Ufahamu Africa

In this week's episode, we talk about Saharan Futures, protests and political change in Sudan, political maneuvering in Senegal, and what Cyclone Idai teaches us about governance of disasters and in urban spaces.Our featured guest this week is Hannah Armstrong, the Senior Sahel consultant at the International Crisis Group. She has worked across North Africa and the Sahel as a writer and researcher for various publications and organizations since 2006. She served as a Fulbright fellow in Morocco and as a fellow of the Institute of Current World Affairs in Niger, Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Algeria, and the Western Sahara from 2012 to 2014.  Rachel spoke with Hannah earlier this week when she was visiting Chicago from Dakar, where she is based. Their conversation begins at 13:03. … More Ep64. A conversation with Hannah Armstrong on politics in Algeria, the Sahel, illicit trafficking and borders

We begin this week's episode talking about the resignation of Algerian president Bouteflika, mistrust challenging response to the Ebola outbreak in Eastern Congo, and we mark the 25th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. This week’s conversation is with Muna Ndulo, the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of International & Comparative Law at Cornell Law School. Professor Ndulo is an expert on constitution making, governance and institution building, international criminal law, African legal systems, and human rights. Rachel sat down with Prof Ndulo and asked him about international financial transparency, investment vs. insurgency in Northern Mozambique, the role of the judiciary in African elections, and the confrontation of customary law and gender equality in the colonial and contemporary periods. Their segment begins at 12:16.  … More Ep63. A conversation with Muna Ndulo on international financial transparency, investment vs. insurgency, and more

It may not be spring in the southern hemisphere, but up here in North America, Ufahamu Africa’s hosts are on Spring Break. Don’t worry, we’ll be back next week, when we talk about politics in Algeria, Ebola in DRC, and more. Our guest next week will be Muna Ndulo.

We begin this week's episode discussing protests and democracy in Benin, the damage from Cyclone Idai in Mozambique, Malawi, and Zimbabwe, and the consequences of climate change more broadly. Our featured conversation is with Khalid Medani, an Associate Professor of Political Science and Islamic Studies and the Chair of the African Studies Program at McGill University. He has published widely on the on the roots of civil conflict and the funding of the Islamic movement in Sudan, the question of informal finance and terrorism in Somalia, the obstacles to state building in Iraq, and the role of informal networks in the rise of Islamic militancy. He provides insights on the current protests in Sudan and puts them in context. His conversation begins at 10:02.  … More Ep62. A conversation with Khalid Medani on protests in Sudan

This week’s episode begins with discussion of events in DRC, Malawi, and Algeria. We also talk about a new study showing how democracy is good for our health. Our featured conversation is with Sally Nuamah, an assistant professor at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy. Her research sits at the intersections of race, gender, public education and political behavior. She made the award-winning film, HerStory. We talk with Sally about her first book, How Girls Achieve, released this week by Harvard University Press. Our conversation begins at 10:53. … More Ep61. A conversation with Sally Nuamah on girls’ education

This week's episode kicks off Women's History Month and celebrates International Women's Day, starting with a conversation about women's protest participation in Algeria and women's representation in politics in Africa more broadly. We also highlight critiques of the theme for International Women's Day 2019: #BalanceForBetter.Our conversation is with Professor Nyokabi Kamau, who is the Executive Director of the Centre for Parliamentary Studies and Training in Kenya. The conversation was part of a global salon hosted at the Lewis Global Studies Center in 2018 and was facilitated by Smith College Professor of Comparative Literature Katwiwa Mule. They talk about Kamau's new book, Conversations about Gender: The Reflections of a Kenyan Feminist. Her segment begins at 12:31. … More Ep60. A conversation with Nyokabi Kamau on feminism in Kenya

This week's episode features a lot of discussion on North Africa. In the news wrap, we cover the protests in Algeria and Sudan (as well as election results in Senegal and Nigeria). Our featured conversation for this week's episode is with Matt Buehler, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Tennessee and Global Security Fellow at the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy. Matt talks about his new book, Why Alliances Fail: Islamist and Leftist Coalitions in North Africa.  … More Ep59. A conversation with Matt Buehler on how governments spoil opposition alliances in North Africa

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. … More Ep58. A conversation with Wendell Marsh on the history (and modernity) of Islam and the African world

Nigeria's elections have been postponed, but that didn't keep us from sharing our insightful conversation with Nicholas Kerr this week. Nicholas is an assistant professor of comparative politics in the Department of Political Science at the University of Florida. We talk about his research on electoral management bodies in Africa and in particular about his research on election management and popular perceptions of election quality in Nigeria. Our conversation begins at 10:06. … More Ep57. A conversation with Nicholas Kerr about Nigerian elections, citizens’ opinions about election quality, and more

This week's episode opens with a conversation about increasing authoritarianism in Tanzania, the shutdown of an independent newspaper's website in Uganda, fake news ahead of the Nigerian elections, and more. For this week's conversation, Rachel spoke with Dr. Anta Sané and Dr. Ndongo Samba Sylla about the upcoming elections in Senegal. … More Ep56. A conversation with Dr. Anta Sané and Dr. Ndongo Symba Sylla about the Senegalese elections

In this week’s episode, we speak with Ashley Currier, Professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Cincinnati. We asked her about her new book, Politicizing Sex in Contemporary Africa: Homophobia in Malawi. Her first book, Out in Africa: LGBT Organizing in Namibia and South Africa, was a finalist for a 2013 Lambda Literary Book Award. Our conversation begins at 9:44. … More Ep55. A conversation with Ashley Currier on LGBTQ organizing in Africa

