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Cabo Verde (aka Cape Verde) has long been known as a music powerhouse. Despite its little size (population: 500,000), the West African archipelago is the third largest country in music sales in the “World” market by some estimations. That's why the island has become home to the Atlantic Music Expo: a trans-oceanic music fair featuring conferences and concerts that attract musicians and industry professionals from across the globe. In this episode, Afropop takes a visit to the islands and the Expo to check out what's going on today with Cape Verdean music. We hear from talented new singer-composers Dino D'Santiago and Ceuzany, check out high-energy funana from Ferro Gaita and Ze Espanhol, and sample other tasty musical fruits from the islands that created Cesaria Evoria. Produced by Marlon Bishop APWW #687
Hoodoo, Spirituality, African Traditions, Cultural Syncretism, Enslaved Africans, Folk Religion, Christianity.The conversation explores the origins and significance of Hoodoo as a spiritual tradition developed by enslaved Africans, highlighting its roots in West and Central African practices and its syncretism with Christianity.Hoodoo was created by enslaved Africans for protection.It is a blend of West African, Central African, and Christian practices.The tradition serves as a form of resistance against oppression.Hoodoo reflects the resilience and creativity of enslaved communities.Cultural syncretism is a key aspect of Hoodoo's development.The practice is deeply rooted in folk religion.Hoodoo provides a sense of identity and belonging.It is often misunderstood and misrepresented in popular culture.The spiritual practices of Hoodoo are diverse and varied.Understanding Hoodoo requires acknowledging its historical context."Hoodoo is a spiritual tradition defined by folk religion""They mixed it with Christianity"Chapters00:00 The Invisible Church: Origins and Significance00:19 Hoodoo: Spiritual Practices and Syncretism
This week on the program we feature the deep, soulful grooves of Yemen Blues. In 2010, singer & composer Ravid Kahalani founded the rare combination of world class musicians that is called Yemen Blues. The result of this amazing group is a powerful energy that mixes Yemenite, West African, Latin & Jazz influences and what Ravid likes to call “New Culture Music”. Their latest studio effort is called, Insaniya. They were on a US tour just a few weeks ago when we caught up with them at The Levitt Shell in midtown Memphis. Grammy nominated blues man, Guy Davis, will be with us to deliver an installment of the Blues Hall of Fame, an exploration of the lives of the pioneers and innovators enshrined in the Blues Hall of Fame, here in Memphis, TN, brought to you by the blues Foundation.
President Donald Trump has warned that he will target Nigeria if the government there "continues to allow the killing of Christians". For months, campaigners and politicians in Washington have been alleging that Islamist militants were systematically targeting Christians in Nigeria. But how true are the claims that there is a persecution – or even a genocide – of Christians in the West African country? And how does Nicki Minaj come to thank him for his intervention? We speak to the BBC's global religion correspondent, Lebo Diseko. Producers: Xandra Ellin and Cat Farnsworth Executive producer: Annie Brown Mix: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China Collins (Photo: People walk along a street flanked by St. Joseph Catholic Church and Kano Road Central Mosque in Kaduna, Nigeria, 4 November, 2025. Credit: Marvellous Durowaiye/Reuters)
Nigerian modern art is having a moment. In London, the Tate has opened a critically acclaimed exhibition, called “Nigerian Modernism,” featuring more than 50 artists who experimented with vibrant new styles in the mid 20th century in the giant and influential West African nation. More generally, the artists of this era have become more recognized outside of their home country in recent decades, from early figures who laid the groundwork like Aina Onabolu to a towering figure of the 1950s like Ben Enwonwu to younger innovators of the 1950s and 1960s such as Uche Okeke and Demas Nwoko, with many more important names to know and bodies of work to discover. This was an earth-shaking time in Nigerian history, when a near-century of British colonial domination was shed and the many problems of a fragile new independent nation had to be faced. These artists were part of figuring out how to express that new sense of identity in images. But their art was not always so celebrated, sometimes dismissed as derivative of European art. The scholar and curator Chika Okeke-Agulu has been important to the recent re-estimation of Nigeria's art history. He teaches at Princeton, and is the author of, among many other things, of Postcolonial Modernism: Art and Decolonization in Twentieth-Century Nigeria, a book that personally excited me very much when I first found it. With the Tate show drawing a fresh wave of interest, art critic Ben Davis thought Okeke-Agulu would be an excellent guide to what this art was, what it meant, and why it still demands attention today.
