Celebrating knowledge and cultures
Africa Talks is a monthly community lecture series organized in collaboration with the UW African Studies Program during the Fall and Spring semesters. The goal is to provide a platform to discuss insights, perspectives, and current events related to the African continent and diaspora. Africa Talks facilitates meaningful engagement within our diverse community around issues of mutual interest and importance. The community lectures provide a platform for sharing and celebrating the rich and diverse cultures of Africa, promoting cross-cultural understanding and appreciation of African traditions, languages, art, and music.
Africa Talks Community Lectures
Our Inspiration
We are inspired by the Wisconsin Idea – Africa Talks connect research, lived experience, and community voices
Upcoming Lectures
Beyond Isolation: Centering West African Arabophone Literature in African & Global Contexts
Speaker: Jibril Gabid, Department of African Cultural Studies, UW-Madison
Moderator: Erica Ayisi, PBS Indigenous Affairs Multimedia Reporter
Talk Description:
The twenty-first century is witnessing a naḥḍah (renaissance) of Arabic scholarship, emerging in the wake of the intellectual crisis produced by colonialism and its policies on Islamic and Arabic education. What distinguishes this period is an epistemic shift that has given rise to new textual genres and a new audience “equipped with new sensibilities, expectations, and worldly interests.” Yet, despite these significant developments, West African Arabic literature continues to be either neglected or studied in relative isolation, largely due to the persistent exclusion of Arabic from the broader critical discourse on sub-Saharan Africa. Such exclusion, I argue, amounts to the erasure of an entire literary tradition and its aesthetic values. This presentation seeks to reposition West African Arabophone literature within both the African literary studies and the wider field of global modern Arabic literature.
About Jibril Gabid:
Jibril Gabid is a doctoral candidate and Arabic instructor in the Department of African Cultural Studies. His research seeks to explore ways of (re)imagining Islamic West Africa, foregrounding West Africa Muslim scholarship by shifting the gaze of Islamic knowledge production from an Arabo-centric one to one that privileges and affirms the contributions of Black West African Muslim intellectuals. Jibril received a bachelor’s degree in Arabic and Psychology from the University of Ghana and a master’s degree in Arabic Language and Literature from the American University in Cairo.
What to expect:
- Networking & Refreshments (African food)
- Presentation
- Panel discussion
- Audience Q&A
- Date: Wednesday, October 29th, 2025
- Time: 5pm - 6:30pm
- Location: Goodman South Public Library, 2222 S Park Street, Madison, WI 53713
Fall 2025 schedule: Join us on these dates at the Goodman South Public Library, 2222 S Park St, Madison, WI 53713
- Wednesday, October 29th, 2025
- Wednesday, December 3rd, 2025
Want a reminder for the next session? Join our mailing list.
Past 2025 Lectures Series
Focus on East African islands: Environmental histories and the Cold War in the Indian Ocean
Speakers: Yadhav Deerpaul & Christine Cina
Moderator: Erica Ayisi
Description:
Yadhav will present on the small islands on the east coast of Africa – particularly those where human settlements began after European colonizers brought enslaved labor from Africa and Asia during the course of the seventeenth century. How can the history of these small islands be written together with that of continental Africa and what can such an approach contribute to African History/Studies?
Christine will share from her perspective as an African History professor, how lesser known histories of different parts of Africa can be incorporated into the curriculum to tell the full story of Africa.
About Yadhav Deerpaul:
Yadhav is a PhD student in the African History and History of Science, Medicine and Technology programs at UW–Madison. Their doctoral dissertation is on the colonial and postcolonial history of small islands on the east coast of Africa. (Source: https://africa.wisc.edu/africa-talks/)
Social Media: Advocacy or Surveillance Tool for Gender Minorities Globally.
Nneoma Onyinye Onwuegbuchi and Tyrone Creech will explore the risks and rewards of utilizing social media platform for social advocacy. These platforms offer new opportunities to traditionally marginalized communities to organize and advocate. At the same time, social media platforms can expose vulnerable populations to state surveillance and violence. The discussion will explore this tension using examples from gender and sexual minority communities in West Africa and Madison.
About Nneoma Onwuegbuchi:
Nneoma Onwuegbuchi has received various awards from institutions such as the UW-Madison African Studies Program and the CUNY Graduate Center have provided research support for her work. Onwuegbuchi holds a B.A. in Literary Studies from the University of Nigeria Nsukka and an M.A. in African Cultural Studies with a minor in Gender and Women’s Studies from UW-Madison.
Onwuegbuchi’s research focuses on gender and sexuality in West African media cultures, particularly Nigeria, Ghana, and Cameroon. Her dissertation project examines the representation of gender and sexual minorities in various forms of media, including films, novels, and social media. Through her transnational work, she aims to explore the connections between gendered body politics in West Africa and broader global issues such as neoliberalism and consumerism all within the context of diverse media capitalism. (Source: https://africa.wisc.edu/africa-talks/)
“We are Alive”: Narrating Memories of traumatization among IDPs in Host communities in Zamfara State of Northwest, Nigeria.
