Thanks for listening to Afrofiles! In this episode, Dr. Miles Tendi, professor of Politics and African Studies at Oxford University, talks with Luke St. Pierre and Sarah Daly about recent coups in north and west Africa. Find Miles on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MilesTendi and check out his most recent book, The Army and Politics in Zimbabwe: Solomon Mujuru, the Liberation Fighter and Kingmaker (2020) See references discussed in the interview: · Ruth First, Barrel of a Gun: Political Power in Af...
May 27, 2022•38 min
On today’s episode, we discuss transportation infrastructure in Ghana. Who goes where, when, and how in Accra is political, informed by urban geography, colonial history, culture, and technology. What ideas of progress and nation are embedded in roads, and how do ordinary citizens navigate the political economy of transportation infrastructure? To find out more, Enoch Osei Koduah sat down with Jennifer Hart, associate professor of African history at Wayne State University. Her research challenge...
May 10, 2022•1 hr 1 min
On this week's episode, AFROFILES sits down with Dr. Shobana Shankar, professor of African History at Stony Brook University and author of the An Uneasy Embrace: Africa, India and the Spectre of Race . For generations, Africans and South Asians have sustained networks of trade, migration, politics, intellectual exchange, cultural production, and religious thinking. Afro-Asian connections have been, at times, the source of generative cross-pollination and solidarity, but the relationship has also...
Mar 27, 2022•38 min
On this week’s episode, AFROFILES takes a deep dive into apartheid-era South Africa. Two of the most famous figures in the freedom struggle, Nelson Mandela and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, embodied distinct and contrasting visions of a post-apartheid future. To learn more about their marriage, Charlotte Bednarski sat down with South African scholar and writer Jonny Steinberg. He has written extensively on post-apartheid South Africa and the transition to democracy, and his prize-winning literature...
Mar 05, 2022•32 min
The proliferation of misinformation and disinformation in Africa has impacted countless lives, weakened democracies, and undermined efforts to defend human rights. The problem stands to worsen as new technologies render information and media increasingly vulnerable to manipulation. What does this challenge look like on the ground, and how are journalists and activists preparing? AFROFILES spoke with Nkem Agunwa, the Africa Project Coordinator at WITNESS, an international human rights organizatio...
Feb 13, 2022•37 min
On this week's episode, Sarah sits down with two members of the University of Ghent's Conflict Research Group, Josaphat Musamba and Christoph Vogel, to discuss 'conflict minerals' in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The phrase ‘conflict minerals’ arose from well-intentioned Western organizations aiming to alleviate conflict and conflict financing in the Global South. But in the past two decades, conflict has continued, and new issues have arisen from the adoption of so-called 'clean' mining pol...
Jan 23, 2022•58 min
Migrants from across Africa live in China, from Beijing to Macau to Hong Kong and most notably Guangzhou, and the total population is estimated in the hundreds of thousands. What, if anything, unites this diverse group, which includes entrepreneurs, artists, traders, scholars, and diplomats? And how do they navigate life in China? AFROFILES sat down with Dr. Adams Bodomo, professor of African Linguistics and Literatures at the University of Vienna and author of Africans in China: A Sociocultural...
Nov 27, 2021•34 min
In today’s episode, Enoch Osei Koduah discusses the fight for LGBTQ+ rights in Ghana with Abdul-wadud Mohamed, a community activist and communications director at LGBT+ Rights Ghana. They discuss the contributions of queer people to Ghanaian society and address the new anti-LGBTQ legislation in Parliament. Note: We had some challenges recording, so the audio quality is a little rough.
Nov 14, 2021•44 min
Africa's activities in space are reaching new heights, from national space programs to private ventures to international initiatives. In this week's episode, Leslie and Ed sit down with Temidayo Oniosun, managing director of Space in Africa , a consulting and analytics company with news, data and market analysis for the African space and satellite industry. We discuss the future of Africa in space, addressing challenges and opportunities for growth....
Oct 31, 2021•33 min
AFROFILES is back! On this week's episode, we interview Nuotama Frances Bodomo, an accomplished filmmaker whose short film “Afronauts” retells the story of the Zambian Space Program. We talk about the strange and zany story of Edward Makuka Nkoloso and his plans for space travel, and along the way, we talk about African Independence, Afro-futurism, and the role of film in bringing history to audiences. This week’s episode is part one of a two-part series about outer space and Africa produced by ...
Oct 18, 2021•38 min
Africa has fostered the development of numerous writing systems across history, but European colonialism installed Roman script as a near universal while propagating the myth of a continent without letters. What’s the significance of African typography? And what worlds are embedded in the design of alphabetic characters? Charlotte discusses with Saki Mafundikwa, founder and director of the Zimbabwe Institute of Vigital Arts and author of Afrikan Alphabets: The Story of Writing in Afrika. Music i...