IBÍLÈ will be hosting its first West Clare pop-up tasting experience this weekend. IBÍLÈ is a contemporary pop-up dining restaurant dedicated to showcasing the vibrant flavours of West African cuisine. They will have a tasting menu at Pot Duggans in Ennistymon on the 7th & 8th of November. The menu is inspired by Nigerian roots, paired with music, storytelling, and cocktails crafted African wine pairings with Irish spirits. To find out more, Alan Morrissey spoke with the founder of IBÍLÈ, Tolu Asemento. Photo (c) via Pot Duggans Facebook
Nigerian modern art is having a moment. In London, the Tate has opened a critically acclaimed exhibition, called “Nigerian Modernism,” featuring more than 50 artists who experimented with vibrant new styles in the mid 20th century in the giant and influential West African nation. More generally, the artists of this era have become more recognized outside of their home country in recent decades, from early figures who laid the groundwork like Aina Onabolu to a towering figure of the 1950s like Ben Enwonwu to younger innovators of the 1950s and 1960s such as Uche Okeke and Demas Nwoko, with many more important names to know and bodies of work to discover. This was an earth-shaking time in Nigerian history, when a near-century of British colonial domination was shed and the many problems of a fragile new independent nation had to be faced. These artists were part of figuring out how to express that new sense of identity in images. But their art was not always so celebrated, sometimes dismissed as derivative of European art. The scholar and curator Chika Okeke-Agulu has been important to the recent re-estimation of Nigeria's art history. He teaches at Princeton, and is the author of, among many other things, of Postcolonial Modernism: Art and Decolonization in Twentieth-Century Nigeria, a book that personally excited me very much when I first found it. With the Tate show drawing a fresh wave of interest, art critic Ben Davis thought Okeke-Agulu would be an excellent guide to what this art was, what it meant, and why it still demands attention today.
Nigerians are rejecting US President Donald Trump's allegation of Christian persecution and threats of US military action against the West African nation. Many say his narrative oversimplifies a complex reality in a country where violence affects Christians and Muslims. Eddy Micah Jr. talks to Dr. Philibus Audu Nwamagyi, a defence and security specialist, and DW correspondent Ben Shemang in Abuja
When Peace Corps volunteer Lisa Curtis felt drained in a rural West African village, local women introduced her to moringa—a nutrient-packed “miracle tree” that would change her life. That moment sparked the creation of Kuli Kuli Foods, now a leading brand bringing climate-smart superfoods to shelves across the U.S.In this episode, Lisa joins host Mariah Parsons to share her journey from discovering moringa to scaling a mission-driven brand found in over 11,000 stores. She breaks down the realities of social entrepreneurship, how Kuli Kuli balances e-commerce and retail, and the art of blending impact with innovation. Tune in for an inspiring story about purpose-fueled business, sustainable growth, and why “nutrition you can feel” is more than just a tagline—it's a movement.
Episode 197 with Omar Lababidi, CEO of Wafroex and Founder of Goldswarm, a premium West African honey brand that is redefining sustainable luxury while empowering thousands of smallholder farmers across Nigeria. With over twenty years of experience investing in, leading and scaling companies, Omar combines deep business expertise with a passion for innovation, sustainability and community development.In this episode, he shares how a single taste of honey in Benin in 2015 inspired a vision to elevate West African honey to the global stage, and how that vision has grown into Goldswarm the first Nigerian agricultural brand to export to the United States. From introducing advanced technologies such as honey DNA tracking to forging partnerships that protect biodiversity and support local beekeepers, Omar explains how Goldswarm is creating a blueprint for sustainable agribusiness in Africa.What We Discuss With OmarOmar's journey from a life-changing taste of honey in Benin to founding Goldswarm, a premium West African honey brand.Building Nigeria's first agricultural brand to export to the United States and redefining sustainable luxury.How Goldswarm's honey DNA tracking and innovation are transforming transparency, traceability, and trust in African exports.Empowering local farmers, protecting biodiversity, and promoting climate-smart agriculture across West Africa.Navigating export challenges and positioning Nigeria as a global hub for organic and sustainable agricultural products.Omar's vision for Africa's future in global trade and the rise of purpose-driven entrepreneurship across the continentVerto CornerIn this week's Verto Corner, Sankha Jinasena, Sales Manager for South Africa at Verto, discusses how South Africa's removal from the FATF grey list is creating new opportunities for businesses operating across borders. He explains how improved investor confidence and regulatory stability are opening doors for B2B payment providers, driving stronger partnerships and renewed commercial momentum. Sankha also shares what this shift means for companies looking to trade with South Africa, and how Verto is repositioning its value proposition to meet rising demand with greater speed, transparency and trust.Access the Strategy HandbookDid you miss my previous episode where I discuss Using Solar Drying Innovation to Tackle Food Insecurity in Sudan: The Solar Foods Story? Make sure to check it out!Connect with Terser:LinkedIn - Terser AdamuInstagram - unlockingafricaTwitter (X) - @TerserAdamuConnect with Omar:LinkedIn - Omar LababidDiscover how Verto's solutions can help you accept payments, manage expenses, and scale with ease here
