New Books Network Podcast

African Studies October 2, 2023

History of South Africa

From 1902 to the Present

Thula Simpson

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

South Africa was born in war, has been cursed by crises and ruptures, and today stands on a precipice once again. Thula Simpson's History of South Africa: From 1902 to …

Canadian Studies September 28, 2023

Gifts from Amin

Ugandan Asian Refugees in Canada

Shezan Muhammedi

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

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In August 1972, military leader and despot Idi Amin expelled Asian Ugandans from the country, professing to return control of the economy to "Ugandan citizens." Within ninety days, 50,000 Ugandans …

Asian Review of Books September 28, 2023

Sovereigns of the Sea

Omani Ambition in the Age of Empire

Seema Alavi

Hosted by Nicholas Gordon

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It’s one of the strange artifacts of history that Zanzibar, off the coast of Tanzania, was once controlled by the Sultanate of Oman. In 1832, then Sultan Sayyid Saïd bin …

General History September 25, 2023

Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning

Nigel Biggar

Hosted by Charles Coutinho

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In the wake of the dissolution of the Soviet empire in 1989, many believed that we had arrived at the 'End of History' - that the global dominance of liberal …

Political Science September 18, 2023

We're Here Because You Were There

Immigration and the End of Empire

Ian Sanjay Patel

Hosted by Lamis Abdelaaty

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What are the origins of the hostile environment against immigrants in the UK? In We’re Here Because You Were There: Immigration and the End of Empire (Verso, 2021), Patel retells …

People, Power, Politics September 15, 2023

Coups and the Threat of “Feel Good” Militarism in Africa

A Discussion with Rita Abrahamsen

Rita Abrahamsen

Hosted by Nic Cheeseman

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Why are we seeing a rise in coups in Africa and growing debate about the possible benefits of military rule? What are the roots of “feel good” militarism and how …

African American Studies September 11, 2023

Slave Empire

How Slavery Built Modern Britain

Padraic X. Scanlan

Hosted by Katrina Anderson

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The British empire, in sentimental myth, was more free, more just and more fair than its rivals. But this claim that the British empire was 'free' and that, for all …

African Studies August 29, 2023

The Center Cannot Hold

Decolonial Possibility in the Collapse of a Tanzanian NGO

Jenna N. Hanchey

Hosted by Anna Lindner

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In The Center Cannot Hold: Decolonial Possibility in the Collapse of a Tanzanian NGO (Duke UP, 2023), Jenna N. Hanchey examines the decolonial potential emerging from processes of ruination and collapse …

African Studies August 27, 2023

Djibouti

A Political History

Samson A. Bezabeh

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Wedged between Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia, at the intersection of the world’s busiest shipping routes, Djibouti has long been a global geostrategic hub. In Djibouti: A Political History (Lynne Rienner …

African Studies August 23, 2023

Students of the World

Global 1968 and Decolonization in the Congo

Pedro Monaville

Hosted by Sara Katz

On June 30, 1960—the day of the Congo’s independence—Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba gave a fiery speech in which he conjured a definitive shift away from a past of colonial oppression …

African Studies August 19, 2023

A Language for the World

The Standardization of Swahili

Morgan J. Robinson

Hosted by Elisa Prosperetti

Morgan J. Robinson argues that the portability of Standard Swahili has contributed to its wide use not only across the African continent but also around the globe. A Language for …

African Studies August 15, 2023

The Puzzle of Ethiopian Politics

Terrence Lyons

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

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How did a group with its origins in a small Marxist-Leninist insurgency in northern Ethiopia transform itself into a party (the EPRDF) with eight million members and a hierarchy that …

African Studies August 14, 2023

Understanding Ethiopia's Tigray War

Martin Plaut and Sarah Vaughan

Hosted by Ari Barbalat

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Today I talked to Martin Plaut and Sarah Vaughan about their new book Understanding Ethiopia's Tigray War (Oxford UP, 2023) The ongoing war and consequent famine in the Ethiopian province of Tigray …

Anthropology August 12, 2023

An Elusive Common

Land, Politics, and Agrarian Rurality in a Moroccan Oasis

Karen E. Rignall

Hosted by Alize Arıcan

Karen E. Rignall's book An Elusive Common: Land, Politics, and Agrarian Rurality in a Moroccan Oasis (Cornell UP, 2021) details the fraught dynamics of rural life in the arid periphery of …

Critical Theory August 11, 2023

Solidarity and the Palestinian Cause

Indigeneity, Blackness, and the Promise of Universality

Zahi Zalloua

Hosted by Reuben Niewenhuis

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Zahi Zalloua provides the first examination of Palestinian identity from the perspective of Indigeneity and Critical Black Studies. Examining the Palestinian question through the lens of settler colonialism and Indigeneity …

German Studies August 8, 2023

Blood and Diamonds

Germany's Imperial Ambitions in Africa

Steven Press

Hosted by Jill Massino

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Since the late 1990s, activists have campaigned to remove "conflict diamonds" from jewelry shops and department stores. But if the problem of conflict diamonds--gems extracted from war zones--has only recently …

Intellectual History August 4, 2023

Cross-Border Cosmopolitans

The Making of a Pan-African North America

Wendell Nii Laryea Adjetey

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin

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Twentieth-century African American history cannot be told without accounting for the significant influence of Pan-African thought, just as the story of U.S. policy from 1900 to 2000 cannot be told …

Geography July 31, 2023

Enclaves of Exception

Special Economic Zones and Extractive Practices in Nigeria

Omolade Adunbi

Hosted by Stentor Danielson

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How do we measure and truly grasp the sweeping social and environmental effects of an oil-based economy? Focusing on the special economic zones resulting from China's trading partnership with Nigeria …

Nordic Asia Podcast July 28, 2023

India's Development Diplomacy and Soft Power in Africa

A Discussion with Kenneth King and Meera Venkatachalam

Kenneth King and Meera Venkatachalam

Hosted by Kenneth Bo Nielsen

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In this episode, Kenneth King (University of Edinburgh) & Meera Venkatachalam (University of Mumbai), discuss their recently co-edited volume, India's Development Diplomacy and Soft Power in Africa, published by Boydell …

General History July 25, 2023

African Activists in a Decolonising World

The Making of an Anticolonial Culture, 1952-1966

Ismay Milford

Hosted by Zeb Larson

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As wars of liberation in Africa and Asia shook the post-war world, a cohort of activists from East and Central Africa, specifically the region encompassing present-day Malawi, Zambia, Uganda and …