Podcast appearances and mentions of Howard W French

Greetings Glocal Citizens! We are nearing the end of our Writing As Activism series @ the 2024 Pa Gya! Literary Festival in Accra. This week, Ghanaian writer and editor winning acclaim as a children's author, poet, broadcaster and novelist, Nii Ayikwei Parkes joins the conversation. Winner of multiple international awards including the ACRAG (Arts Critics and Reviewers Association of Ghana) award, his novel Tail of the Blue Bird won France's two major prizes for translated fiction – Prix Baudelaire and Prix Laure Bataillon – in 2014. Nii Ayikwei is the founder of flipped eye publishing (https://flippedeye.net), a leading small press; serves on the boards of World Literature Today and the AKO Caine Prize; and was chair of judges for the 2020 Commonwealth Prize. Translated in multiple languages, he has also written for National Geographic, Financial Times, the Guardian and Lonely Planet. His most recent books are The Ga Picture Alphabet and Azúcar (https://www.peepaltreepress.com/books/azucar), a novel. Currently Producer of Literature and Talks at Brighton Festival, he is also author of two collections of poetry The Makings of You (2010) and The Geez (2020), both published by Peepal Tree Press. In this conversation, we journey with Nii Ayikwei through his works, his entreprenuership, his love for food and rum, and much more! See Nii in converation at Pa Gya! here (https://www.youtube.com/live/fEFByAZDgwo?si=Cp2R4hSp5XcNiOva). Where to find Nii Ayikwei? On LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/niiayikwei/) On Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/niiayikweiparkes/) On Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ayikweiparkes/) On X (https://x.com/BlueBirdTail) On YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/NiiParkes_A) On Tik Tok (https://www.tiktok.com/@niiayikweiparkes) On BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/niiayikwei.bsky.social/post/3kbj5pcnbso2l) What's Nii Ayikwei listening to? Gene Noble (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCRUMqB8CNGlFwJpwjALL-w) Blues Man Robert Cray (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cray) The Roots (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Roots) Cody Chesnutt + The Roots (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKw_umLS56A) and Headphone Masterpiece (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Headphone_Masterpiece) Nii's Pan-African Activism essential reading list: Howard W. French, Born In Blackness (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/oct/26/born-in-blackness-howard-w-french-review-africa-africans-and-the-making-of-the-modern-world) Mongo Beti's (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongo_Beti), The Poor Christ of Bomba (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Poor_Christ_of_Bomba) Ama Atta Aidoo's, No Sweetness Here (https://www.feministpress.org/books-n-z/no-sweetness) Franz Fanon, Black Skin, White Mask (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Skin,_White_Masks) You Can't Get Lost in Cape Town (https://web.facebook.com/watch/?v=804875960113686), Zoë Wicomb Kofi Awoonor (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kofi_Awoonor), This Earth My Brother Other topics of interest: Historic Jamestown, Accra (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamestown/Usshertown,_Accra) Oto Blohum, Old Accra (https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/geography/old_accra.php#google_vignette) North Kaneshie (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaneshie#:~:text=Kaneshie%20is%20a%20suburb%20in,beginnings%20as%20a%20night%20market.) Thornton Heath, UK (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thornton_Heath) About Courttia Newland (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courttia_Newland) Learn more about Nii's uncle Frank Kobina Parkes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Kobina_Parkes) Nkyinkyim (https://www.adinkrasymbols.org/symbols/nkyinkyim/#:~:text=Nkyinkyim%20is%20an%20Akan%20word,symbol%20of%20dedication%20to%20service.) in the Adinkra (https://www.adinkrasymbols.org) On Ghana's Chop Bars (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chop_bar) About Spanish-Caribbean Rum (https://www.gotostcroix.com/st-croix-blog/spirited-history-caribbean-rum/) About Rhum Agricole (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhum_agricole) Special Guest: Nii Ayikwei Parkes.