During the 1950s and 1960s, the Soviet Union began a new era of political engagement with the global south. One feature was development assistance. The Soviet Union embodied, offered and inspired an alternative approach to development, industrialization and modernization across the global south. Countries such as Ghana, Guinea and Mali in the 1950s-60s were governed by nationalists, not Marxists or Communists, and were newly independent from European imperial-colonial control.Soviet specialists assessed the difficult conditions of these post-colonial countries as opening a path for “non-capitalist” development: state led modernization. As opposed to a Western promoted primacy of markets and individuals, “non-capitalist” development would ensure sovereignty and economic growth by shielding against French or British neo-colonial exploitation, improving living standards, empowering the state and strengthening political ties with the socialist world.To discuss all this and more, we welcome historian Alessandro Iandolo, author of the book Arrested Development: The Soviet Union in Ghana, Guinea and Mali 1955-1968Book description:In Arrested Development, Alessandro Iandolo examines the USSR's role in West Africa during the 1950s and 1960s as an aid donor, trade partner, and political model for newly independent Ghana, Guinea, and Mali.With a strong economy in the 1950s, the USSR expanded its global outreach, supporting economic development in post-colonial Africa and Asia. Many nations saw the Soviet model as a path to political and economic independence. Drawing on extensive Russian and West African archival research, Iandolo explores Soviet ideas, sponsored projects, and their lasting impact.Soviet specialists worked alongside West African colleagues to design ambitious development plans, build infrastructure, establish collective farms, survey mineral resources, and manage banking and trade. These collaborations—and the tensions they created—shed light on how Soviet and West African visions of development intersected. Arrested Development positions the USSR as a key player in twentieth-century economic history, reshaping global approaches to modernization.Alessandro Iandolo is Lecturer in Soviet and Post-Soviet History at University College London.The episode art is a 1960 poster from the Georgian SSR by Giorgi Pirtskhalava that reads: კოლონიზატორებო გაეთრიეთ! - Colonizers, get out!
Speaking from his Brown County home, Reverend Peyton of Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band shared his deep passion for music as a universal language, describing how audiences worldwide, even in countries where English isn't spoken, connect with American roots music. He reflected on the rich, multicultural origins of American music—from West African vocal traditions and Celtic rhythms to Hawaiian guitar techniques—and how these influences have shaped blues, country, and rock. Peyton traced his own diverse ancestry, from Norman and Viking roots to West African heritage, and sees a connection between his lineage and his musical inclinations. Discussing his creative process, he explained that he writes daily, letting melody guide lyrics and drawing inspiration from life, nature, and travel. While fame brings challenges, Peyton treasures the global friendships forged through his music and advises young artists to create primarily for themselves, trusting that authenticity will find its audience. He also shared details of his upcoming Bloomington performance and noted that his latest album is under consideration for a Grammy, emphasizing that true artistry comes from passion, heritage, and the joy of making music.Follow host Tom Alvarez on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok.Watch Tom every other Thursday on Lifestyle Live on WISH-TV, and listen every week on the All Indiana Podcast Network.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Today's episode was one of those mornings - a mix of laughter, real talk, and powerful insight. The team kicked off with their usual chaos and banter before grounding the show with a special guest whose perspective took things deeper.Guest: Ifá Practitioner & EducatorOur guest broke down the spiritual foundation of Ifá - the West African system of knowledge and divination that predates colonial religion. He explored:The connection between Ifá, ancestry, and purpose.How Western narratives have distorted African spiritual systems.The discipline and ritual involved in authentic practice versus pop-culture appropriation.The idea that Ifá isn't “mysticism,” but philosophy - one rooted in self-knowledge, destiny, and community balance.Black History Month SpotlightThe team also celebrated Una Marson, Jamaica's pioneering poet and the BBC's first Black female producer - connecting her legacy to the broader theme of reclaiming our narratives and honouring those who paved the way.Main Debate: Should Influencers Need Qualifications?When China announced a law requiring degrees for influencers who speak on professional topics, the table exploded with opinion.Gina made a case for accountability in health and fitness content.Shadie defended lived experience as a valid form of expertise.Chinx brought humour that somehow tied colourism, culture, and content creation all into one wild ride.What followed was a sharp, necessary clash about information, influence, and integrity.HeadlinesPrince Andrew stripped of titles amid Epstein fallout.Rachel Reeves faces backlash over housing violations.Trump administration limits refugees, prioritising white South Africans.UK pledges £2.5 m aid to Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa.Closing EnergyFrom reflection to laughter, this one flowed like only TDA can - bridging spirit, culture, and conversation into a morning that felt bigger than news.
