Dr. Claudia Gastrow (Anthropology, North Carolina State University) on her new book, The Aesthetics of Belonging: Indigenous Urbanism and City Building in Oil-Boom Luanda (University of North Carolina Press, 2024). Dr. Gastrow reflects on her winding path from South Africa to Switzerland, Angola, and the United States. The conversation then delves into the main thrust of the book, doing r[…]
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44:52
Episode 138:
Dr. Benjamin Talton (Director, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University) on his eclectic intellectual journey as an historian of Africa and the Diaspora. The interview begins with a discussion of his early work on ethnicity and politics in northern Ghana and then turns to his award-winning book, In This Land of Plenty: Mickey Leland and Africa in American Politics. In the fin[…]
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36:40
Episode 137:
Afis Ayinde Oladosu (Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Ibadan) on being and becoming Muslim in Nigeria and Africa. Dr. Oladosu reflects on his journey to academia, positionality at Ibadan, and experiences as a Gates Fellow in the U.S. He then discusses his MSU African Studies Center seminar presentation and comments on the role of religion in Nigerian politics. The i[…]
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37:08
Episode 136:
Lauren Jarvis (History, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill) on her new book, A Prophet of the People: Isaiah Shembe and the Making of a South African Church (Michigan State University Press, 2024). Dr. Jarvis discusses the remarkable life of Shembe, the building of a religious community of people left behind by industrial capitalism, strategies of evasion, and the key role of women […]
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39:27
Episode 135:
Michelle Sikes (Kinesiology, African Studies and History, Penn State University) on her new book, Kenya’s Running Women: A History (Michigan State University Press, 2023). The conversation begins with Sikes's journey from NCAA champion and professional runner to Rhodes scholar and academic. She then delves into the book's main arguments and sources and methods. Sikes elaborates on women[…]