Ufahamu Africa

This week’s news wrap featured discussions about recent election updates in Burundi and Benin, leadership changes in Lesotho, and more news regarding summer bonus content! In this episode, we highlight a panel discussion from an event with the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Our very own cohost, Kim Yi Dionne, was a part … More Ep. 93: A conversation with Kim Yi Dionne and Ken Opalo about the politics and policy of the COVID-19 pandemic and more

The news wrap for this week’s episode offers insights into legislative elections in Mali, COVID and politics in Malawi, and more.  This week, we highlight a panel conversation with entrepreneurs from the Africa Summit at Princeton University on the fundamentals of entrepreneurship and dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. The conversation was hosted by Bayo Okusanya, … More Ep92. A conversation with entrepreneurs on the continent about innovation, COVID, and more.

The news wrap in this week's episode offers tribute to Malawian economist and thinker Thandika Mkandawire, discusses COVID-19's economic impacts, and more. This week’s conversation is with Peace Medie (@PeaceMedie), a Senior Lecturer in Gender and International Politics at the University of Bristol. Her research examines gender, politics, and conflict in Africa. During a conversation we recorded at the African Studies Association annual meeting, we talk about campaigns to end gender-based violence, writing both academic research and fiction, the ethics of research in African politics, and more. During that chat, we talk about what she found when researching her newly published book, Global Norms and Local Action: The Campaigns to End Violence against Women in Africa and we talk about her forthcoming debut novel, His Only Wife, which listeners can pre-order now. Her segment begins at 9:28. As a content note to our listeners, our conversation touches on Peace's research, which includes women's reporting of s

We start this week's episode discussing the swarm of locusts wreaking havoc in East Africa, how COVID-19 will push the African region into its first recession in a quarter century, and the long term consequences of the pandemic for democracy and rights.  Our featured guest this week is Dr. George Ogola (@Ogolah), a scholar of media in the global south at the University of Central Lancashire's School of Journalism, Media, and Performance. Kim and George discuss African media coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, the media's role in checking political power, and the "pockets of indiscipline" where citizens can access quality reporting that has evaded state power. His segment begins at 11:53. … More Ep90. A conversation with George Ogola about African media, unchecked political power, and more

This week's brief episode focuses on what our hosts -- Kim Yi Dionne and Rachel Beatty Riedl -- are reading and learning related to the COVID-19 pandemic and responses by African governments. There is a lot that has already been written and we share what we think are some important questions and arguments that we as scholars of pandemics and authoritarian politics think our listeners should be thinking about. Did we miss something important? Email us your ideas for episodes that will expand our audience's understanding of African citizens and states navigating this pandemic. … More Ep89. Ufahamu Africa hosts discuss African government responses to COVID-19

On this week's news update, Kim and Rachel discuss Nigeria's first Coronavirus patient, the downward trend of Ebola, and elections in Cote d'Ivoire. At the African Studies Association Annual Meeting in Boston this past fall, Kim met with Nic Cheeseman (@Fromagehomme) to discuss his latest book and other topics, such as presidential succession in Uganda. Nic is a professor of democracy and international development at the University of Birmingham, and he was the former African Studies Centre Director for Oxford University. He specializes in elections and democracy, doing field work in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Ghana, just to name a few. A frequent commentator on global issues regarding Africa, Nic's words have appeared in Foreign Policy, the New York Times, and many other renowned publications. … More Ep88. A talk with Nic Cheeseman about his latest book, Uganda, and much 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.  … More Ep87. A conversation with Marja Hinfelaar on Zambian politics, environment and energy, 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. … More Ep86. A conversation with Moïses Williams Pokam Kamdem about Africa’s energy sector, Cameroon’s political history, and more

In this week’s episode, Kim sat down with Jennifer Hart, an associate professor of History at Wayne State University, at the African Studies Association Annual Meeting to talk about her latest projects in transportation. From her book, Ghana on the Go, to digital humanities, Kim and Jennifer discuss a wide range of topics during their … More Ep85. A conversation Jennifer Hart on transportation, digital humanities, 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

We begin this week's news wrap with a discussion of some of the best literature of the decade - thanks to a curated list by African Arguments - and we are extremely fortunate to feature one of these authors in this episode, Yvonne Owuor. Kim and Rachel also chat about films, China in Africa, cocoa price coordination in Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire, and a call for applicants to the next meeting of the Working Group in African Political Economy. Yvonne Owuor is an acclaimed author, winning the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2003 for her short story, The Weight of Whispers, and short-listed for the Folio Prize for her novel Dust (2014).  She has recently published a beautiful coming-of-age story, The Dragonfly Sea (2019), that explores aspects of East African sea imagination in a time of China's return to its milieu.  Owuor received the (Kenya) Head of State Commendation in 2016 for her cultural and artistic contributions.  Rachel sat down with Yvonne at the Institute for Advanced Study in Nantes, where they ar

[FRENCH VERSION] Welcome back, Ufahamu Africa listeners! Kim and Rachel begin this week’s episode discussing the news, opening up with developments with the franc CFA, some excellent reporting on Ebola in DRC, security in the Sahel, and more. This week’s guest is Kako Nubukpo (@kakonubukpo), a Senior Research Fellow at the Agricultural Research Centre of International Development (CIRAD) in Paris and currently a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Nantes. He was formerly a minister in Togo for long-term planning. For this week’s interview, he and Rachel spoke about the franc CFA and what proposed changes (some of which have since their interview come to fore) could mean for West African countries. They also use the occasion of Togo’s upcoming elections to talk about elections, development, and agriculture more broadly. Their conversation was recorded in French. Their segment begins at 11:44. … More Ep82f. A conversation with Kako Nubukpo on the franc CFA, development, elections, and more [FRE