Volge al termine la stagione dei premi letterari in lingua italiana, e l'ultimo fuoco – dopo quelli di Strega e Campiello – riguarda molto da vicino la Svizzera italiana: sarà assegnato nel weekend del 14 e 15 ottobre il Premio Chiara, appuntamento giunto alla trentacinquesima edizione che nel corso degli anni ha premiato scrittori come Francesco Piccolo, Elena Loewenthal, Gianrico Carofiglio e Bianca Pitzorno.Il premio sarà consegnato domenica 15 durante la consueta “finale” – con scrutinio in diretta dei 150 voti della giuria popolare – alle Ville Ponti di Varese. Ma l'appuntamento con i tre scrittori finalisti per il pubblico svizzero è il giorno prima, sabato 14, alla Biblioteca Cantonale di Lugano, dove Edoardo Albinati, Mario Calabresi ed Emiliano Morreale dialogheranno tra loro e con il pubblico.Le ascoltatrici e gli ascoltatori di “Alice” possono però già incontrare questi grandi autori italiani e i loro libri, in una puntata speciale nella quale racconteremo le storie di persone comuni che hanno fatto scelte fuori dal comune, quelle di Mario Calabresi e del suo “Una volta sola” (Mondadori); poi quelle nate dalla passione per il cinema del critico Emiliano Morreale, raccolte nel gustosissimo “L'ultima innocenza” (Sellerio); e naturalmente quelle contenute in “Uscire dal mondo” (Rizzoli) di Edoardo Albinati, in cui gli spunti autobiografici servono a raccontare cosa accade quando ci rendiamo inaccessibili agli altri, oppure sono gli altri a confinarci su un'isola senza vie di fuga. Non mancherà la nuova rubrica “Mirador”: proposte letterarie insolite e sorprendenti, recensite da grandi voci della letteratura in italiano. Oggi Igiaba Scego ha scelto per noi un saggio di Howard W. French,” L'Africa e la nascita del mondo moderno. Una storia globale”.

Howard W. French beleuchtet ein halbes Jahrtausend blutgetränkter transatlantischer Beziehungen und weist Afrika seinen zentralen Platz in der Geschichte der Moderne zu. Rezension von Roman Kaiser-Mühlecker. Aus dem Englischen von Karin Schuler, Thomas Stauder und Andreas Thomsen Klett-Cotta Verlag, 512 Seiten, 35 Euro ISBN 978-3-608-98667-9

Not the history we learned in school: the Western world has its roots in African trade and resources, and was built on the lost lives and liberty of African people. So argues senior journalist and history author Howard W. French in this Carleton University School of Journalism lecture, based on his latest book, Born in Blackness.

When we think about how the “modern world” came to be, history tends to focus on Eurocentric milestones: The Age of Discovery, which centered the expeditions of seafaring European explorers; the scientific contributions of great thinkers like Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, Descartes, and Galileo; and countless other narratives centered on Western achievements. But despite attempts to push an entire continent to the outskirts of global history, as Howard W. French argued in his new book Born in Blackness, Africa and African people are pivotal to our thinking about modernity. Born in Blackness spans six centuries to reframe the story of medieval and emerging Africa. French revealed how Western wealth, structures of democracy, and ideals of so-called Enlightenment all grew out of Europe's dehumanizing engagement with the “dark” continent. French elevated a history that has essentially been erased, revealing that it wasn't Europe's yearning for ties with Asia that initially spurred maritime exploration in the 15th and 16th centuries, but rather a desire for Africa's gold. Through this shift in the narrative of global history, French showed just how critical Africa and the African people were to increased growth and wealth in other regions of the world. Join us in discussion with the author and Drego Little, who reframed how we think about world history and global connections of the past and present. Howard W. French is a professor of journalism at Columbia University and former bureau chief in the Caribbean and Central America, West and Central Africa, Tokyo, and Shanghai for The New York Times. The author of five books, French lives in New York City. Buy the Book: Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War (Hardcover) from Elliott Bay Books Presented by Town Hall Seattle. To become a member or make a donation click here. 

On this week's episode of the Parley in All Blue Podcast, Mark sits down with Howard W. French, an author and a professor of journalism at Columbia University. Today's discussion delves deep into Professor French's book: Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War. Highlights from the episode:Price of Gold Mansa MusaEurope in 1471The Fort of El MinaPortugal & West  Africa Resources: Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World WarConnect with Mark Dawson:Instagram: @iammarkdawsonLinkedIN: @mark-a-dawsonWebsite: www.bentonmuse.comTwitter: @Iammarkdawson

