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Episode 81: The Nigerian homefront in WWII, The Biafran War, and Igbo Identity
Dr. Chima Korieh (History, Marquette) on Nigerian experiences on the African homefront during World War II, agriculture and social change in the colonial era, the Biafran War and the politics of...
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Episode 82: Denis Goldberg’s Life for Freedom in South Africa
Denis Goldberg reflects on his activism, hardships in prison, and the highs and lows of the antiapartheid movement. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1963 in South Africa’s Rivonia trial with...
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Episode 83: Conflict in Côte d’Ivoire and Beyond, From High Politics to the...
Photo courtesy of Brett O’Bannon. Brett O’Bannon (Political Science, Director of Conflict Studies, De Pauw University) on the causes and consequences of civil war in Côte d’Ivoire; the “Responsibility...
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Episode 84: African literatures & public intellectuals: Sahara Reporters...
Pius Adesanmi (Carleton University) on African literatures, public intellectuals, Sahara Reporters blog, social media and postcolonial writing, Yoruba and Anglophone literatures, ‘imposed...
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Episode 85: Swahili Poetry with Abdilatif Abdalla
Abdilatif Abdalla is the best-known Swahili poet and independent Kenya’s first political prisoner. He discusses poetry as a political instrument and as an academic field; publication prospects for...
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Episode 86: Cartooning in Africa with Tebogo Motswetla
Tebogo Motswetla, a leading African cartoonist from Botswana, on his journey of becoming a cartoonist; the 25th anniversary of his character “Mabijo”; applied aspects of his work; seTswana language...
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Episode 87: Black Politics in South Africa
Chitja Twala (History, Univ. of Free State) on the history of black politics and the African National Congress in the Free State province; oral history; cultural resistance; the field of History in...
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Episode 88: Digital African Studies with Keith Breckenridge
Keith Breckenridge (WISER) on the current state of digital Southern African Studies; the politics, funding, and ethics of international partnerships in digital projects; and his new book Biometric...
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Episode 89: Digital African Studies Part 2 with Laura Seay
Laura Seay (Government, Colby College) on becoming a Congo scholar; the genealogy and impact of her “Texas in Africa” blog; using Twitter for academic purposes and public discourse; and her book...
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Episode 90: Language and Power–Khoesan Studies
Menán Du Plessis (Stellenbosch University and U. of Kentucky) on her literary work, research on the Kora! language, and the significance of Khoesan linguistics to southern African studies. Du Plessis...
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Episode 79: Biographies and Databases of Atlantic Slaves, Part 1
Paul Lovejoy, Canada Research Chair in African Diaspora History at York University, discusses building an international database of biographical information on all enslaved Africans. He outlines this...
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Episode 80: Biographies and Databases of Atlantic Slaves, Part 2
David Eltis, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of History at Emory University, on the making of the Transatlantic Slave Trade database, a landmark collaborative digital project he has co-edited for two...
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Episode 91: African and American Ports–Solidarities in Durban and San Francisco
Boycotting South African goods, San Francisco, 1962. Used by permission of ILWU. Peter Cole (Western Illinois, SWOP [Wits]) compares Durban and San Francisco, maritime union solidarities, the...
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Episode 92: Football, Power, and Identity in Zambia
Hikabwa Decius Chipande (PhD 2015 Michigan State) on the political and social history of football (soccer) in Zambia. He discusses becoming an historian; the game’s relationship with British...
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Episode 93: Atlantic Bonds and Biography: from South Carolina to Nigeria
Lisa Lindsay (North Carolina) on her forthcoming biography of James Churchwill Vaughan—whose life provides insights into the bonds of slavery and family and the differing prospects for people of...
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Episode 94: The Bomb, a Professor, and Higher Education in South Africa
Professor Renfrew Christie (University of the Western Cape) on South African advances and challenges since 1994; educational transformations at UWC; his role as an anti-apartheid student activist,...
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Episode 95: Nigerian Politics and Society in Cartoon Art
Cartoon courtesy of Jimga Ganiyu Akinloye Jimoh (Creative Arts, University of Lagos) on his work in Nigeria as a popular cartoonist, with the pen name “Jimga,” and as a cartoon scholar. Issues...
