On the 21st of October, Dr Graciana del Castillo gave a lecture discussing the current concerns presented in her latest book, 'Guilty Party: The International Community in Afghanistan’. The lecture included commentary on aid and drug dependency in Afghanistan, as well as the challenges that both the new government and the international community face in bringing peace, stability and prosperity to the region. Dr Graciana del Castillo is an expert on countries in crises, including those affected b...
Nov 13, 2014•1 hr 2 min
Aggie & Cassie's ACS Radio Show Tune in to our first show entitled 'Myths, Truths & Legends'. The show will seek to consolidate Black History Month and explore the relevance of the month as a whole whilst celebrating a number of key musical icons in Black history. To find out more about the SOAS African-Caribbean Society visit: https://www.facebook.com/soasacs
Nov 13, 2014•31 min
For the second show of the Fossil Free SOAS ‘Divestment Digest’, we meet with representatives from Fossil Free UCL and Kings College to talk about the need to unite campus activists for fossil fuel divestment. The 'Divestment Digest' is a series based at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, and focuses on the university campaign to divest from fossil fuels.
Nov 13, 2014•12 min
This is the first instalment in the 'Divestment Digest' series, based at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London UK, focusing on the university campaign to divest from fossil fuels. For this show, we are joined by Rob Abrams from the Fossil Free SOAS campaign, as well as Danni Pffard from 350 Europe.
Nov 13, 2014•10 min
In Behind The Music this week, we hear from Guillermo Rozenthuler, who talks about his upcoming concert 'Candombe: Songs and Drums from Uruguay'. We learn something of the music from Uruguay, Latin-America’s ‘unknown gem’, and how the Afro-carnival tradition and rhythm of Candombé spread from Montevideo to influence the music of South America.
Nov 06, 2014•38 min
ITS A BOOTY BASS SHAKING SPECIAL ... Global Bass High Priest BUMPS from label CLUB POPOZUDA is MADERA's guest this week, talking about future releases, how he makes tracks without actually meeting his collaborators + a very special Halloween party. Puuuuul up! TRACKLISTING: YESKING, Devil Inside (J Star Dub) LUCAS SANTANNA, Nao Tenho Medo Nao BUMPS vs LOKI, Beleza * in conversation with BUMPS * RAFAEL ARAGON & TROPIKORE, Punjabi Bhangra * in conversation with BUMPS * BUMPS vs EL MALITO, Plas...
Oct 27, 2014•1 hr 4 min
The Grand Union Orchestra have just celebrated 30 years on the road! Boasting a core team of over 30 musicians, all Londoners from multicultural backgrounds, this brilliant orchestra is undoubtedly the most diverse in existence. Their music conveys powerful & evocative stories about migration and unification. Musical director, Tony Haynes has created a new show to mark their three decades of activity, so catch him on this AWIL, alongside general manager Claire Sivier, talking about ‘Undream’...
Oct 27, 2014•1 hr 1 min
Live Recording of Världens Band from last Monday 20th October's Concert. Enjoy!
Oct 27, 2014•1 hr 12 min
Thousands of lives have been claimed in the West African Ebola outbreak since the World Health Organisation (WHO) was first notified of the outbreak in Guinea in March 2014. The epidemic is expected to spread rapidly over months to come. The three countries most affected by the crisis, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, are post-conflict states with weak health infrastructures. In a climate of fear and mistrust of government institutions, health workers face huge challenges in raising awareness a...
Oct 23, 2014•1 hr 1 min
Live recording of Soas Concert Series' first performance of Ashiq Nargile and Tabuni on 13th October. Produced by Will Roper & Katie Bruce
Oct 19, 2014•1 hr 33 min
Ramayana: The Living Legend sees distinguished storyteller Dr Vayu Naidu share the magical epic that lies behind Diwali, the Hindu festival of light, which will be marked by more than 1 billion Hindus, Sikhs and Jains on Thursday October 23rd. Vayu brings to life an unscripted telling of the Ramayana drawn from India’s four corners and in touching on themes including honour, and the battle between might and right, highlights how the epic inhabits everyday, contemporary India in religious, cultur...
