Ufahamu Africa

In this week's episode, we talk about conflict in Cameroon, work by the writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, land restitution in South Africa, and Nanjala Nyabola's new book. This week's featured conversation is with Abdulbasit Kassim, who visited Northwestern University’s Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa earlier this week. Kassim is a PhD student in the Department of Religion at Rice University, where his research focuses on the Intellectual History of Islam in Africa, Contemporary Islamic Movements in Africa, Postcolonial African States, African Religions, and the International Relations of Sub-Saharan Africa. He is the co-editor of The Boko Haram Reader: From Nigerian Preachers to the Islamic State. The Boko Haram Reader is an unprecedented collection of primary source texts, audio-visuals, and nashids translated into English from Hausa, Arabic, and Kanuri. It traces the history and evolution of the Boko Haram movement. Kassim's segment begins at 5:53. … More Ep45. A conversation with Abdulb

In this episode of Ufahamu Africa, we talk about a new West African currency, media freedom in Tanzania, and an Ethiopian satellite that will launch soon. This week's featured conversation is with Dr. Anthonia Kalu, a professor of comparative literature and gender and sexuality studies at UC Riverside. In our chat we talk about kola nuts, cross-cultural digital possibilities, writing, and African storytelling. Her interview begins at 6:44.  … More Ep44. A conversation with Anthonia Kalu on writing and African storytelling

Welcome back to Ufahamu Africa. This week's episode is the first in Season 3. We are excited to announce a new co-host, Rachel Beatty Riedl (@BeattyRiedl), an associate professor of political science and director of the Program of African Studies at Northwestern University. We've also brought back the weekly roundup of things we're learning and reading about the continent to open the episode. This week's episode features a conversation with Jennifer Kyker, an associate professor of music and of ethnomusicology at the University of Rochester. We talk about the mbira, an instrument you'll hear featured in this week’s episode. Kyker is the author of a book on popular music in postcolonial Zimbabwe, Oliver Mtukudzi: Living Tuku Music in Zimbabwe, published by Indiana University Press. Our chat begins at 6:44. … More Ep43. A conversation with Jennifer Kyker about the mbira, gender, and more

This week's episode features Petina Gappah, a writer and international lawyer from Zimbabwe. Thanks to the efforts of Chipo Dendere, Petina visited the Five Colleges earlier this year and we had a chance to sit down and talk. In addition to chatting about her forthcoming historical novel on David Livingstone's companions, we talk about Gappah’s award-winning book The Book of Memory, and her two collections of short stories, An Elegy for Easterly and Rotten Row. In our conversation, she shares why she became a writer and her approach to writing.  … More Ep42. A conversation with author Petina Gappah on politics, writing, and more

In our second episode during Black History Month, I chat another historian of Africa: Jennifer Tappan, Associate Professor of African History at Portland State University. Her research focuses on the history of medicine and health. This week we talk about her book, The Riddle of Malnutrition: The Long Arc of Biomedical and Public Health Interventions in Uganda. We also talk about a new project she’s started on the history of yellow fever in Africa. … More Ep41. A conversation with Jennifer Tappan about health and medicine in African history

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. … More Ep40. A conversation with Abou Bamba on Françafrique, the Ivorian miracle, and more

This week's episode features a conversation with Omolade Adunbi (@LadeAdunbi), a political anthropologist and associate professor at the University of Michigan in the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies. We talk about his award-winning book, Oil Wealth and Insurgency in Nigeria, which was published by Indiana University Press in 2015. … More Ep39. A conversation with Lade Adunbi about oil wealth and cooperation in Nigeria

This week’s episode features a conversation with Cajetan Iheka (@profiheka), an assistant professor of English at the University of Alabama. Iheka’s research and teaching focus on African and Caribbean literatures and film, postcolonial studies, eco-criticism, and world literature. In Episode 38, we talk about his book, Naturalizing Africa: Ecological Violence, Agency, and Postcolonial Resistance in … More Ep38. A conversation with Cajetan Iheka on the environment in African literature

Have a quick listen to hear what our most popular episodes were in Season 1 and what to expect in Season 2.

This week’s episode features a conversation with Dr. George Karekwaivanane (@ghkare). Dr. Karekwaivanane is a lecturer in African Studies at the University of Edinburgh and the author of The Struggle over State Power in Zimbabwe: Law and Politics Since 1950, recently published by Cambridge University Press. I spoke with George last week at the annual meeting of the African Studies Association in Chicago. … More Ep37. A conversation with Dr. George Karekwaivanane on the struggle for power in Zimbabwe

In this week's episode, I chat with Hilary Matfess (@HilaryMatfess), a doctoral student in political science at Yale University,  where she studies the intersection of conflict, governance, and gender. In our conversation, we talk about her new book, Women and the War on Boko Haram, which just came out this week. … More Ep36. A conversation with Hilary Matfess on women and Boko Haram