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Episode 96: Creativity and Decolonization: Nigerian Cultures and African...
Toyin Falola (History, Texas; President, African Studies Association) on Yoruba history and culture; language policy in Nigeria; creativity and decolonization; forms of community action in...
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Episode 97: Reproductive Rights in South Africa
Susanne Klausen (History, Carleton U.) on the history and politics of women’s reproductive rights in South Africa. Our discussion of race, nationalism, and women’s sexuality focuses on her new book,...
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Episode 98: City of Thorns—Inside the World’s Largest Refugee Camp
Author Ben Rawlence (Open Society Foundations Fellow) on his new book: City of Thorns: Nine Lives in the World’s Largest Refugee Camp. He describes working in Dadaab, Kenya, and discusses Somali...
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Episode 99: Artisanal Mining in Tanzania
Anthropologist Rosemarie Mwaipopo (U. of Dar es Salaam) on artisanal and small-scale mining in Tanzania. She discusses the roles of women;grassroots dimensions, including cultural and gender dynamics;...
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Episode 100: The Afripod Centenary Special
This centenary episode brings together selections from the first eight years of the podcast. The chosen segments broadly represent earliest and latest episodes, different African countries and regions,...
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Episode 101: Corpulence, Cartoonists, and Politics
Tejumola Olaniyan (Wisconsin–Madison) on African cartoonists, their depictions of the body and struggles with censorship, and the aesthetics of corpulence in African political cartooning. He elaborates...
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Episode 102: Photojournalism and the “Real Story of the Marikana Massacre”...
Marikana, South Africa. September 5, 2012. Striking Lonmin miners. Photo Greg Marinovich Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Greg Marinovich (Boston University) on the genealogy and ethics of his...
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Episode 103: On the Ground in Western Sahara
Producing, To Be Here. Photo Sam Jury Artist Sam Jury on the neglected situation of Sahrawi peoples’ refugee camps, her video installation To Be Here on their daily lives, and about the women who built...
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Episode 104: Development Dreams in Lesotho
John Aerni-Flessner above Maseru, Lesotho John Aerni-Flessner (MSU) on his forthcoming book The Desire for Development: Foreign Assistance, Independence, & Dreams for the Nation in Lesotho....
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Episode 105: Popular Theater in Kenya—The Trial of Dedan Kimathi
Micere Githae Mugo (Syracuse, Emeritus) and Simon Gikandi (Princeton) discuss the making and aftermath of The Trial of Dedan Kimathi and, on the 40th anniversary of the play, reflect on the play’s...
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Episode 106: The 2016 Zambian Elections
Nicholas van der Walle (Cornell) and Michael Wahman (Missouri) analyze the 2016 Zambian presidential and parliamentary elections. The two political scientists discuss the controversial results, the...
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Episode 107: West African Intellectual Heritage
Professor Amidu O. Sanni (Lagos State University) on his work for the Timbuktu Manuscripts Project and preservation of West African intellectual heritage. He discusses the importance of Ajami sources...
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Episode 108: Ajami in African History
Courtesy of Boston University Photography Fallou Ngom (African Languages Director, Boston U.) on his new book Muslims Beyond the Arab World: the Odyssey of Ajami and the Muridiyya. Focusing on...
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Episode 109: Doing Mozambican History—Dams, Development & Going Digital
Allen Isaacman (University of Minnesota) discusses his recent Herskovits Award-winning book, Dams, Displacement and the Delusion of Development: Cahora Bassa and its Legacies in Mozambique, 1965-2007,...
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Episode 110: The Story of Swahili
John Mugane (Harvard University) on his book, The Story of Swahili, a history of the international language and its speakers. Mugane sheds light on enduring questions: Who is Swahili? What is authentic...
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Episode 111: Indian Ocean Africa—Icons, Commodities, Mobility
Jeremy Prestholdt (U. California, San Diego) on East African commodities, culture, and “transnational imagination,” featuring his forthcoming book, Icons of Dissent (on Che, Marley, Tupac, Bin Laden)....
