Ufahamu Africa Kim Yi Dionne and Rachel Beatty Riedl

In the last few years, militaries have carried out coups in numerous African countries, including Gabon, Niger, Burkina Faso, Sudan, Guinea, Chad, and Mali. Does this signify the beginning of a much broader continent-wide “coup epidemic?” Or are these coups mostly affecting especially weak states that face specific challenges? Where is democratic resilience strong and where is there a risk of continued democratic backsliding?

Today's episode is borrowed from Good Authority and their new podcast! The episode features Good Authority’s Africa experts Ken Opalo and Kim Yi Dionne who discuss these issues. Opalo is an associate professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and the author of the substack An Africanist Perspective. Dionne is an associate professor at UC Riverside and Ufahamu Africa cohost.
Find the books, links, and articles we mentioned in this episode on our website, ufahamuafrica.com.

Fellow Gopolang Botlhokwane speaks to journalist and editor Njabulo Ngidi about the recent AFCON in Ivory Coast and the politics of football (or soccer, for our American listeners!) in Southern Africa. 
Njabulo Ngidi is a senior soccer journalist, he formerly led Newframe South Africa's sports desk. Ngidi's latest investigative piece ("2010 World Cup $10-million ‘bribe’: SA left out even as $201-million returned to Fifa") at AmaBhungane Center for Journalism, won the Vodacom Journalist of the Year (sports category) in 2023 investigates possible corruption and governance is issues at South Africa Football Association (SAFA).
Find the books, links, and articles we mentioned in this episode on our website, ufahamuafrica.com.

It’s never too late to pay attention to what is happening in Sudan. The international community should be supporting everyday people’s needs as they navigate this humanitarian disaster and should also be supporting a way forward out of the war.
We're re-upping our conversation with Nisrin Elamin about the conflict in Sudan. Elamin is an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Toronto. Her work investigates the connections between land, race, belonging, and empire-making in Sudan and the broader Sahel region. 

We also bring updates on the news we're paying attention to this week, including an announcement about a new Center for Global Democracy at Cornell University, which will be led by our cohost Rachel Beatty Riedl as inaugural director! 


Find the books, links, and articles we mentioned in this episode on our website, ufahamuafrica.com.

Today we have an extremely timely French-language episode on Senegal and the newly elected president, which is hosted by one of our non-resident fellows, Expédit Ologou. He talks with Mamadou Seck, who is the regional manager of the Natural Resource Governance Institute for Francophone West Africa and Central Africa, and is based in Dakar. Seck's work oversees research in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea and Senegal.


Find the books, links, and articles we mentioned in this episode on our website, ufahamuafrica.com.

Fellow Gopolang Botlhokwane speaks to political analyst and media expert Dr. Metji Makgoba about the domestic implications of South Africa's recent case against Israel at The Hague in the Netherlands, and the country's upcoming elections in which the ruling African National Congress is expected to lose its majority. Makgoba is also an academic and teaches communication at South Africa's University of Limpopo. Makgoba holds a PhD in journalism from Cardiff University. 

Makgoba’s latest publication, "Constructing Black Economic Empowerment as a Radically Transformative Policy in South Africa," considers the appropriation of anti-apartheid and anti-colonial discourse to justify South Africa’s Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policy. 
Find the books, links, and articles we mentioned in this episode on our website, ufahamuafrica.com.

Imagine other worldly visitors have landed on Earth and are trying to learn about and understand Ghana and its politics. This episode from our new fellows, Fu Asiedu and Ami Tamakloe, provides a people’s political history and Ghanaian voices about its political present and their dreams for the country’s future.
They don’t just share what they think about former leaders like the father of independence, Kwame Nkhrumah, or about the two main political parties, the New Patriotic Party – the NPP – and the National Democratic Congress – the NDC. These Ghanaians who hail from different regions of the country also talk about specific policies, like president Nana Akufo-Addo’s policy proposal years ago when he was running for office – he’s widely remembered for proposing to make secondary education – or being able to go to Senior High Schools – SHS – for free. And, we get to hear about a third party that has recently emerged, dubbed The New Force. 
Find the books, links, and articles we mentioned in this episode on our website, ufahamuafrica.com.