Ufahamu Africa

This week we chat with Dr. Laura Seay (aka @texasinafrica), assistant professor of political science at Colby College. She studies politics in Democratic Republic of Congo and is an expert on what many people call “conflict minerals”. She is also an editor at The Monkey Cage, a blog on politics and political science at The Washington Post . Our featured song this week is "Hungry" by arti...

In the final week of Black History month, we chat with Dr. Daniel Magaziner, Associate Professor of History at Yale University. We talk about his recently published second book, The Art of Life in South Africa. Dr. Magaziner is a historian of 20th century South Africa, and his work focuses on intellectual history. He is also on the editorial board of Africa is a Country . Find the books, links, an...

In this week's episode, we chat with Dr. Michelle Moyd , Associate Professor of History at Indiana University. Dr. Moyd studies the history of soldiering and warfare in East Africa. She talked with us about her first book, Violent Intermediaries , which explores the social and cultural history of Askari, African soldiers in the colonial army of German East Africa. Our conversation begins at 3...

In the second week of Black History Month, we chat with historian Dr. Melissa Graboyes of the University of Oregon. She talks with us about her recently published book, The Experiment Must Continue: Medical Research and Ethics in East Africa, 1940–2014. During the interview, we talk about the summer study abroad program to learn Swahili in Zanzibar that Dr. Graboyes co-directs. The program is run...

This week on Ufahamu Africa we commemorate the start of Black History Month with a conversation with historian Dr. T.J. Tallie of Washington and Lee University. He shares insights from his research on settler colonialism in South Africa in the 1800s, connecting ideas and themes to the contemporary period. The two books T.J. mentions during our chat are Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railr...

Happy Lunar New Year! It’s the year of the rooster. Because of course. We at Ufahamu Africa have been thinking about what the new year may hold for China-Africa relations. We chatted this week with Lina Benabdallah, a Ph. D. candidate in political science at the University of Florida who studies Chinese investment in human resource development in Africa. Music in this week's episode comes fro...

This week on Ufahamu Africa, we commemorate the 60th anniversary of the African Cup of Nations (AFCON). We talk about football, politics, and more with Dr. Peter Alegi (aka @futbolprof), a professor of history at Michigan State University. He literally wrote the book on football in Africa. Our conversation with Dr. Peter Alegi begins at 5:25.  Find the books, links, and articles we mentioned in th...

Takulandirani! (That’s “We welcome you,” in Chichewa.) This week we launch the #SecondSaturday series, when we chat with an author about their book. Our guest is Priscilla Takondwa Semphere, who talked about her book, Ekari Leaves Malaw i. Priscilla is a student at Smith College who also writes for the Huffington Post . Our conversation with Ms. Semphere begins at 4:12. In our chat with Priscilla,...

In Ufahamu Africa's inaugural episode, we commemorate today’s presidential inauguration in Ghana. Nana Akufo-Addo becomes Ghana's president after unseating incumbent John Dramani Mahama in the December 7, 2016 election. We chat with Dr. Kojo Asante (a senior research fellow at the Center for Democratic Development ) about Ghana’s 2016 elections, election observation, Afrobarometer survey...