This week we finish up Artober on CP, in conversation with artist, Mary Jackson, a renowned sweetgrass basket weaver known for combining traditional methods with contemporary designs. Based in the Low Country of South Carolina, Mary is the descendant of generations of Gullah basket weavers. Born in 1945, in 2008, Mary was awarded a MacArthur Foundation fellowship (“Genius Grant”) for "pushing the centuries-old tradition in stunning new directions”. From the 1970s through to the early 2000s, Mary became something of an accidental Gardener, environmental restorationist, and economic driver, when she recognized the dwindling supply and access to the signature native sweetgrass that her cultural art and tradition relied on. This diminishing resource was due in part to booming development along the U.S. Southeast coasts, the fragmentation and destruction of delicate coastal ecosystems, and the increasing exclusion of Gullah basketmakers from traditional harvest sites. Mary took it on herself to organize the basketmaking community, and working in collaboration with this community and Robert DuFault, of the Clemson University Department of Biological Sciences, her initiative led work to secure sustainable availability and access to native sweetgrass (Muhlenbergia sp.) for the traditional basket makers, and future of this traditional art, craft, and cultural symbol. Gullah Sweetgrass baskets are an over 400-year tradition in the U.S. Southeast, first as a highly prized skill and centuries, if not millennia-old, passed-down knowledge of enslaved West Africans being brought to the colonies. These skills and knowledge directly contributed to the success specifically of rice farming in the region, where highly developed and precisely crafted utilitarian baskets were used for everything from carrying, harvesting, winnowing, to fine household tasks. Gullah Sweetgrass Baskets are a continued symbol of the City of Charleston, South Carolina, and for over a century, these skilled artists and their basketry have been an economic and cultural mainstay in the region. All depending on healthy and abundant native sweetgrass, palmetto, and loblolly or longleaf pine ecosystems and supply. The “access” Mary catalyzed in response to this contraction of the health and supply of sweetgrass ultimately included: research into successful germination of sweetgrass at scale and teaching basket makers how to grow sweetgrass at home; the enventual introduction of Muhlenbergia species to the plant and garden trade, making it now a staple of the ornamental grass and native plant movements; large-scale plantings of the grasses on private and public grounds with permission for basketmakers to harvest and tend; and, finally, Army Corps of Engineers and coastal developments working to replant and restorate inter-tidal beach dunes with the stabilizing native sweetgrass. All of this from one woman's impulse to cultivate plants with an eye to protecting the legacy of her people, and the future of their craft. Now an elder, Mary agreed to be one of the interview subjects of our 10 Cultivating Place Live events in 2024 and 2025. For the CP LIVE events, which will be included in the final Cultivating Place: The Power of Gardeners documentary film series, Jennifer interviewed Mary Jackson, Robert Dufault, and next-generation artist and Sweetgrass basket leader, Corey Alston in front of a public audience in Theodora Park, Charleston, SC. This week's podcast conversation was an interview with just Mary and Jennifer filmed and recorded live by EM EN in Mary's Studio, on John's Island, outside of Charleston. Enjoy!
