Episode 28: Ethnicity and Power in Sudan’s Past

June 16th, 2009

Sudan_Cookbook_18762Historians Stephanie Beswick (Ball State U.) and Jay Spaulding (Kean U.) on ethnicity, slavery, and trade in Sudan.  Focus is on pre-colonial times, with an emphasis on how power relationships and economic factors influenced identity formation and political conflict. The interview was conducted at the Sudan Studies Association meeting in East Lansing.

WE ARE ON SUMMER SCHEDULE. NEXT EPISODE: JULY 15.

 
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Episode 27: The San in Botswana and Namibia

May 15th, 2009

hitchcockDr. Robert Hitchcock (chair of Anthropology at MSU) on San people’s struggles in southern Africa’s Kalahari region. Focus is on government-San relations; San communities’ local and international quest for empowerment and human rights; and images of the San in film. Hitchcock concludes with an assessment of the impact of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project on the region.

 
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Episode 26: Elections in South Africa

April 30th, 2009

elections20092009 elections in South Africa: Dr. Sean Jacobs and Dr. Hlonipha Mokoena analyze the significance of the ANC victory; Jacob Zuma and Zulu nationalism; the opposition’s weak showing outside the Western Cape; and local and international media coverage.

 
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Episode 25: African Identities and Genocide Studies

April 15th, 2009

abebe_picProf. Abebe Zegeye (Chair of Genocide and Holocaust studies at UNISA) on Africans’ multiple identities and genocide studies in Africa.  Is there a need for a different model than that of Holocaust studies to analyze political violence in colonial and post-colonial Africa? Zegeye closes with thoughts on his recent appointment as Director of WISER at Wits in Johannesburg.

 
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Episode 24: Drugs and Gender in Tanzania

March 30th, 2009

mccurdy1Dr. Sheryl McCurdy (University of Texas-Houston School of Public Health) on drugs, gender, and violence in East Africa.  McCurdy examines heroin use in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania — its recent history, enabling conditions, and the differences between men and women users.  She concludes with observations on the local ‘war on drugs’ and then offers policy recommendations.

 
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Episode 23: Football/Soccer Politics and Migration

March 11th, 2009

darby_bookDr. Paul Darby (University of Ulster) on  Africa’s place in world soccer. He examines Africa’s political relations with FIFA and the role of CAF, the continental governing body. Darby then discusses his new research on the migration of young African players to Europe through case studies of Ghana’s Liberty Professionals FC and the Right to Dream Academy.

 
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Episode 22: Malawi’s Environmental History

February 28th, 2009

wapuDr. Wapu Mulwafu (Univ. of Malawi) on African environmental history.  Mulwafu discusses the history of water use and management in Malawi, focusing on political and religious aspects of soil conservation and the importance of indigenous ecological knowledge and practices. He closes with insights on the challenges of “doing history” in Malawi.

 
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Episode 21: Transnational Islam

February 12th, 2009

leichtman_m1Anthropologist Mara Leichtman (MSU) on religion, migration, and politics. Leichtman unveils her new book  New Perspectives on Islam in Senegal (co-edited with Mamadou Diouf). She then discusses transnational Shi’a Islam in Dakar among Lebanese migrants and Senegalese converts, and in London at the Al-Khoei Foundation.  A fine example of why we cannot properly analyze “globalization” without including Africa.

 
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Episode 20: Slavery in West African History

January 30th, 2009

klein_1998aOur first anniversary episode! Historian Martin Klein (Emeritus, U. of Toronto) reflects on African history and historiography and his life’s work on slavery in West Africa. Klein then sheds light on his ongoing research (in cooperation with leading Africanists) on African slaves. He concludes with observations about the state of historical research in Senegal, Mali, and Guinea.

 
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Episode 19: South African Cultural Heritage

December 15th, 2008

Narissa Ramdhani (Ifa Lethu CEO) — South African historian, archivist, and cultural heritage specialist — discusses her studies in exile in the USA and how she coordinated the return of 7 million documents from African National Congress offices in 33 countries to Johannesburg. The collection is now housed at the University of Fort Hare. Ramdhani then describes Ifa Lethu’s repatriation of South African apartheid-era art and its wider social impact.

 
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