Lisa is hosting solo today and is joined by Howard French to talk about his latest book, Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War.  Howard French is a professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Prior to joining the Columbia faculty, in 2008, he was a reporter and senior writer for The New York Times, where he worked as a foreign correspondent for more than two decades. During this time, French served as the paper's bureau chief in Shanghai, Tokyo, Abidjan and Miami (covering Central America and the Caribbean).French's documentary photography has featured in solo and group exhibitions on four continents, and collected by the Mildred Lane Kemper Museum in St. Louis.For more information about his work, please visit his website: howardwfrench.com or follow him on twitter: @hofrench.Book Description: Revealing the central yet intentionally obliterated role of Africa in the creation of modernity, Born in Blackness vitally reframes our understanding of world history.Traditional accounts of the making of the modern world afford a place of primacy to European history. Some credit the fifteenth-century Age of Discovery and the maritime connection it established between West and East; others the accidental unearthing of the “New World.” Still others point to the development of the scientific method, or the spread of Judeo-Christian beliefs; and so on, ad infinitum. The history of Africa, by contrast, has long been relegated to the remote outskirts of our global story. What if, instead, we put Africa and Africans at the very center of our thinking about the origins of modernity?In a sweeping narrative spanning more than six centuries, Howard W. French does just that, for Born in Blackness vitally reframes the story of medieval and emerging Africa, demonstrating how the economic ascendancy of Europe, the anchoring of democracy in the West, and the fulfillment of so-called Enlightenment ideals all grew out of Europe's dehumanizing engagement with the “dark” continent. In fact, French reveals, the first impetus for the Age of Discovery was not―as we are so often told, even today―Europe's yearning for ties with Asia, but rather its centuries-old desire to forge a trade in gold with legendarily rich Black societies sequestered away in the heart of West Africa.Creating a historical narrative that begins with the commencement of commercial relations between Portugal and Africa in the fifteenth century and ends with the onset of World War II, Born in Blackness interweaves precise historical detail with poignant, personal reportage. In so doing, it dramatically retrieves the lives of major African historical figures, from the unimaginably rich medieval emperors who traded with the Near East and beyond, to the Kongo sovereigns who heroically battled seventeenth-century European powers, to the ex-slaves who liberated Haitians from bondage and profoundly altered the course of American history.While French cogently demonstrates the centrality of Africa to the rise of the modern world, Born in Blackness becomes, at the same time, a far more significant narrative, one that reveals a long-concealed history of trivialization and, more often, elision in depictions of African history throughout the last five hundred years. As French shows, the achievements of sovereign African nations and their now-far-flung peoples have time and again been etiolated and deliberately erased from modern history. As the West ascended, their stories―siloed and piecemeal―were swept into secluded corners, thus setting the stage for the hagiographic “rise of the West” theories that have endured to this day.

Traditions die hard, or so they say. And thus, we are especially excited to continue one of our most popular traditions: Predicting ten foreign policy trends for 2022. This week, host Mark Leonard and Jeremy Shapiro, Research Director at ECFR, are looking into their crystal balls to foretell the forces and events that will shape the upcoming year. They also convened an impartial jury consisting entirely of themselves to rate last year's predictions. It concluded that Mark and Jeremy set a new high score of 8/10 points in 2021. Can they outdo themselves with their 2022 projections? Or do you think you have better predictions? Send us an email or tweet them at us! This podcast was recorded on 4 January 2022. Further reading: https://ecfr.eu/article/2022-the-road-to-recovery-again/ Bookshelf: “The Lincoln Highway” by Amor Towles “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles “Born in Blackness” by Howard W. French

Subject: The book: "Born In Blackness: Africa, Africans and the Making of the Modern World."Guest: Howard W. FrenchHost: Steve BowersSource: Blue  Suede Forever at WNWS-FM 101.5 (wnws.com)Length: 17:11

Episode 60 : Glynda Carr & Howard W. FrenchGlynda Carr is the CEO Co-Founder of Higher Heights For America; An organization focused on growing Black Women's political power from the voting booth to elected office. Listen as Glynda deep dives into the fact Black women remain severely underrepresented as officeholders at the statewide executive level, how the Election of Ayanna Pressley into Congress served as a "Blueprint" for what is proven to be possible and why Higher Heights For America is hopeful regarding further progress in 2022 and beyond. Glynda also opens up about her passion for helping others and what she would tell her Younger Self looking back on the incremental progress she's experienced despite systemic challenges Black Women face in Political Work and Advocacy. Acclaimed Journalist & Columbia University Professor Howard W. French has a new book; Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War. In the book and during this conversation, Howard is laser focused as he details various ways the United States, England, France and Portugal have all gained enormous through Trans Atlantic Slavery that has lasted to this present day. How hammers these facts home the most clear by deep diving into how Enslaved Africans who cultivated Sugar in the West Indies and Cotton in the Southern United States are what we would refer to today as "killer apps" because of the extreme wealth generated from them. This is one conversation and one book you do NOT want to miss! *You can Subscribe to Tell Us The Truth on all leading podcast apps including the iHeart Radio App, Spreaker and iTunes/Apple Podcasts. Join us on Facebook and Twitter for daily discussion about top news.*

(11/29/21) The history of Africa has long been relegated to the remote outskirts of our global story. What if, instead, we put Africans at the center of our thinking about the origins of modernity? Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism professor and former New York Times foreign correspondent Howard W. French does just that in his new book Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471, a sweeping narrative spanning more than six centuries. Join us for a look at the trivialization in depictions of African societies throughout the last 500 years and how to overcome it for a more accurate understanding of human history in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.