In this episode of Out of the Clouds, host Anne Mühlethaler welcomes artist and designer Serge Mouangue for a rare and intimate conversation about his remarkable creative journey. Born in Cameroon and now based between France and Japan, Serge has built an artistic practice that explores the deep cultural resonances between West Africa and Japan through his Wafrica project.The conversation begins with Serge sharing his early life in Cameroon, where he explains the incredible linguistic diversity of his homeland through a striking example - counting from one to ten in his mother's and father's dialects, which sound completely different despite being from villages only 100 kilometers apart. He describes himself as a dreamy child with endless imagination who, growing up in government housing in France without many material possessions, would imagine all the things that were missing - vacuum cleaners, appliances, furniture - developing his ability to give shape to dreams through drawing.Serge's path led him from interior design to industrial design, and eventually to Japan through his work in automotive design at Nissan. It was there, in 2006, that he discovered unexpected parallels between Japanese and West African cultures: complex hierarchy systems, animistic spirituality that sees souls in all things, and deep reverence for elders. These discoveries sparked what would become his signature artistic exploration.The heart of the conversation centers on Serge's Wafrica project - kimonos made with African fabrics that blur the boundaries of identity and belonging. He shares a moving story about a Japanese customer who, wearing one of his kimonos, said she felt like she was "wearing world heritage" and no longer felt bound by the traditional submissive role associated with the garment. His other works include the Blood Brothers - African pygmy stools lacquered with Japanese urushi (described poetically as "African wood covered by the blood of a Japanese tree") - and installations like the Seven Sisters, exploring women's secrets and shared experiences.Throughout the interview, Serge reveals his unique creative process, emphasizing how he "puts feelings first" and trusts his intuition "literally a hundred percent." He describes holding stories in his imagination for years - sometimes six or seven - before they're ready to be born into physical form. His deep relationship with sound emerges as central to his practice, from recording strangers' stories in Australia as a young man to his ongoing fascination with everything from Pygmy hunting songs to the sound of children playing.The conversation also touches on profound themes of identity and belonging. As Serge notes, "cultural identity is not a given. It's a journey. It's something that you build through time." His work ultimately transcends the specific dialogue between West Africa and Japan to speak to anyone who has felt at home somewhere unexpected or questioned where they're truly from.Anne and Serge discuss his advice for those with dreams: acknowledging the risks while emphasizing persistence, hard work, and the importance of luck - which he notes comes to those who "put everything around it so that it happens." When asked about his favorite word, Serge chooses "transcend," explaining how it encompasses both transformation and the spiritual dimension he seeks in all his work.A deeply thoughtful and poetic conversation with an artist who rarely gives interviews, making this intimate discussion all the more precious.Selected Links from Episode:Serge Mouague's website: wafrica.artAkaa Design Fair (October 24-26, Paris): akaafair.comVisit our website Out of the Clouds : https://outoftheclouds.com/Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_outofthecloudsAnne on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annvi/Anne on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/annvi.bsky.socialAnne on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anne-v-muhlethaler/Please subscribe and leave us a review ✨ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this episode, we reflect on the deeply moving documentary White Nanny, Black Child (2023), which explores Britain's “farming” system — a practice through which over 70,000 West African children were fostered by white British families between 1955 and 1995.Through the voices of nine adults who reunite to share their experiences, the film opens up tender and painful reflections on identity, belonging, and survival. We listen to the echoes of care and silence that continue to shape lives long after childhood — and we explore how systems of care can become systems of control when infused with colonial legacies and racialised assumptions.We speak with Micheal Henry, the systemic therapist who facilitated the Tree of Life work featured in the film. Himself care-experienced, he shares his personal and professional reflections on holding space for these stories — the tensions of being both witness and participant — and the power of collective narrative practices in reconnecting people with identity, community, and pride.Together, we consider what this story teaches us about how care systems remember, forget, and repair. How do we, as systemic practitioners, listen to what was once unspeakable? How do we make space for histories that live inside the present? And what might healing look like — for individuals, families, and the systems that raised them?An invitation to think, feel, and reflect systemically on survival, silence, and the enduring search for belonging.Film Reference:White Nanny Black Child. Directed by Andy Mundy-Castle, Doc Hearts and Tigerlily Productions, Channel 5, 2023.Micheal Henry Bio:Michael Henry, is an African-centred Systemic Family and Couples Psychotherapist based in North London. With over 30 years of experience supporting individuals, families, and organisations, Michael brings deep insight into complex trauma, relationships, and identity.A UKCP and AFT-accredited clinician, Michael's approach blends Systemic Psychotherapy, African Psychology, and Integrative practice, drawing on training in Narrative Therapy, Gottman Method, Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), EMDR, and Brainspotting.Born and raised in East London to Jamaican parents, Michael's work is grounded in cultural awareness, compassion, and wisdom. His journey—from youth work and child protection to psychotherapy and organisational consulting—reflects a lifelong commitment to understanding how people grow, heal, and connect.
