The Africanist Podcast

In this episode of The Africanist Podcast, host Bamba Ndiaye sits down with Dr. Emily Jinan Riley of El Colegio de México to explore her groundbreaking book, Teraanga Republic (Indiana University Press 2025) —a sharp, intimate, and deeply layered examination of Senegalese hospitality, politics, and everyday life. Dr. Riley unpacks how “teraanga,” often celebrated as a national ethos of generosity...

This episode of The Africanist Podcast features a rich and thought‑provoking conversation with Dr. Mark Deets of the American University in Cairo, whose award‑winning monograph A Country of Defiance (Ohio University Press 2023) has reshaped scholarly understanding of the Casamance conflict in Senegal. In this episode, Dr. Deets walks listeners through the spatial and historical dynamics that have...

In this installment of our series Podcasting African Democracy, we sit down with Dr. Aikande Kwayu to unpack the turbulent aftermath of Tanzania’s recent presidential election. Marked by allegations of irregularities and contested legitimacy, the election sparked a wave of protests that revealed both the resilience and fragility of democratic practice in the country. Dr. Kwayu guides us through th...

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Wendell H. Marsh (Mohammad VI Polytechnic University) to explore his groundbreaking book Textual Life: Islam, Africa, and the Fate of the Humanities (Columbia University Press, 2025) . Marsh takes us deep into the intellectual world of Shaykh Musa Kamara, a towering figure of West African Islamic scholarship, whose bilingual manuscript History of the Blacks be...

In this episode, Ph. D candidate, (in Art History) Margaret Nagawa discusses "Insistent Presence", her curated exhibition at Emory University's Michael Carlos Museum. "Drawn from the collections of the Chazen Museum of Art at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and curated by Emory PhD candidate Margaret Nagawa, Insistent Presence features works of sculpture, painting, ceramics, and printmaking...

This episode is the first installment of a new series entitled Podcasting African Democracy. It was recorded on August 5th, 2025. In this episode, we speak with Wairimu Gathimba — writer, researcher, and longtime organizer within Kenya’s social justice movement — about the mass protests that erupted in June 2025 following the commemoration of the 2024 controversial Finance Bill protest. From Nairo...

In this special episode recorded live at the 2024 African Studies Association's Conference in Chicago, we delve into the vibrant world of academic podcasting with scholar-creators: Peter Alegi (Michigan State University), Bamba Ndiaye (Emory University), Reginold Royston (University of Wisconsin), Dean Rehberger (Michigan State University) and Michael Green. Drawing on their deep experience as res...

Step into the imaginative realms of Africanfuturism in this insightful episode featuring Prof. Kimberly Cleveland of Georgia State University in conversation with Bukunmi Bifarin (Emory University). Centered around Prof. Cleveland’s groundbreaking monograph, Africanfuturism: African Imaginings of Other Times, Spaces, and Worlds (Ohio University Press 2024) , the discussion traverses speculative ae...

In this episode, Profs Devin Bryson (Illinois College) and Molly Krueger Enz (South Dakota State University) discuss their co-authored monograph, Projections of Dakar: (Re) Imagining Urban Senegal Through Cinema (Ohio University Press 2024). “Projections of Dakar studies the audiovisual creations and practices of twenty-first-century Senegalese filmmakers living, working, and distributing their fi...

NB: This episode was recorded on February 8, 2025. Since then, the conflict in Eastern DRC has dramatically evolved with more than 7000 fatalities, thousands of displaced and sanctions against Rwanda. In this episode we delve into the intricate and ongoing conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with our esteemed guest, Dr. Patrick Litanga (Eastern Kentucky University). Dr. Lita...

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Natàlia Bueno, researcher at the Center for Social Studies (Coimbra University), to explore the recent political turmoil in Mozambique. The country has been gripped by violent protests and electoral violence following the contested election results that saw the ruling Frelimo party retain power. Natàlia Bueno provides an in-depth analysis of the disputed elect...

This episode is a conversation with distinguished Zambian writer and activist Ba Mulenga Kapwepwe, who was recently invited to Emory University's Institute of African Studies to discuss her latest novel, Perfect Marriage. In this conversation facilitated by Dr. Bamba Ndiaye, Kapwepwe dissects the complexities of Bemba society, ritual practices, and social relationships in a gripping narrative that...