This week's episode begins with conversation about the Congolese elections, Laurent Gbagbo's acquittal in the International Criminal Court, and political jostling between the president and deputy president in Kenya. Our guest this week is Jaimie Bleck, an Associate Professor of Political Science and Faculty Fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame. In this week’s episode, we talk about her latest book, written with Nicolas van de Walle, Electoral Politics in Africa Since 1990: Continuity in Change. From her new book, we learn about common trends among African candidates, African voters' priorities, and the issues candidates campaign on in African elections. She also tells us about an exciting project she worked on with Malian musicians live-scoring a silent film, "The Passion of Joan of Arc" at Notre Dame. Tune in to her segment at 9:09. … More Ep54. A conversation with Jaimie Bleck on elections in Africa, music in Mali, and more

This week's episode begins with a discussion of protests and repression in Zimbabwe, the terror attack in Nairobi, Kenya, Senegal's upcoming election, and the re-launch of the Africa Online Digital Library. Our guest this week is Beth Whitaker, an associate professor of political science at the University of North Carolina Charlotte. Her research examines migration and security issues in Africa. We spoke with her about her new book, Africa’s International Relations: Balancing Domestic and Global Interests during the annual meeting of the African Studies Association in Atlanta, Georgia in November 2018. Some topics we cover include diaspora voting (especially in Kenya) and refugees. Our conversation begins at 10:25. … More Ep53. A conversation with Beth Whitaker on Africa’s international relations

This week's episode begins with discussion over the contested elections and recent result announcement in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and a coup attempt by junior military officers in Gabon. Our episode features a conversation with Matthew Page (@MatthewTPage), an associate fellow at Chatham House and formerly the U.S. intelligence community’s top Nigeria expert. Along with Ambassador John Campbell (@JohnCampbellcfr), Matthew wrote the new Oxford University Press book, Nigeria: What Everyone Needs to Know. We chatted with Matthew about their book and about Nigeria’s elections next month. His segment begins at 11:16.  … More Ep52. A conversation with Matthew Page on the upcoming Nigerian elections

We begin this week's episode with a conversation about elections slated for 2019, and important developments in the elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We also talk about current protests in Senegal and Sudan, which suits our conversation with this week's guest, Lisa Mueller, an assistant professor of political science at Macalester College in Saint Paul Minnesota. Lisa is the author of a new book published by Cambridge University Press: Political Protest in Contemporary Africa. Kim spoke with her at the annual meeting of the African Studies Association in Atlanta, Georgia in November 2018. Her segment begins at 8:32. … More Ep51. A conversation with Lisa Mueller on protests in Africa

In this week's episode of Ufahamu Africa, we do our first-ever year-end reflection. We start with what we can learn from broader trends on the continent in 2018. We also share some of our favorite books we read this year and give a sneak peek at some of the guests we'll feature in 2019 -- as well as the elections we'll be watching. Bonus: we talk about art exhibits in Chicago and LA that we both plan to see very soon. … More Ep50. Reflections on 2018 and a sneak peek into 2019

In this week's episode we talk about elections in Madagascar, Togo, and especially the Democratic Republic of Congo. Our guest is Laura Seay (@texasinafrica), a political scientist at Colby College and an expert on Congolese politics. She offers some background for our listeners on the delayed elections in Congo that are now scheduled to be held on December 30. Laura also talks about her latest creation, "2 Minute African Politics," an Instagram feed that covers the main issues and debates she teaches in her African Politics course. Rachel's conversation with Laura, recorded at the African Studies Association, begins at 8:55.  … More Ep49. A conversation with Laura Seay on the upcoming DRC elections and “2 minute African Politics”

In this week's episode, we talk about Google's top search items in African countries in 2018, how Kenyans did in the Singapore marathon, Trump's new Africa policy, and more. Our featured conversation is with Boston University political scientist Michael Woldemariam (@MikeWoldemariam), who shares his expertise on the Horn of Africa region, where he has conducted extensive fieldwork. He is the author of a new book published earlier this year by Cambridge University Press, Insurgent Fragmentation in the Horn of Africa: Rebellion and Its Discontents. We spoke with Mike a couple of weeks ago at the annual meeting of the African Studies Association and we thank the ASA for making their ASAPOD booth available to us for this interview. His segment begins at 7:58. … More Ep48. A conversation with Michael Woldemariam on the political shakeup in the Horn of Africa

Don't miss our first episode featuring an interview conducted at the African Studies Association annual meeting last week. We chat with George Bob-Milliar and Lauren MacLean about recent student protests at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), where George is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of History and Political Studies. Lauren was on campus during the protests visiting Ghana for research; she is the Arthur F. Bentley Chair and Professor of political science at Indiana University at Bloomington.  In addition to telling the story of how the KNUST protests unfolded and the grievances students had that led to the protests, George and Lauren talk more broadly about what the protests (and state response) mean for academic freedom, democracy in Ghana, and more. Their segment begins at 6:51. … More Ep47. A conversation with George Bob-Milliar and Lauren MacLean about student protests at KNUST in Ghana

For the first time ever, Kim and Rachel are together to record this week's episode, which includes a conversation with Northwestern University's Evan Mwangi. Professor Mwangi talks about his most recent book, Translation in African Contexts, and the debates about literature in African languages. He also tells us about his next book, which will be about animals in African literature. … More Ep46. A conversation with Evan Mwangi on translations, literature in African languages, and more