In early 1945, the Allies were advancing in Burma after their hard-won victories at Kohima and Imphal. The focus shifted to the Arakan, a region of dense jungle, mangrove swamps, and unforgiving terrain. For the men sent there, disease, supply difficulties, and the monsoon were as formidable as the Japanese defenders. Among the formations deployed was Britain's 3 Commando Brigade, working alongside Indian and West African divisions of XV Corps in a campaign that tested endurance as much as combat skill. In this episode of the WW2 Podcast, I'm joined by military historian Lucy Betteridge-Dyson. Lucy is the author of Jungle Commandos: The Battle for Arakan, Burma 1945, which tells the story of the Commandos who fought in this overlooked theatre, culminating in the ferocious struggle for Hill 170. Drawing on first-hand accounts, her work reveals the realities of jungle warfare and the contribution of these specialist troops to the final Allied victories in Burma. Jungle Commandos is also available on Audible. patreon.com/ww2podcast
Ahead of the OTL Africa Downstream Energy Week in Nigeria, we're digging into the evolving West African gasoline market. Join James Gooder and George Maher-Bonnett as they discuss key market changes, refinery developments, regional hub pricing, the uptake of Argus Ebob and Argus' transparency initiative. · How has the West African oil market changed after deregulation? · What is the impact of Dangote and other upcoming refining projects? · Is West Africa becoming a pricing hub for refined products? · How is Argus answering the need for all-day price transparency? Meet the Argus team at Booth S9 at the OTL 2025 Expo.
Democracy Hub has filed a writ at the Supreme Court of Ghana challenging the legality of a secret Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the government of Ghana and the United States for the reception and detention of involuntarily repatriated West African nationals
Thousands of Palestinians return to ruins of Gaza after the Israel-Hamas ceasefire. 100% tariffs and software export controls follow Beijing's rare earth restrictions. Trump begins shutdown-driven job cuts as he targets liberal groups. Sébastien Lecornu is reappointed French prime minister and a tiny West African nation is one win away from its first-ever World Cup qualification. Listen to On Assignment here. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter here. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast here. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
New trade policies annoy the Dutch, and new English companies attempt to force their way into West African markets. New Amsterdam becomes New York. The Second Anglo-Dutch War begins. Jonathan Healey, The Blazing World, 2023. Anna Keay, The Restless Republic, 2022. Rebecca Rideal, 1666: Plague, War, and Hellfire, 2016. Charles Wilson, England's Apprenticeship: 1603-1763, 1975. David Veevers, The Origins of the British Empire in Asia, 1600-1750, 2020. John Childs, General Percy Kirke and the Later Stuart Army, 2014. Philip Stern, The Company-State: Corporate Sovereignty and the Early Modern Foundations of the British Empire in India, 2011. Edwin Burrows, Mike Wallace, Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, 1999. Julie Svalastog, Mastering the Worst of Trades: England's Early Africa Companies and their Traders, 1618–1672, 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
FRANKOPAN5.mp3 - Mosquito Empires, Slavery, and European Prosperity (17th–18th Centuries) Professor Peter Frankopan | The Earth Transformed: An Untold History The 17th–18th centuries saw "mosquito empires" where malaria limited European settlement, leading to West Africa being called the "white man's grave." The rise of transatlantic slavery was linked to disease resilience, as many West Africans carried genetic resistance to malaria, making them highly sought-after laborers in the Americas. New American crops like cassava boosted global calorie provision, freeing up labor. European prosperity, especially Britain's, was built on exploiting the Americas and Africa for resources and labor. Massive wealth extraction, such as Robert Clive's seizure of Bengal's treasury, cemented European power. Meanwhile, the decline of indigenous populations in the Americas resulted in substantial reforestation.