Welcome back, Ufahamu Africa listeners! Kim and Rachel begin this week's episode discussing the news, opening up with developments with the franc CFA, some excellent reporting on Ebola in DRC, security in the Sahel, and more.  This week's guest is Kako Nubukpo (@kakonubukpo), a Senior Research Fellow at the Agricultural Research Centre of International Development (CIRAD) in Paris and currently a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Nantes. He was formerly a minister in Togo for long-term planning. For this week's interview, he and Rachel spoke about the franc CFA and what proposed changes (some of which have since their interview come to fore) could mean for West African countries. They also use the occasion of Togo's upcoming elections to talk about elections, development, and agriculture more broadly. Their conversation was originally recorded in French and this version includes the English translation. Their segment begins at 11:44. … More Ep82. A conversation with Kako Nubukpo on the fran

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. … More Ep8

This week's episode begins with congratulations to Rachel Beatty Riedl and her co-author Gwyneth McClendon on the publication of their book, From Pews to Politics: Religious Sermons and Political Participation in Africa. What perfect timing, given this week's episode features a conversation with Father Emmanuel Katongole, Professor of Theology and Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. The news wrap also covers events in Burkina Faso and Gambia, Ugandan opposition parliamentarian Bobi Wine's visit to the US, and a shoutout to TJ Tallie for his book being published this week, too! This week's episode includes the first interview by Ufahamu Africa's research and production fellow, Zamone Perez, an undergraduate student at Northwestern University. Zamone talks with Professor Katongole about his book, The Sacrifice of Africa: A Political Theology for Africa. The conversation covers broad territory on religion as offering social and political organizing principles as well as specifics, e.g., on forgivenes

In the newswrap this week, we talk about Nigeria fact-checking, Botswana's elections, terrorist attacks in West Africa, and more. This week's featured conversation is with Ken Opalo (@kopalo), an Assistant Professor at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He talks about his newly published book, Legislative Development in Africa: Politics and Postcolonial Legacies. Long-time listeners might recall that Ken was on the show back in 2017, ahead of the Kenyan elections. Have a listen to Rachel’s conversation with Ken about his book and about his next project, which examines government provision of public goods, like health services. Their conversation begins at 13:36.  … More Ep79. A conversation with Ken Opalo about political institutions, public goods, and more

We start this week's newswrap talking about Russian interference in African elections using Facebook, Rose Mutiso's TED talk about energy poverty in Africa, identification card politics in northeastern Nigeria, and more. Our guest this week is Kathleen Klaus (@KathleenKlaus), an assistant professor of politics at the University of San Francisco. Her book, Political Violence in Kenya: Land, Elections, and Claim-Making, is in production at Cambridge University Press, expected to be published in 2020. Kathleen’s award-winning research has focused on land rights and political violence and Ufahamu Africa listeners may remember that she was our guest in Episode 28, helping us to understand the then recently announced decision by the Kenyan Supreme Court to nullify the 2017 presidential elections. Rachel sat down with Kathleen when she was at Cornell University earlier this month presenting some of her new research on refugee settlement and the politics of land in Uganda. Their conversation begins at 13:11. …

This week's episode opens up with discussion about the recent elections in Botswana and Mozambique, the anti-sanctions protests in Zimbabwe, post-peace prize Ethiopia, and more.  Co-host Rachel Beatty Riedl moderates this week's conversation on agriculture and innovation in Africa. Our guests are Kudzai Kutukwa, Kitso Dube, and Andrew Dillon. Kudzai and Kitso were YALI Mandela Fellows at Northwestern University earlier this year, when this conversation was recorded. Kudzai is the co-founder and CEO of Mobbisurance, which is a startup that develops multi-based crop insurance products and other financial services for small-holder farmers. Kitso currently serves as a loan officer for FBC Holdings, helping communities that are marginalized access financial services in Zimbabwe. Andrew is a development economist, appointed as a Clinical Associate Professor within the Kellogg School of Management’s Public-Private Interface Initiative and a Research Associate Professor in the Global Poverty Research Lab at the Buf

We start this week's newswrap celebrating Kenyan marathoners, highlighting recent arts and culture pieces in OkayAfrica, talking about elections in Mozambique, protests in Guinea, and this year's Nobel Prize in Economics winners. This week’s guest is economist Grieve Chelwa, a senior lecturer at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business. Prior to his appointment at UCT, Dr. Chelwa was a post-doctoral fellow with Harvard University’s Center for African Studies, the Southern African Institute for Policy and Research, and the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of the Witwatersrand. In addition to his scholarly work, he is a contributing editor to Africa Is A Country. We talk about economics (including what it means to be a development economist), research and collaboration, the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, and more. Our conversation begins at 14:27. … More Ep76. A conversation with Grieve Chelwa on how economics has an Africa problem

Following a news wrap covering Facebook's fact-checking initiative, Tunisia's elections, Malawi's protests, and more, this week's episode features an interview with Richard Banégas, a professor at Sciences Po. He talks with co-host Rachel Beatty Riedl about his research on identity papers, citizenship, and how technological developments are shaping mobility globally. Rachel's conversation with Richard begins at 10:43. … More Ep75. A conversation with Richard Banegas on citizenship, identity cards, and more