The ongoing crisis in Zamfara State, Northwest Nigeria, has resulted in a significant number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) seeking refuge in host communities. These individuals carry the heavy burden of traumatic memories that affect their mental health and social integration. This talk will examine the narratives of recognizing the fear and anxiety faced by individuals, along with how physical violence and displacement affect their social, cultural, and economic well-being. These IDPs live but anticipate what will happen next, explaining that having lived through attacks, “we are alive” yet cannot undo the horrors we have seen. (Source: https://africa.wisc.edu/africa-talks/)
Voronica Bading will be sharing her experience as a survivor, refugee and citizen, and also talk about her trajectory from South Sudan to Egypt and finally to Madison, Wisconsin.
About the speakers:
Ali Baba Sanchi is a PhD candidate in Anthropology at UW-Madison. His research focuses on the cultural manifestations of trauma among the victims of Boko Haram’s insurgency, banditry, and kidnapping in Northwest Nigeria.
Everyday Citizenship from Africa to Wisconsin
In a context where the state often appears dysfunctional and remote, though not always absent, what is the nature of the relationship between rulers and those who are ruled? To shed light on this question, this talk will examine the nature of state-citizen relationship in the DRC and Wisconsin. (Source: https://africa.wisc.edu/africa-talks/)
About the speakers:
Irène Tombo is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at UW-Madison. Her research is centered on norms and practices of citizenship (la citoyenneté) in polities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Her dissertation specifically focuses on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
2024 Lectures Series
Political Polarization, Fact-Checking, and Misinformation in Ghana
Recent presidential and parliamentary elections in Ghana show that the country is increasingly becoming politically polarized. Beyond politics, there are other lines of division such as ethnicity, religion, cultural and territorial differences. Dis/misinformation thrives in countries with deep ideological and political differences. In this talk, I explore the complex interrelationship between political polarization, misinformation, journalism practice, and fact-checking. (Source: https://africa.wisc.edu/africa-talks/)
About Eric Boansi Agyekum:
Eric Boansi Agyekum is a PhD student at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at UW-Madison. His research interest lies in fact-checking, media representation, and misinformation. Before joining UW-Madison, he was a lecturer in the Journalism and Media Studies Faculty at the Ghana Institute of Journalism. He has extensive knowledge in media and communication from both academia and industry, having worked in journalism and advertising before joining GIJ.
Colonial-Era Air Quality Legacies in Kampala, Uganda
Presenter: Dorothy Lsotho
In Kampala, Uganda, British colonial urban planners created segregated neighborhoods for Europeans, Asians, and Africans, under the colonial public health guidance. Today neighborhoods originally designated for African residents have higher levels of air pollution than those for Europeans and Asians, even after accounting for factors like road traffic and fuel use. (Source: https://africa.wisc.edu/africa-talks/)
About Dorothy Lsotho:
Dorothy Lsotho is a Ph.D. student studying the persistent colonial city design of Kampala, Uganda, and air pollution inequalities using low-cost air quality sensors. She also works with research groups and policymakers to design targeted air pollution management policies in East Africa. She believes that breathing clean air is the most basic and important human right, and her goal is to see everyone achieve that human right.
The Arts of African Popular Musics
Presenter: Michael Oshindoro
Popular music is not mere lyrics, rhythm, and beat. Our encounter with music is also an encounter with images. In this talk, we will examine how African popular musicians use images to assert themselves as the best in the game.
About Michael Oshindoro:
Michael Oshindoro is a PhD candidate in African cultural studies at UW-Madison. He studies African visual arts and media including animation, comics, and special effects.
Nigerian Women’s Rhetoric of Sexual Pleasure and Power Online
Presenter: Oluwayinka Arawomo
How do Nigerian women make sense of sex when silence is a cultural and discursive norm? How is the digital media both an alternative and ambivalent space for these women to disrupt silence and critically engage dominant sexual discourses? This talk addresses these salient questions through examining Nigerian women’s sexual discourses online and how their rhetorical practice of dialoguing not only enables knowledge and meaning making, but also articulates the possibilities and experiences of sexual pleasure and power for Nigerian women even in restrictive contexts. (Source: https://africa.wisc.edu/africa-talks/)
About Oluwayinka Arawomo:
Oluwayinka Arawomo is currently a 6th year PhD candidate in the Department of English (Composition and Rhetoric program) at UW-Madison. She is the Vice President of the Oline Writing Centers Association (OWCA). She is the past TA Assistant Director of UW-Madison’s Writing Center. Her research interests include digital writing and rhetoric, Nigerian women’s discourses in digital spaces, and African feminism. Her current research project investigates digital media as alternative and ambivalent spaces for Nigerian women’s rhetoric of sexual pleasure and power. She has taught first year composition for four years and supported her students in the writing classroom and one-to-one tutoring in the Writing Center.
