Nay wa Mitego, and how these events signal growing authoritarianism in the country since the Read More…