A podcast about life and politics on the African continent
N’Dri Thérèse Assié-Lumumba joins us in conversation this week to discuss her new book, the history of human capital theory, education in Africa, and tells us what is giving her hope.
In this week’s news, we announce the winner of our student essay competition, share links to a virtual symposium on immigration and the changing dynamics of blackness, and talk about what is going on with COVID-19 vaccines on the African continent.
Not one guest, but three on our latest episode! Rachel speaks with Grace Adeniyi-Ogunyankin, Francis Nyamnjoh, and George Ofosu about postcolonial theory, decolonization of the university, and knowledge generation. All three have contributed to the Oxford Encyclopedia of African Politics, and we have access for our listeners to the chapters of our guests.
In our last episode of Black History Month, Rachel interviews political theorist Adom Getachew on her new book, “Worldmaking after Empire: The Rise and Fall of Self-Determination.” Her book reconstructs an account of self-determination offered in the political thought of Black Atlantic anticolonial nationalists during the height of decolonization in the twentieth century.
We have lots of great recommendations for listeners this week, including books on race and feminism, a virtual event on African folktales, a virtual resource for those of us missing travel and fieldwork, podcast episodes you should listen to, and more!
Jacqueline-Bethel Mougoué is an assistant professor of gender and sexuality in African Cultural Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In her conversation with us, she highlights her work in Cameroon on gender, identity, and nationalism, which has culminated in the publication of a new book, “Gender, Separatist Politics, and Embodied Nationalism in Cameroon.”
As we continue our celebration of Black History Month, we share what we’re paying attention to right now. In addition to a film recommendation in this week’s news wrap, Kim explains what is going on with COVID-19 vaccines in Africa, Rachel explains a case of environmental activism in South Africa, and more.
This week’s episode features Cécile Fromont, an associate professor of art history at Yale University, who was a panelist for “Repatriation of Museum Objects,” an event held by Cornell University’s Institute for European Studies. She shares her perspective through four stories, drawing on her work as a historian of African and visual material culture in the early modern period. Listen to part 1 of this episode for more context about the event.
This week’s episode has a brief newswrap because co-host Rachel Beatty Riedl had to phone in from Morocco. We quickly cover the World Bank-African Development Bank spat, the plague of locusts in East Africa, and more.
This week’s conversation is with Marja Hinfelaar, Director of Research and Programs at the Southern African Institute for Policy and Research (SAIPAR) in Lusaka, Zambia. Marja received her PhD in History in 2001 from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, and her dissertation focused on the history of women’s organizations in Zimbabwe. She is the co-editor of One Zambia, Many Histories and Democracy and Electoral Politics in Zambia. Rachel spoke with Marja when she was in Zambia earlier this year. They discuss Zambian politics, environment and energy, religious and traditional leaders, and more. Their conversation begins at 9:56.
[FRENCH VERSION] In our second episode this Black History Month, Rachel speaks with Moïses WIlliams Pokam Kamdem, a lecturer and research at the University of Dschang and a fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study in Nantes, France. They talk about Africa’s energy sector, Cameroon’s political history, and more. Their conversation begins at 14:01.
Our news wrap covers the recent court ruling in Malawi nullifying the presidential election, the US travel restrictions imposed on Nigerians, the NYT photographic retrospective and collection of essays on 60 years of African independence, and more.
In our second episode this Black History Month, Rachel speaks with Moïses WIlliams Pokam Kamdem, a lecturer and research at the University of Dschang and a fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study in Nantes, France. They talk about Africa’s energy sector, Cameroon’s political history, and more. Their conversation begins at 14:01.
Our news wrap covers the recent court ruling in Malawi nullifying the presidential election, the US travel restrictions imposed on Nigerians, the NYT photographic retrospective and collection of essays on 60 years of African independence, and more.
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.
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.
In the final week of Black History month, we chat with Dr. Daniel Magaziner, Associate Professor of History at Yale University. We talk about his published book, The Art of Life in South Africa. Dr. Magaziner is a historian of 20th century South Africa, and his work focuses on intellectual history. He is also Read More…
In this week’s episode, we chat with Dr. Michelle Moyd, Associate Professor of History at Indiana University. Dr. Moyd studies the history of soldiering and warfare in East Africa. She talked with us about her first book, Violent Intermediaries, which explores the social and cultural history of Askari, African soldiers in the colonial army of German East Read More…