Lauren Honig is an assistant professor of political science at Boston College whose work addresses questions of property rights, the roles of informal and customary institutions, natural resource politics, and state-citizen linkages. Lauren talks to Kim this week about her new book, Land Politics: How Customary Institutions Shape State Building in Zambia and Senegal. Plus, in Read More…
Tag: Zambia
Ep. 115: A conversation with Robtel Neajai Pailey on citizenship and Liberia
Robtel Neajai Pailey is a writer, activist, and academic whose recent book engages with the topic of citizenship in Africa, especially in Liberia. She joins Rachel for a great conversation about her work, the scholar-activists who influence and inspire her, and how to make our work ethical, emancipatory, and accessible. We conducted this interview on the sidelines of the 52nd Annual Liberian Studies Association conference, hosted by Cornell University’s Institute of African Development.
In the news wrap, Kim and Rachel talk about academic freedom in Zambia, the corruption trial in South Africa against its former president, and legal challenges surrounding closings of Kenyan refugee camps, and Twitter’s move to Ghana.
Ep. 100: A conversation with Siba Grovogui about race and racism in international relations (French)
Listen to our interview with Siba Grovogui about race and racism in international relations, in French! In this week’s news wrap, Kim and Rachel talk about Zambia’s COVID response, a crisis in Ethiopia, and the passing of Jerry Rawlings.
We also announce our Ufahamu Africa essay competition. Submit a one-page essay reflecting on a topic of your choice within the broad scope of life and politics in African politics to win some podcast swag or a chance to read your essay on a future episode.
Ep. 100: A conversation with Siba Grovogui about race and racism in international relations
Happy #100EpisodesOfUfahamu! For our 100th episode, Rachel interviews Siba Grovogui about race and racism in international relations. You can listen to the interview in English or French! Kim and Rachel talk about Zambia’s COVID response, a crisis in Ethiopia, and the passing of Jerry Rawlings.
We also announce our Ufahamu Africa essay competition. Submit a one-page essay reflecting on a topic of your choice within the broad scope of life and politics in African politics to win some podcast swag or a chance to read your essay on a future episode.
Ep. 87: A conversation with Marja Hinfelaar on Zambian politics, environment and energy, and more
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.
Ep. 84: A Lunar New Year conversation with Jamie Monson on China-Africa relations, seeing technology from the user perspective, and more
To commemorate Lunar New Year, this week’s episode focuses on China-Africa relations. In the news wrap, we talk about China-Africa trade, some recommended reads and a podcast on China-Africa, as well as Russia-Africa relations, reports of an extended US travel ban for some African countries, Isabel Dos Santos’s Angolan assets seizure, and more.
Our featured conversation is with Jamie Monson (@jmonson1), Professor of History and Director of the African Studies Center at Michigan State University (@MSUAfrica). Her research focuses on Chinese development assistance to Africa. She is a specialist on the TAZARA railway, a development project built in Tanzania and Zambia with Chinese development cooperation in the 1970s. We talk about her book, Africa’s Freedom Railway: How a Chinese Development Project Changed Lives and Livelihoods in Tanzania, and her related documentary, TAZARA stories. The new documentary film relies on oral history interviews to share people’s experiences with the introduction of the TAZARA railway. We also talk about seeing technology from the user’s perspective and inequalities in academic partnerships across regions. The segment with Jamie Monson begins at 13:42.
Ep. 81: Another Africa Podcast Mashup: Kim Yi Dionne on AIDS interventions in Africa, podcasting, and more
In the newswrap this week, we talk about Ethiopian politics, Zambia’s third term debate, elections in Namibia, and more.
This week is another African podcast mashup special — featuring a conversation with Ufahamu Africa’s own Kim Yi Dionne (@dadakim) in commemoration of World AIDS Day this weekend. Kim is a professor of political science at UC Riverside and an editor of The Monkey Cage, a blog on politics and political science at The Washington Post. She is also the author of Doomed Interventions: The Failure of Global Responses to AIDS in Africa, published by Cambridge University Press in 2018. This week’s conversation with Kim is shared courtesy of the Africa Past and Present Podcast, hosted by Michigan State University historian Peter Alegi (@futbolprof), who was a guest on Ufahamu Africa in Episode 3. Peter talks to Kim about her book on AIDS in Africa, the role of village headmen in AIDS interventions, what turns Malawians out to vote, podcasting, and more. Their segment begins at 9:11.
Ep. 74: A conversation with Mandela Fellows from Zambia, Senegal, and Cameroon on mobile money’s challenges and opportunities
Ufahamu Africa is excited to launch its fourth season with a roundtable discussion about mobile money in Africa, its challenges, opportunities, and potential for social and political transformation. Co-host Rachel Beatty Riedl moderates the conversation with three Mandela Washington Fellows who participated in the Young African Leaders Initiative at Northwestern University earlier this year: Patton Kalunga of Zambia, Amadou Abdoulaye Sylla of Senegal, and Ngah Tse Ngah Benoit of Cameroon. Rachel and co-host Kim Dionne open the episode catching up on news in southern Africa, including protests in Malawi, xenophobic attacks in South Africa, and the death of former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe. They also talk about new research that listeners should check out and they share congratulatory messages for some of Ufahamu Africa’s earlier guests.
Bonus: A review of Erin Hern’s book on public service provision and political participation
In this bonus recording, hear Ufahamu Africa host Kim Dionne read her review of Erin Accampo Hern’s “Developing States, Shaping Citizenship.” The review was published as the twelfth and final installment of the African Politics Summer Reading Spectacular, and this recording is being shared as part of a collaboration with The Monkey Cage, a blog on politics and political science at The Washington Post.