Hello Interactors,Fall is in full swing here in the northern hemisphere, which means it's time to turn our attention to economics and economic geography. Triggered by a recent podcast on the origins of capitalism, I thought I'd kick off by exploring this from a geography perspective.I trace how violence, dispossession, and racial hierarchy aren't simple externalities or accidents. They emerge out of a system that organized itself and then spread. Capitalism grew out of dispossession of land and human autonomy and became a dominant social and economic structure. It's rooted in violence that became virtuous and centuries later is locked-in. Or is it?EMERGING ENGLISH ENCLOSURESThe dominant and particular brand of capitalism in force today originates in England. Before English landlords and the state violently seized common lands back in the 1300s, economic life was embedded in what historian E.P. Thompson called “moral economies”.(1) These were systems of survival where collective responsibility was managed through custom, obligation, and shared access to resources. Similar systems existed elsewhere. Long before Europeans arrived at the shores of what is now called North America, Haudenosaunee longhouse economies were sophisticatedly organized around economies of reciprocity. Further south, Andean ayllu communities negotiated labor obligations and access to land was shared. West African systems featured land that belonged to communities and ancestors, not individuals.Back in medieval English villages, commons weren't charity, they were infrastructure. Anyone could graze animals or gather firewood. When harvests failed, there were fallbacks like hunting and gathering rights, seasonal labor sharing, and kin networks. As anthropologist Stephen Gudeman shows, these practices reflected cultures of mutual insurance aimed at collective resilience, not individual accumulation.(2)Then landlords, backed by state violence, destroyed this system to enrich themselves.From 1348-1349, the bubonic plague killed perhaps half of England's population. This created a labor shortage that gave surviving so-called peasants leverage. For the first time they could demand higher wages, refuse exploitative landlords, or move to find better conditions.The elite mobilized state violence to reverse this. In 1351 the state passed The Statute of Labourers — an attempt to freeze wages and restrict worker movement. This serves as an early signal that reverberates today. When property and people come in conflict, the state sides with property. Over the next two centuries, landlords steadily enclosed common lands, claiming shared space as private property. Peasants who resisted were evicted, sometimes killed.Initial conditions mattered enormously. England had a relatively weak monarchy that couldn't check landlord aggression like stronger European states did. It also had growing urban markets creating demand for food and wool and post-plague labor dynamics that made controlling land more profitable than extracting rents from secure peasants.As historian J.M. Neeson details, enclosure — fencing in private land — destroyed social infrastructure.(3) When access to common resources disappeared, so did the safety nets that enabled survival outside of market and labor competition. People simply lost the ability to graze a cow, gather fuel, glean grain, or even rely on neighbors' obligation to help.This created a feedback loop:Each turn made the pattern stronger. Understanding how this happens requires grasping how these complex systems shaped the very people who reproduced them.The landlords driving enclosure weren't simply greedy villains. Their sense of self, their understanding of what was right and proper, was constituted through relationships to other people like them, to their own opportunities, and to authorities who validated their actions. A landlord enclosing commons likely experienced this as “improvement”. They believed they were making the land productive while exercising newly issued property rights. Other landlords were doing it, parliament legalized it, and the economics of the time justified it. The very capacity to see alternatives was constrained by relational personal and social positions within an emerging capitalistic society.This doesn't excuse the violence or diminish responsibility. But it does reveal how systems reproduce themselves. This happens not primarily through individual evil but through relationships and feedback loops that constitute people's identities and sense of what's possible. The moral judgment remains stark. These were choices that enriched someone by destroying someone else's means of survival. But the choices were made by people whose very selfhood was being constructed by the system they were creating.Similarly, displaced peasants resisted in ways their social positions made possible. They rioted, appealed to historical customary rights, attempted to maintain the commons they relied on for centuries. Each turn of the spiral didn't just move resources, it remade people. Peasants' children, born into a world without commons, developed identities shaped by market dependence — renting their labor in exchange for money. What had been theft became, over generations, simply “how things are.”By the mid-16th century, England had something new. They'd created a system where most people owned no land, had no customary rights to subsistence, and had to compete in labor markets to survive. This was the essence of capitalism's emergence. It wasn't born out of markets (they existed everywhere for millennia) but as market dependence enforced through dispossession. Out of this emerged accumulated actions of actors whose awareness and available alternatives were themselves being shaped by the very system they were simultaneously shaping and sustaining.REPLICATING PATTERNS OF PLANTATIONSOnce capitalism emerged in England through violent enclosure, its spread wasn't automatic. Understanding how it became global requires distinguishing between wealth extraction (which existed under many systems) and capitalist social relations (which require specific conditions).Spain conquered vast American territories, devastating indigenous populations through disease, warfare, and forced labor. Spanish extraction from mines in the 16th century — like Potosí in today's Bolivia — were worked by enslaved indigenous and African peoples under conditions that killed them in