The Africanist Podcast

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 the complex interplay of state author...

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 becomes a lens for examining colonial ...

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 by 24 artists who have...

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 Nairobi to Kisumu, thousands of young Ke...

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 researchers and podcasters, they share...

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 aesthetics, historical memory, and the...

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 films in urban Senegal. Although some...

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. Litanga, a native of the DRC and an exp...

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 election results, highlighting the alleg...

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 does not shy away from the scienti...

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' response. His son Marcel Malanga an...

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 Black Atlantic world from the seventeen...

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 erupting ...

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 concepts and textual sources, and drawing o...

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 Africa negotiate through objects, a...

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 years.

Co-H...

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, Borso Tall and the host discuss the o...

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, Borso Tall and the host discuss the o...

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? Will President Macky Sall, run fo...