By 2030, Africa is projected to be home to 60 percent of the world's working-age population. Columbia Journalism School's Professor Howard W. French, author of the recently published Born in Blackness, joins Doorstep co-hosts Nick Gvosdev and Tatiana Serafin to explain how this will impact global economies, climate change politics, and U.S.-China relations. French also calls for a reckoning with history that recognizes the importance of Africa in the global conversation. For more on U.S. foreign policy in Africa, check out last year's Doorstep talk with Charles A. Ray,  chair of the Africa Program at Foreign Policy Research Institute and former U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe and Cambodia. For more, please go to carnegiecouncil.org. 

With few exceptions, traditional accounts of the development of the modern world put European history at the center of everything, often focusing on the “Age of Discovery” and global expansion, the Enlightenment, and so on. “The history of Africa, by contrast, has long been relegated to the remote outskirts of our global story,” as Howard W. French asserts in his critically acclaimed and game-changing new book. “What if, instead, we put Africa and Africans at the very center of our thinking about the origins of modernity?”In this segment of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc talks with French about his new book, Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War, and about the forcibly forgotten history of Africa's central place in the making of the modern world. Howard W. French is a professor of journalism at Columbia University and former New York Times bureau chief in the Caribbean and Central America, West and Central Africa, Tokyo, and Shanghai. He is the author of numerous books, including A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africa and China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa.Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Tuesday and Friday on TRNN.Pre-Production/Studio/Post Production: Stephen FrankHelp us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stGet The Marc Steiner Show updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

With few exceptions, traditional accounts of the development of the modern world put European history at the center of everything, often focusing on the “Age of Discovery” and global expansion, the Enlightenment, and so on. “The history of Africa, by contrast, has long been relegated to the remote outskirts of our global story,” as Howard W. French asserts in his critically acclaimed and game-changing new book. “What if, instead, we put Africa and Africans at the very center of our thinking about the origins of modernity?”In this segment of The Marc Steiner Show, Marc talks with French about his new book, Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War, and about the forcibly forgotten history of Africa's central place in the making of the modern world. Howard W. French is a professor of journalism at Columbia University and former New York Times bureau chief in the Caribbean and Central America, West and Central Africa, Tokyo, and Shanghai. He is the author of numerous books, including A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africa and China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa.Tune in for new episodes of The Marc Steiner Show every Tuesday and Friday on TRNN.Pre-Production/Studio/Post Production: Stephen FrankHelp us continue producing The Marc Steiner Show by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer:Donate: https://therealnews.com/donate-pod-mssSign up for our newsletter: https://therealnews.com/nl-pod-stGet The Marc Steiner Show updates: https://therealnews.com/up-pod-stLike us on Facebook: https://facebook.com/therealnewsFollow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/therealnews

When the leaders of G-7 countries met in Carbis Bay last month, they announced a new Build Back Better World (B3W) plan to support infrastructure projects in low- and middle-income countries and respond to China's Belt and Road Initiative. There are few details of exactly how the B3W partnership will work, and there are questions about whether focusing on infrastructure is the best way for the United States and its partners to counter China on the global stage. In this episode, Howard W. French joins David Dollar to discuss the challenges B3W will face and why the West would be better off competing in areas where it already has relative advantages.   Dollar & Sense is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Send feedback to bcp@brookings.edu, and follow us on Twitter at @policypodcasts.