The Unholy Trinity: Immigrating while Black and African
Presenter: Harry Kiiru
African migration to the United States has grown significantly in the last several decades, bringing to the fore a number of interrelated socio-historical, cultural, and political processes. Although fairly small, in comparison to other migrant groups who have longer histories and trajectories in the U.S., this growth in African migration has seen a related increase in migrant literature, films, music, art, and other forms of cultural production. In considering this population growth and its corresponding cultural production realities, this talk will investigate two overlapping questions: What does it mean to migrate while Black, and while African in African migrant literature? (Source: https://africa.wisc.edu/africa-talks/)
About Harry Kiiru:
Harry Kiiru is a PhD candidate in the Department of African Cultural Studies with a minor in African American Studies. His dissertation titled The Culturally and Racially Body in Motion: How Sub-Saharan African Immigrants Become Black in the United States, is a study of the new African diaspora’s racialization processes of incorporation into the ethno-racial hierarchal order within the United States and how they negotiate this identity. The study begins with the 1959-63 East African Students’ Airlift which saw almost eight hundred students attend schools in the U.S. and Canada. The Airlift as a concrete historical moment allows me to construct a periodization that runs from the 1950s to the present. Methodologically, he employs a mixed-method approach, incorporating archival research, African migrant literature and filmic analysis, and self-ethnography.
Smoldering Embers: Negative Peace, Memory of Home, and Environmental Conflict in Mt. Elgon
Presenter: Dr. Kevin Wamalwa
From 2005 to 2008, Mt. Elgon, Kenya, experienced the most brutal ethnic land-related conflict in its history, involving murders, disappearances, torture, and sexual assault. My ethnographic study of these violent events highlights the sociopolitical conditions that sustain instability in Mt. Elgon, the possibility of future conflicts, and how these continue to affect the lives of people in the region. I argue that despite the ongoing peacebuilding efforts, only a “negative peace” has prevailed in Mt. Elgon, where the dilemmas of (un)belonging, undressed injustices, and environmental and land crises still put the community on the brink of further conflict. (Source: https://africa.wisc.edu/africa-talks/)
About Dr. Kevin Wamalwa:
Dr. Kevin Wamalwa is an Anthropologist and African Cultural Studies scholar who studies resource-based conflict and post-violence memory in Kenya. His current work on embodied memories of violence explores situated understandings of victimhood and villainy in Mt. Elgon, Kenya. Kevin also holds an MA in African Languages and Literature from UW-Madison, focusing on Swahili utopian literature. His academic publications include “The Problem of (un)Belonging” (2021) and “Students’ Reparticularization of Chinese Language and Culture” (Co-othered with Amy Stambach, 2018). Kevin is also a published poet and story writer with works including Miale ya Ushairi (2015), a poetry study guide for high school and middle-level colleges; a short story, “Nimerudi Tena” (I have Returned) in Kunani Marekani? (What is there in America? 2015, Iribemwangi, ed.). As a believer in education for all, Kevin founded the Deserv-Ed initiative, which supports needy high school and college students in Kenya to complete their education. Kevin is the current African Studies Fellow teaching the new African and Global Black Studies Course at Madison College.
2023 Lectures Series
Taking African Cartoons Seriously, Again: The Multimodal Art of Coping with the Postcolonial Incredible
Presenter: Tolulope Akinwole
About Tolulope Akinwole:
Tolulope Akinwole is a doctoral candidate in English at UW-Madison. His research interests revolve around global Black literatures, African cultural studies, and critical geography. He is currently a dissertation fellow at UW-Madison’s Institute for Research in the Humanities, where he is completing his research on literary and cultural representations of automobility in postcolonial Africa. He obtained master’s degrees in Literary Studies, African Cultural Studies, and English Language from UW-Madison and the University of Lagos, Nigeria. He is associate editor of Africanwriter.com, an online magazine of contemporary African and African diaspora literatures, and he manages Africacartoons.com. His research has been supported by the National Federation of Modern Language Teachers’ Associations, the African Studies Research Award, the Ebrahim Hussein Research Fellowship, and the Graduate School at UW-Madison.
“Manhood today is money”: New Conceptions and Shifting Interpretations of Masculinity among the Kuria People of Western Kenya
Presenter: Mwita Muinko
About Mwita Muinko:
Mwita Muinko is a Graduate Teaching Assistant and doctoral candidate in the department of African Cultural Studies. His research examines the relationship between language and gender, with a particular emphasis on how masculinity is constructed and expressed in an African context. He has a keen interest in auto-ethnographic methods and narrative research. He teaches both Swahili language and other Africa-related courses.
Africa Talks Inaugural Lecture: Emerging Insights from the 2023 Elections in Zimbabwe
Presenter: Tinashé Hofisi
About Tinashé Hofisi:
Tinashé Hofisi is a human rights lawyer and doctoral candidate with the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School. His research examines the emergence of constitutional courts in common law Africa. Tinashé was a constitutional litigator with the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights for seven years and argued several cases in the Constitutional Court. He graduated with an LLM from Loyola University, Chicago and is a Mandela Washington Fellow under the Young African Leaders Initiative. He is also an IFES Manatt Fellow and an ILS Graduate Fellow. Tinashé holds certificates in Constitution-building in Africa and Strategic Human Rights Litigation from the Central European University. Since the fall of 2020, he has been a lecturer in the Centre for Law, Society and Justice, where he developed an interdisciplinary course on courts, constitutionalism and human rights.
We look forward to hearing from you.