Oct 17, 2014•5 min
Ramayana: The Living Legend sees distinguished storyteller Dr Vayu Naidu share the magical epic that lies behind Diwali, the Hindu festival of light, which will be marked by more than 1 billion Hindus, Sikhs and Jains on Thursday October 23rd. Vayu brings to life an unscripted telling of the Ramayana drawn from India’s four corners and in touching on themes including honour, and the battle between might and right, highlights how the epic inhabits everyday, contemporary India in religious, cultur...
Oct 17, 2014•4 min
Ramayana: The Living Legend sees distinguished storyteller Dr Vayu Naidu share the magical epic that lies behind Diwali, the Hindu festival of light, which will be marked by more than 1 billion Hindus, Sikhs and Jains on Thursday October 23rd. Vayu brings to life an unscripted telling of the Ramayana drawn from India’s four corners and in touching on themes including honour, and the battle between might and right, highlights how the epic inhabits everyday, contemporary India in religious, cultur...
Oct 17, 2014•4 min
Ramayana: The Living Legend sees distinguished storyteller Dr Vayu Naidu share the magical epic that lies behind Diwali, the Hindu festival of light, which will be marked by more than 1 billion Hindus, Sikhs and Jains on Thursday October 23rd. Vayu brings to life an unscripted telling of the Ramayana drawn from India’s four corners and in touching on themes including honour, and the battle between might and right, highlights how the epic inhabits everyday, contemporary India in religious, cultur...
Oct 17, 2014•6 min
In the latest show of SOAS Radio's new coverage of the University's Concert Series, we talk to Cassandre Balbar and Charu Hariharan from Världens Band to find out more about the band and their music. Featuring 15 musicians, from 7 different countries, Världens Band came together to discover the possibilities when traditions are shared, creativity is freed and diversity is embraced. In this interview we learn how the band met and how they went on to bring their different musical traditions togeth...
Oct 14, 2014•49 min
In this audio clip, Professor Peter Piot, Director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and one of the members of the team that discovered Ebola in 1976, and Dr Kandeh Yumkella, UN Under-Secretary-General - Special Representative & CEO - Sustainable Energy for All, speak about the cultural dimensions of Ebola, behavioural change and the role of Community Radio in disseminating information to help contain the disease. Interviews by Carlos Chirinos. Image: Ebola awareness post...
Oct 13, 2014•2 min
In the first of SOAS Radio's new coverage of the University's Concert Series, we talk to Stefan of the Sayat Nova Project to find out more about Music from the Caucasus. In an area often thought as a border between Europe and Asia, we learn a little about the region's rich linguistic and cultural heritage. We learn about the Ashiq bards that travel through the diverse region, and how Monday's performer, Ashiq Nargile fits into that tradition. Tracklisting: 1. MiqayelVoskanyan – Eshkhemet (Sayat ...
Oct 10, 2014•45 min
Another Movimientos edition with plenty of fresh latin beats from across the board Afro-Venezuelan sounds to Peruvian psych, Salsa Dura, Latin House, future Mexican Norteño, Digital Cumbia and Brazilian Bass. With new music from Mexico's Nortec Collective and LA's Jungle Fire from Nacional Records, plus a great track from the new Chancha Via Circuito album, Ruben Blades goes Tango and new Aurelio Martinez on Real World Records. TRACKLISTING: Monsalve y Los Forajidos - La Carcajá Jeriko - Hey Joe...
Oct 07, 2014•1 hr 3 min
On September 26th 2014 SOAS Students’ Union hosted its first public lecture of the year in collaboration with the London Middle East Institute and the Centre for Gender Studies, SOAS. The event featured 3 speakers who all specialise in the Middle East, and addressed the topics of ISIS, and the recent crisis in the Middle East. CHAIR: Dr Hassan Hakimian, London Middle East Institute, SOAS SPEAKERS (In order of appearance): - Ghias Aljundi : ‘ISIS and the Syrian cause’ - Charles Tripp: 'Iraq: the ...