I had the honour and privilege to sit down and talk to, Ryan Pyle. Ryan and I had a comprehensive chat about his life and career up to the present date. Ryan spoke to me about how he initially fell in love with travelling. He told me that his mother was a travel agent, and his household always had magazines such as National Geographic, which got him curious about travelling at a young age. Ryan spoke to me about going off to university and studying International politics at the University of Toronto. His idea of studying this subject was a way of maybe working abroad and also gave him an interest in other countries. He also played basketball at a pretty high level whilst he was at university and did look at becoming a pro. During his second year in university, he told me that he had a slot on a Thursday at 2pm that he had to take a class to have a Friday off to play basketball, and he decided to take, Introduction to Modern China. That led to Ryan's interest in China. After getting his degree, and not making it as a basketball player, he decided he didn't want to hang around Toronto and see how his life played out and went to China on a 90-day trip. When he returned home, he decided that it was a place for him to go and live. This is where Ryan got into writing and photography and pursued a journalism career. During his time in the news media, he got his work published in some well-known publications, including the New York Times. He got mentored by Howard W. French of all people. When the 2008 financial crash happened, Ryan spoke to me about his transition from news media to television. He talked about it taking some time, and had to self-fund a few expeditions, but he eventually started working with the BBC, Discovery Channel and Amazon Prime. His shows include Expedition Asia, Extreme Treks and Tough Rides. We spoke about one of his journeys where he broke the Guinness World record for the longest motorcycle ride. Ryan has won numerous awards for his work in journalism and television. Most recently, his accolades have been at the Asian Acadamy Awards, which is the equivalent of the Emmy or the Bafta awards for his tv work. We also spoke about the future of television travel documentary, and what Ryan may have to do to continue his television career. Interestingly, we discussed how Ryan started shows on Instagram Live and then started a podcast. He said as a storyteller; he wanted to continue telling stories whilst in lockdown in 2020 and starting his shows online, was a way of doing this. As he couldn't get back to his home in Dubai, Ryan did all of this in Istanbul. The most memorable part of this was when he saved a kitten, becoming his pet cat, Whisky. Ryan also spoke to me about his public speaking and how he started that and why he loves doing it. He talked about doing a mix of paid and free talks. He is also an author, and has books such as, 'India Ride: Two Brothers, Two Motorcycles, One Incredible Adventure: Two Brothers, Two Motorcycles, an Incredible Adventure,' and the book which he recommends people pick up if you are going to read about him, 'Sacred Mountains of China: An Epic Human-Powered Adventure Through a Remote World.' As Ryan made his name in photography, I had to ask him about the state of photography today. He had an interesting viewpoint. We also talked about relationships, and whether it's possible to have one when you have a lifestyle like Ryan. It was a joy talking to Ryan. He was a true gentleman, and I can see why he has achieved so much in his career. I hope people watching this interview get inspired, and I look forward to seeing the next chapter on his journey. You can also watch the episode on my YouTube channel (https://youtu.be/fXoYi9PQxTc). For people with hearing impairment, subtitles are available on YouTube. #ryanpyle #podcast #vodcast #travelpodcast ... Stay Connected with Ryan. Website https://www.ryanpyle.com/ Facebook...

There is no doubt that footage of George Floyd's death at the hands of four Minneapolis police officer is as shocking as it is damning of the American criminal justice system. But it is far from being the first incident of its kind, and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism professor Howard French ("Everything Under The Heavens") refuses to let white people use the excuse they didn't already know this was the reality for black people across the country. He notes it is time for America's institutions to take a long, hard look at themselves if they want this tragedy to not be in vain. And political reporter Ron Brownstein (The Atlantic) crunches the numbers on demographic changes among both Democrat and Republican voters, as well as posits some suggestions for the coalition Biden could build. 

Howard W. French talks about “Everything Under the Heavens,” and Judith Newman discusses new books about how to grieve and how to die.

Cover to Cover is a monthly program featuring the most influential authors on subjects of national and international importance.

Host Winslow Robertson continues his discussion of the excellent "China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa" with its author, Prof. Howard W. French. French is associate professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where he teaches reporting, writing, and a spring seminar each year on contemporary China. In this episode, they discuss criticisms of the book as well as how French managed to interview so many diverse peoples.

The excellent "China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa" was just released to rave reviews last month. This phenomenal Africa-China book looks at China's engagement with Africa through the prism of Chinese immigration to the continent. In order to further explore some of these themes, host Winslow Robertson (Dr, Nkemjika Kalu is sadly indisposed) discusses the book with its author, Prof. Howard W. French. French is associate professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where he teaches reporting, writing, and a spring seminar each year on contemporary China. Prof. French also had a distinguished career with The New York Times, where he spent almost two decades as a foreign correspondent: He was chief of the newspaper's Shanghai bureau. Prior, he headed bureaus in Japan, West and Central Africa, Central America and the Caribbean. He also wrote "The Next Empire," a 2010 China-Africa article in The Atlantic. In addition, Prof. French wrote "A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africa" and "Disappearing Shanghai: Photographs and Poems of an Intimate Way of Life."