This week’s episode features a conversation with award-winning photojournalist and political activist Boniface Mwangi. Mwangi recently ran to be a member of parliament in Starehe constituency, which is in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city. Thanks to the efforts of friend of the podcast Dr. Chipo Dendere, Mwangi recently visited the Pioneer Valley to give a lecture at Amherst College. While he was here, I sat down with him and asked about his recent campaign for office and about his book, Unbounded, which features stories about his life juxtaposed with a sample of some of his amazing photography. In addition to being sold in Kenya, Unbounded is currently available in the United States via Amazon. Our conversation begins at 2:14. … More Ep35. A conversation with Boniface Mwangi on photography, running for office, and more

In this week’s episode, I chat about the Nigerian Civil War with Judd Devermont, the National Intelligence Officer for Africa at the U.S. National Intelligence Council. He is also a lecturer at George Washington University’s Elliot School of International Affairs. Devermont has worked and lived in Nigeria, South Africa, and Côte d’Ivoire. He holds an MA in African Studies from Yale University and a BA in History from UCLA. He is a guest on Ufahamu Africa in a personal capacity – as a citizen, not as a representative of the U.S. government. We talk about Devermont's recent publication in African Affairs, "The US intelligence community's biases during the Nigerian civil war." Our conversation begins at 2:33. … More Ep34. A conversation with Judd Devermont on Nigeria’s civil war and how analysis can go wrong

This week we chat with Kiara Hill, one of the curators of “5 Takes on African Art,” an exhibition at the University Museum of Contemporary Art (UMCA) at the University of Massachusetts. I talked about the exhibition with Amy Halliday in last week’s episode. Kiara Hill was one of the five curators, her exhibit [WOMB]AN explores the saliency of femininity and womanhood in West African cosmology. Kiara holds an M.A. in Women Studies from the University of Alabama and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Afro-American studies at the University of Massachusetts. Our conversation begins at 3:40. Listen to us talk about gender, power, race, and knowledge production: … More Ep33. A conversation with Kiara Hill on African art, black womanhood, knowledge production, and more

Episode 32 features a conversation with Amy Halliday, director of the Hampshire Gallery at Hampshire College. Amy works at the intersection of curation, education, arts administration and management. She holds an M.A. in Art History from University College London and an M.A. in teaching from Smith College. We talk about contemporary African art and "5 Takes on African Art," an exhibition at the University Museum of Contemporary Art (UMCA) at the University of Massachusetts. Our conversation begins at 2:34. … More Ep32. A conversation with Amy Halliday on contemporary African art

This is the second part of this week's episode, when I chat with Dr. Rose Mutiso (@MutisoRose) and Rachel Strohm (@RachelStrohm), co-founders of the Mawazo Institute, a start-up non-profit research institute in Nairobi, Kenya. You can find Part 1 here. Here is Part 2: … More Ep31-2. Part 2 of a chat with the founders of Mawazo, a research start-up in Nairobi

This week's conversation was great, but ran long—so I've broken it up into two parts. I chat with Dr. Rose Mutiso (@MutisoRose) and Rachel Strohm (@RachelStrohm), co-founders of the Mawazo Institute, a start-up non-profit research institute in Nairobi, Kenya. Both Mawazo founders are researchers themselves. Dr. Mutiso’s research focus is on African energy sector development. She holds a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. Her co-founder Rachel Strohm is a PhD candidate in political science at the University of California Berkeley. We talked about their decision to start Mawazo and some of the structural challenges facing African women researchers. Our conversation begins at 1:45. Here is Part 1: … More Ep31-1. Part 1 of a chat with the founders of Mawazo, a research start-up in Nairobi

After an unplanned break, the podcast returns this week, highlighting a new film: Guangzhou Dream Factory. In a conversation with filmmaker Christiane Badgley (@pipelinedreams), we talk about African migrants in China and the missed opportunities in these entrepreneurs' home countries. Much of Badgley's earlier work is set in Africa. In recent years, she has focused her attention on the extractive industries and controversial U.S. investments in West and Central Africa, writing and producing film and new media work for multiple broadcast and online outlets. Guangzhou Dream Factory is Badgley's latest documentary (with producing partner, Erica Marcus), and was made with funding from The National Endowment for the Humanities and The National Endowment for the Arts. Our conversation begins at 4:59. … More Ep30. A conversation with filmmaker Christiane Badgley about Guangzhou Dream Factory

In this week’s episode, we speak with Professor Landry Signé (@LandrySigne), a Distinguished Fellow at Stanford University’s Center for African Studies, founding Chairman of the award-wining Global Network for Africa’s Prosperity, and Professor of Political Science and Senior Adviser to the Chancellor and Provost on International Affairs at the University of Alaska Anchorage. We talk about development in Africa and … More Ep29. A conversation with Professor Landry Signé on development in Africa

In this week’s episode, we speak with Dr. Kathleen Klaus (@KathleenKlaus), Visiting Assistant Professor of Government at Wesleyan University. She earned her PhD at the University of Wisconsin and was recently a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University. Her research examines elections, violence, and land rights and she is currently finishing a book manuscript that draws … More Ep28. A conversation with Dr. Kathleen Klaus on Kenya’s annulled elections and more