Ufahamu Africa

This week is a special episode of Ufahamu Africa. Instead of our standard format of catching you up on the week’s news and then featuring a conversation with a thinker, maker, or innovator, we’ve compiled our first-ever Summer Beats Soundtrack. Have a listen to some of the top songs featured in earlier episodes. Here is … More Ep27. Our first ever Summer Beats Soundtrack

In this week’s episode, we speak with Dr. Chipo Dendere of Amherst College. We talk about her work on the politics of emigration out of Zimbabwe as well as protest movements, social media, and the role of money in politics. Music is by Audius. … More Ep26. A conversation with Dr. Chipo Dendere on the politics of exit in Zimbabwe and beyond

In this week’s episode, we speak with Anna Mwaba (@annakapambwe), a PhD candidate at the University of Florida. We talk about her research on the African Union and election monitoring. We also talk about the unintended consequences of political science research on Africa by those of us trained in the West. Our chat begins at … More Ep25. A conversation with Anna Mwaba on the African Union, election monitoring, and more

In this week’s episode, we feature remarks by Dr. Zachariah Mampilly (@Ras_Karya), an Associate Professor of Political Science, International Studies, and Africana Studies at Vassar College. In 2012-2013, he was a Fulbright Visiting Professor at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He is the author of Rebel Rulers: Insurgent Governance and Civilian Life during … More Ep24. Dr. Zachariah Mampilly raises some important questions about studying African Politics in the West

In this week’s episode, we speak with Dr. Kennedy Opalo (@kopalo), an assistant professor at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. His research focuses on the political economy of development, legislative development, and electoral politics in emerging democracies. Ken blogs regularly at his blog, An Africanist Perspective, and currently is writing a … More Ep23. A conversation with Dr. Ken Opalo on the Kenyan elections

We talk this week about the Lesotho elections, which were held on June 3rd.  … More Ep22. A conversation with Dr. John Aerni-Flessner on the recent Lesotho elections

In this week’s episode, we speak with Dr. Souleymane Soumahoro (@soumduce), an economist currently consulting at the World Bank. Originally from Côte d’Ivoire, Dr. Soumahoro earned his bachelor of arts degree in political economy from Université Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, Senegal, his masters in economics at the Université D’Auverge in Clermont-Ferrand, France, and his … More Ep21. A conversation with Dr. Souleymane Soumahoro on development and politics in Africa

In this week’s episode, we speak with Dr. Adia Benton (@Ethnography911), a professor in anthropology and in the Program of African Studies at Northwestern University. In 2015, the University of Minnesota Press published her book, HIV Exceptionalism: Disease through Development in Sierra Leone. We talk about her book and we also discuss the change in leadership at … More Ep20. A conversation with Dr. Adia Benton on global health, Ebola as a ‘charismatic disease,’ and more

In our final week recording together (before Sarah Agatoni, Smith College Class of 2017, graduates), we take a moment to reflect on the year we’ve spent together and what we have hoped to do with the Ufahamu Africa podcast. We talk about identity, community, and studying/understanding Africa from afar. Here are bonus links to this … More Ep19. A farewell conversation with Sarah Agatoni on identity, community, and more

This week’s episode features a Q&A with Nicole Amarteifio (@AllThingsAfrica), creator of the hit web series “An African City.” We talk about the show as well as a new TV show she’s created — “The Republic,” a political thriller set in Ghana’s capital Accra. We also talk about a recent public service announcement she created, #HowShortWasYourSkirt, which addresses … More Ep18. A conversation with Nicole Amarteifio, creator of ‘An African City’

This week’s episode features two conversations about recently published books on African politics. First, I chat with Dr. Rachel Beatty Riedl (@BeattyRiedl), Associate Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University. Her award-winning book, Authoritarian Origins of Party Systems in Africa, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2014. Our conversation begins at 3:30. My second conversation is with Dr. Jennifer … More Ep17. Conversations with Dr. Rachel Beatty Riedl and Dr. Jennifer Brass about two new books on African politics

In this week’s episode, we chat with Dr. Candis Watts Smith (@ProfCandis), assistant professor of public policy at UNC. Her first book, Black Mosaic: The Politics of Black Pan-Ethnic Diversity, was published by NYU Press in 2014. We talk about her book and about racial and political attitudes among millennials in the U.S. Most controversially, … More Ep16. A conversation with Dr. Candis Watts Smith on her book Black Mosaic

In this week’s episode, we speak with Georgetown University professor Lahra Smith. Her book, Making Citizens in Africa: Ethnicity, Gender and National Identity in Ethiopia, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2013. Dr. Smith has taught and conducted research in refugee camps in East and Southern Africa, and has ongoing research on civic education … More Ep15. A conversation with Dr. Lahra Smith on refugees and migrants in the Horn of Africa

In remembrance of the genocide in Rwanda in April 1994, in this week’s episode, we speak with Rwandan filmmaker Kivu Ruhorahoza (@KivuRuhorahoza). His debut film Grey Matter, which came out in 2011, won the Jury Special Mention for Best Emerging Filmmaker at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. His second film, Things of the Aimless Wanderer, … More Ep14. A conversation with Rwandan filmmaker Kivu Ruhorahoza on memory, audience, and art more broadly

In this week’s podcast, we speak with Constantine Manda (@msisiri), a doctoral student in political science at Yale University who hails from Tanzania. We talk about recent events in Tanzania, including the firing of Tanzania’s information minister and the arrest of rapper Nay wa Mitego, and how these events signal growing authoritarianism in the country since the … More Ep13. A conversation with Constantine Manda about increasing authoritarianism in Tanzania

In this week’s podcast, we speak with Dr. Kavemuii Murangi, a Namibian-born educator currently residing in the United States. He is a descendant of the victims of the Ovaherero genocide of 1904-1908 (his great-great grandfather died in 1904 during the genocide war) and co-founder of the U.S.-based OvaHerero, Mbanderu and Nama Genocides Institute. For background on the … More Ep12. A conversation with Dr. Kavemuii Murangi on the Namibian genocide and reparations

We go long in this week’s episode, when we feature excerpts from a fireside chat held during last month’s African Women’s Leadership Conference at Smith College. We are excited to share some of the insights from the conference speakers: Wambui Mwangi (@wambui_mwangi) is a Kenyan writer, scholar, and artist with a passion for post-colonial theory and … More Ep11. Insights from the African Women’s Leadership Conference

This week we chat with three scholars in the diaspora about recent episodes of civil unrest in Zimbabwe. Dr. Chipo Dendere (@drDendere) of Gettysburg College gives us an overview of the recent protests in Zimbabwe and shares insights from her research on remittances and politics. Melusi Nkomo (@MelusiNkomoZim), fellow at Harvard University’s Center for African … More Ep10. Conversations with Zimbabwean scholars on citizen responses to economic decline

This week we chat with Dr. Laura Seay (aka @texasinafrica), Assistant Professor of Political Science at Colby College. She studies politics in Democratic Republic of Congo and is an expert on what many people call “conflict minerals”. She is also an editor at The Monkey Cage, a blog on politics and political science at The Washington … More Ep9. A conversation with Dr. Laura Seay on conflict and minerals in DRC

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 recently published second 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 … More Ep8. A conversation with Dr. Daniel Magaziner on an Apartheid-era art school