On May 19, 2024, an attempted coup occurred in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The assailants targeted President Félix Tshesekedi and the Economy Minister, Vital Kamerhe. They attacked both the Palais de la Nation and the Kamerhe's residence before they were swiftly pushed back by security forces. The commando's leader, Christian Malanga, was killed as a result of the security forces'...

In this episode, Nyaradzai Mahachi (Emory University) discusses with Dr. Matthew Rarey (Oberlin College) about the latter's first monograph, Insignificant Things: Amulets and the Art of Survival in the Early Black Atlantic (Duke University Press, 2023) The book "traces the history of the African-associated amulets that enslaved and other marginalized people carried as tools of survival in the Blac...

In this conversation, Michelle Gavin (CFR), Rachel Beatty Riedl (Cornell University) and Bamba Ndiaye (Emory University) discuss the ongoing political crisis in Senegal. "On Saturday, February 3, Senegalese president Macky Sall informed the nation that he was postponing the presidential election scheduled for February 25. The move was necessary, he claimed, to prevent “ a new crisis ” from eruptin...

Co-Host: Eman Ghanayem In this episode, we discuss Mohamed Abdou's (Columbia University) Islam and Anarchism . "Islam and Anarchism is a highly original and interdisciplinary work, which simultaneously disrupts two commonly held beliefs - that Islam is necessarily authoritarian and capitalist; and that anarchism is necessarily anti-religious and anti-spiritual. Deeply rooted in key Islamic concept...

In this episode, Chelsy Monie and Dr. Susan Gagliardi (Emory University) discuss, the latter's recent monograph entitled Seeing the Unseen: Arts of Power Association on the Senufo-Mande Cultural "Frontier" (Indiana University Press, 2023) In this book, "art historian Susan Elizabeth Gagliardi examines tensions between the seen and unseen that makers, patrons, and audiences of arts in western West...

In this episode, renowned Kenyan writer and thinker Ngūgī wa Thiong’o discusses crucial issues in African literature including the 1962 African Writers Conference in Kampala, language use and the specter of (neo)colonialism in literary productions and African development. He also talks about sociopolitical issues in contemporary Africa as well as personal challenges he’s faced in the past few year...

On June 1, 2023, a criminal court in Dakar found opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko guilty of corrupting the youth while dropping the rape and death threats charges in a historic case opposing him to Adji Sarr. The verdict plunged the country into another popular uprising resulting in more than two dozen fatalities, hundreds of injured protesters, and detentions. In this conversation, journalist, Bo...

On June 1, 2023, a criminal court in Dakar found opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko guilty of corrupting the youth while dropping the rape and death threats charges in a historic case opposing him to Adji Sarr. The verdict plunged the country into another popular uprising resulting in more than two dozen fatalities, hundreds of injured protesters, and detentions. In this conversation, journalist, Bo...

PART-TWO: What happened in Ngor last week, a small fishing village on the coast of Dakar, Senegal? What do we know about the death of Adji Diallo, a 15-year-old inhabitant of the village? Is the Senegalese justice system being weaponized against Ousmane Sonko and the opposition to invalidate his presidential bid? How can the legal saga against Sonko impact the 2024 presidential election in Senegal...

PART-ONE: What happened in Ngor last week, a small fishing village on the coast of Dakar, Senegal? What do we know about the death of Adji Diallo, a 15-year-old inhabitant of the village? Is the Senegalese justice system being weaponized against Ousmane Sonko and the opposition to invalidate his presidential bid? How can the legal saga against Sonko impact the 2024 presidential election in Senegal...

In this episode, historian, Mariana Candido (Emory University), discusses her recent book entitled Wealth, Land, and Property in Angola: A History of Dispossession, Slavery, and Inequality (Cambridge University Press, 2022). In this conversation, Prof. Candido elaborates on the issues of women's land ownership, theories of "unoccupied lands and land surplus" as well as the power of written documen...

In this episode, historian, Joel Cabrita  (Standford University), discusses her recent monograph Written Out: The Silencing of Regina Gelana Twala (Ohio University Press 2023)  She explains how a Black South African woman (Regina Twala) was systematically erased from history and from the scholarly works she helped produced. Dr. Cabrita also discusses the issues of positionality, historical erasure...

In this episode, Ugandan social activist and scholar, Bwesigye Bwa Mwesigire (Institute of African Studies, Emory University), discusses the policing of social activism in contemporary Africa. He also shares his personal experience in an environment where violent attacks against activists are recurrent.  This conversation is part of a series on "Social Activism in Contemporary Africa" produced in...