Oct 03, 2014•55 min
SOAS Anthem, performed by Ali Khan. Recorded for The Rustle Radio Show Christmas Special 2010.
Sep 11, 2014•3 min
Why these lectures are improvised. World history seen from an African perspective. Why this is needed. African critiques of European capitalist imperialism from the viewpoints of nationalism and socialism. Cheikh Anta Diop The African Origins of Civilisation (1974) Walter Rodney How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972)
Aug 11, 2014•46 min
What are the origins of inequality? World history is here seen through the lens of production: before agriculture, agriculture without and then with cities, after agriculture, each phase marked by revolutions. How does Africa relate to this scheme? V. Gordon Childe What Happened in History (1942) Michael E Smith ‘V Gordon Childe and the urban revolution’ (2009 pdf)
Aug 11, 2014•49 min
Bernal’s critique of Eurocentric history as a racist project of social exclusion. The Eastern Mediterranean distorted by regional specialization. The urban revolution seen in wider comparative perspective. Jack Goody’s application of Childe to Africa is rooted in production and population. Martin Bernal Black Athena: The Afro-asiatic roots of classical civilization (1987) http://thememorybank.co.uk/2012/01/10/jack-goodys-vision-of-history-and-african-development-today/
Aug 11, 2014•52 min
Recording curtailed (see unpublished essays above). C L R James synthesizes Western Marxism and postcolonial theory. His history of the Haitian revolution brought it back into world history and inspired his own vision of the anti-colonial and world revolutions. (Recording curtailed) C L R James The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo revolution (second edition 1963) http://thememorybank.co.uk/2010/03/20/waiting-for-emancipation-slavery-and-freedom-in-west-africa/ http://the...
Aug 11, 2014•29 min
Dubois’ great assemblage aims to touch hearts and not just minds. The issue of the 20th century is the ‘colour line’. The meaning of ‘soul’, ‘veil’ and ‘double consciousness’. Dubois’ later history takes him from integration to separation. Reflections on the history of the abolition movement and Panafricanism. W E B Dubois The Souls of Black Folk (1903)
Aug 11, 2014•54 min
Diversion on method: scaling up the self, scaling down the world (Shakespeare, Gandhi). The Lewis model is traced to theories of development that hinge on the rural-urban division of labour. A racist world society divided between rich and poor countries was formed c.1900, not by centuries of European colonialism. W Arthur Lewis The Evolution of the International Economic Order (1978)
Aug 11, 2014•54 min
What is Panafricanism? James reviews African revolt on both sides of the Atlantic, concludes that Africa is ready for an anti-colonial revolution now. Race + capitalism is dynamite. Revolution in Africa and world revolution. C L R James The History of Pan-African Revolt (third edition, 2012)
Aug 11, 2014•50 min
The main event of the twentieth century was the anti-colonial revolution. Fanon says that war is the normal catalyst of social change; but his psychiatric case studies shows that war is humanly insupportable. Brilliant writing on the class struggle, nationalism, the successor elite and culture. Frantz Fanon The Wretched of the Earth (1961)
Aug 11, 2014•50 min
From evolution to development. The post-war boom of developmental states. The neoliberal counter-revolution. ‘Development’ is now just talk without real economic improvement. Capitalism enriches and destroys society (Schumpeter). The 1970s as the origin of our times. V. Padayachee (ed) The Political Economy of Africa (2010), especially Chapters 1-4, 20, 22. K Hart & V Padayachee “Development” in K Hart, J-L Laville & A Cattani eds The Human Economy (2010) M Cowan & R Shenton Doctrine...
Aug 11, 2014•51 min
Three social types: egalitarian kinship, agrarian civilization, national capitalism. Sketch of the state in Africa before colonial empire. Colonial and post-colonial states. The privatization of public interests. Collusion between African rulers and foreign interests. The Scandinavian model. Moeletse Mbeki Architects of Poverty (2009) Jean-François Bayart The State in Africa: The politics of the belly (third edition, 2009)
Aug 11, 2014•49 min