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Episode 112: Zimbabwe’s Politics of Economic Decline
Prof. Alois Mlambo (University of Pretoria) discusses Zimbabwe’s deindustrialization and economic decline, its relationship with South Africa, and the role of Pan-Africanism and “patriotic history” in...
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Episode 113: East African Borderlands: Somalia, Kenya, and Belonging
Keren Weitzberg (Institute of Advanced Studies, University College London) on her new book We Do Not Have Borders: Greater Somalia and the Predicaments of Belonging in Kenya. She grapples with the long...
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Episode 114: Digital Archive of Malian Photography
Youssouf Sakaly and Malick Sitou discuss the Archive of Malian Photography, a collaborative Malian-US project that provides free access to preserved and digitized collections of five important...
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Episode 115: Youth Struggles
Dr. Alcinda Honwana on the struggles of young Africans, the condition of “waithood”—a state of limbo between childhood and adulthood—and their creative engagements with everyday life. She reflects on...
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Episode 116: Empire, Missions, and Culture in Southern Africa
Prof. Norman Etherington (U. Western Australia) on empire in Africa, missions, and Southern African history. The interview focuses on themes of his distinguished career and influential works, such as...
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Episode 117: Albie Sachs on Fighting Apartheid and Building South African...
Albie Sachs, former judge, freedom fighter, and professor, speaks (and sings!) about his anti-apartheid activism and lifelong commitment to equality and justice. He reflects on the enduring need for...
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Episode 118: Social Justice in South Africa
Prof. Somadoda Fikeni (UNISA) and Nomzamo Ntombela (Stellenbosch) reflect on continuities and changes in South African social justice activism. Fikeni and Ntombela share their respective personal and...
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Episode 119: Rethinking African Humanities
Jean Allman (Washington U.) on rethinking African humanities. She discusses her research on Ghana, women, and gender, and highlights the transformative potential of collaborative work. Allman reflects...
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Episode 120: Jazz Music and African Borderlands
David Coplan (Wits, Emeritus) takes us on a journey from New York to Soweto and into the making of his ethnographic studies of music and popular culture in West and South(ern) Africa. Coplan then turns...
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Episode 121: Refugees in African History
Bonny Ibhawoh (McMaster Univ.) and Christian Williams (U. Free State) on historicizing refugees in Africa. Looking at children evacuated from the Biafran War to Gabon and Ivory Coast, Ibhawoh...
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Episode 122: Hip-Hop in Africa
Msia Kibona Clark (African Studies, Howard University) on her new book, Hip-Hop in Africa: Prophets of the City and Dustyfoot Philosophers. Clark describes how her personal passion became academic...
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Episode 123: Boko Haram
Alex Thurston (Miami University) discusses his recent book, Boko Haram: The History of an African Jihadist Movement. Taking local religious ideas and experiences seriously, Thurston sheds light on...
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Episode 124: Cooking Data
Cal Biruk (Oberlin, Anthropology) on the politics of knowledge production in African fieldwork. We talk about her new book, Cooking Data: Culture and Politics in an African Research World, based on...
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Episode 125: Gangs, Identity, and Power in Congo
Didier Gondola (IUPUI, History and Africana Studies) on his book, Tropical Cowboys: Westerns, Violence, and Masculinity in Kinshasa. He reflects on how Hollywood Westerns shaped a performative young...
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Episode 126: South(ern) Africa, Guinea, and Histories of Foreign Interventions
Elizabeth Schmidt (History, Loyola Maryland) on her activist beginnings and professional trajectory as an historian, first of Shona women in colonial Zimbabwe and later of Guinea’s independence...
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Episode 127: AIDS Interventions, Elections in Malawi, and Digital Scholarship
Kim Yi Dionne (Political Science, UC Riverside) on her recent book, Doomed Interventions: The Failure of Global Responses to AIDS in Africa; the controversial May 2019 elections in Malawi, where she...
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Episode 128: Cherif Keita’s Life in African Studies
Cherif Keita (French and Francophone Studies, Carleton College) reflects on his life as a scholar from Mali and on his documentary films about John Langalibalele Dube and Nokutela Dube, founding...
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