Jul 26, 2021•30 min
In this week's episode of AFROFILES Gerardo and Ed explore Israel’s long history in Africa with Dr. Yotam Gidron, author of Israel in Africa: Security, Migration, Interstate Politics. Israel has long sought to cultivate relationships with African governments, beginning even before Independence swept the continent. Consequently, Israel-Africa engagements are wide-ranging, touching upon diplomacy, security, migration, and religion. However, as an actor in African affairs, Israel is often overlooke...
Jul 12, 2021•37 min•Season 2Ep. 3
This week's episode is about African commemorative wax prints. Commemorative textiles are produced across Africa to mark special occasions, from elections to holidays to weddings, and they often feature party slogans, historical figures, and Presidential faces. But these fabrics are not just a popular tool for political messaging; they’re also a colorful material archive unto themselves. To learn more about the histories tied up in commemorative cloths, Akua sat down with Tommy Miles, a historia...
Jun 27, 2021•27 min•Season 2Ep. 2
In this week’s episode, AFROFILES’ Leslie Rose talks with Dr. Marcus Rediker about the history of the Amistad Rebellion, a mutiny staged by enslaved Africans aboard the Spanish ship La Amistad in 1839. The vessel was ultimately taken into custody by the US Navy, and the 53 enslaved people were charged with piracy and murder. Their trial in New Haven, Connecticut became a lightning rod for US abolitionists, and the eventual repatriation of the defendants to Sierra Leone stands as a rare triumph i...
Jun 13, 2021•32 min•Season 2Ep. 1
This week’s episode honors the late historian of Mande people and culture, Djibril Tamsir Niane, whose 1960 publication The Epic of Sundiata introduced the West to the legend of 13th-century Mali’s heroic king, Sundiata Keita. AFROFILES' Charlotte Bednarski interviews Dr. David Conrad, Emeritus Professor of History at State University of New York at Oswego and an expert in Mande oral tradition and history. They discuss episodes from the epic, as well as its historical and social significance. Mu...
May 02, 2021•36 min•Season 1Ep. 6
In this episode, we explore human prehistory and the legacy of colonialism in archeological anthropology. Ed sat down with Dr. Veronica Waweru, a lecturer in Swahili and African Studies here at Yale’s MacMillan Center. She is an archeological anthropologist committed to engaging local communities in Kenya where she conducts fieldwork, in order to correct what she calls “the cradle paradox.” Music by: RYYZN Michael Rothery, Nihoni, and Magnus Ringblom
Apr 18, 2021•42 min•Season 1Ep. 5
American Universities have some of the largest collections of African books and archival materials. The histories of their acquisition and preservation are fascinating--connecting Christian missionaries, government agencies, and today’s librarians to a global network. As researchers in African Studies, we rely on the crucial resources that universities possess, and our work is shaped by the history and nature of these collections. For this episode, Leslie and Gerardo interview two experts on the...
Apr 04, 2021•23 min•Season 1Ep. 4
Morocco is a chokepoint along migrant trails connecting Africa to Europe. According to the Migration Policy Institute, some 700,000 sub-Saharan migrants currently reside in Morocco, stalled on their journey into the EU. What is life like for these migrants, and what histories inform Morocco’s migration policies? On this week’s episode of AFROFILES, we sit down with Dr. Leslie Gross-Wyrtzen, a postdoctoral associate with the Council on African Studies and a faculty fellow in the Center for Race I...
Mar 21, 2021•33 min•Season 1Ep. 3
In this episode, we illustrate the importance of a global and connected approach to African Studies by digging into a key moment in both African and American history: the Italian Occupation of Ethiopia. In October 1935, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini launched an invasion of Ethiopia that would last until 1941. Although this action violated international law and global opinion, Western powers, including the US, refused to become directly involved in the conflict. We approach this tumultuous pe...
Mar 07, 2021•27 min•Season 1Ep. 2
In this episode, we discuss the racial politics in African Studies. What are the ramifications of a western dominated field of African Studies, specifically one that is skewed towards the white scholar, and an organizational stronghold, the African Studies Association or the ASA, that reflects and often times shepherds this racially disparate phenomenon? Akua speaks with Dr. William Martin and Dr. Michael West, co-editors of the 1999 volume Out of One, Many Africas: Reconstructing the Study and ...
Feb 21, 2021•29 min•Season 1Ep. 1
What is Afrofiles? Who is on the team? Find out in this rather short episode of Afrofiles! Music by: RYYZN
Feb 10, 2021•1 min