staggering numbers. Meanwhile, Portugal developed Atlantic island sugar plantations using enslaved African labor. This expansion of Portuguese agriculture on Atlantic islands like Madeira and São Tomé became a blueprint for plantation economies in the Americas, particularly Brazil. The brutally efficient system perfected there for sugar production — relying on the forced labor of enslaved Africans — was directly transplanted across the ocean, leading to a massive increase in the scale and violence of the transatlantic slave trade.Both empires generated massive wealth from these practices. If colonial plunder caused capitalism, Spain and Portugal should have industrialized first. Instead, they stagnated. The wealth flowed to feudal monarchies who spent it on palaces, armies, and wars, not productive reinvestment. Both societies remained fundamentally feudal.England, with virtually no empire during its initial capitalist transformation, developed differently because it had undergone a different structural violence — enclosure of common land that created landless workers, wage dependence, and market competition spiraling into self-reinforcing patterns.But once those capitalist social relations existed, they became patterns that spread through violent imposition. These patterns destroyed existing economic systems and murdered millions.English expansion first began close to home. Ireland and Scotland experienced forced enclosures as English landlords exported the template — seize land, displace people, create private regimes, and force the suffering to work for you. This internal colonialism served as testing ground for techniques later deployed around the world.When English capitalism encountered the Caribbean — lands where indigenous peoples had developed complex agricultural systems and trade networks — the Spanish conquest had already devastated these populations. English merchants and settlers completed the destruction, seizing lands indigenous peoples had managed for millennia while expanding the brutal, enslaved-based labor models pioneered by the Spanish and Portuguese for mining and sugar production.The plantations English capitalists built operated differently than earlier Portuguese and Spanish systems. English plantation owners were capitalists, not feudal lords. But this was also not simply individual choice or moral character. They were operating within and being shaped by an emerging system of capitalist social relations. Here too they faced competitive pressures to increase output, reduce costs, and compete with other plantation owners. The system's logic — accumulate to accumulate more — emerged from relational dynamics between competing capitalists. The individual identities as successful plantation owners was constituted through their position within the competitive networks in which they coexisted.New location, same story. Even here this systemic shaping doesn't absolve individual responsibility for the horrors they perpetrated. Enslaved people were still kidnapped, brutalized, and worked to death. Indigenous peoples were still murdered and their lands still stolen. But understanding how the system shaped what seemed necessary or moral to those positioned to benefit helps explain how such horror could be so widespread and normalized.This normalization created new spirals:This pattern then replicated across even more geographies — Jamaica, Barbados, eventually the American South — each iteration destroying existing ways of life. As anthropologist Sidney Mintz showed, this created the first truly global capitalist commodity chain.(4) Sugar produced by enslaved Africans and indigenous peoples — on their stolen land — sweetened the tea for those English emerging factory workers — themselves recently dispossessed through enclosure.At the same time, it's worth calling attention, as Historians Walter Rodney, Guyanese, and Paul Tiyambe Zeleza, Malawian, have point out, that African societies weren't passive.(5,6) Some kingdoms initially engaged strategically by trading captives from rival groups and acquiring weapons. These choices are often judged harshly, but they were made by people facing threats to their very existence. They were working with frameworks developed over centuries that suddenly confronted an unprecedented system of extractive violence. Historians Linda Heywood and John Thornton show that African economic strength and political organization meant Africans often “forced Europeans to deal with them on their own terms” for centuries, even as the terms of engagement became increasingly constrained.(7) This moral complexity matters. These were real choices with devastating consequences, made by people whose capacity to perceive alternatives was constrained by their eventual oppressors amidst escalating violence by Europeans.Native American scholars have documented similar patterns of constrained agency in indigenous contexts. Historian Ned Blackhawk, Western Shoshone, shows how Native nations across North America made strategic choices — like forming alliances, adapting governance structures, and engaging in trade — all while navigating impossible pressures from colonial expansion.(8) Historian Jean O'Brien, White Earth Ojibwe, demonstrates how New England indigenous communities persisted and adapted even as settler narratives and violence worked to wipe them out of existence.(9) They were forced to make choices about land, identity, and survival within systems designed to eliminate them. These weren't failures of resistance but strategic adaptations made by people whose frameworks for understanding and practicing sovereignty, kinship, and territorial rights were being violently overwritten and overtaken by colonial capitalism.Europeans increasingly controlled these systems through superior military technology making resistance futile. Only when late 19th century industrial weapons were widely wielded — machine guns, munitions, and mechanisms manufactured through capitalism's own machinations — could Europeans decisively overwhelm resistance and complete the colonial carving of Africa, the Americas, and beyond.LOCKING-IN LASTING LOOPSOnce patterns spread and stabilize, they become increasingly difficult to change. Not because they're natural, but because they're actively maintained by those who benefit.Capitalism's expansion created geographic hierarchies that persist today: core regions that accumulate wealth and peripheral regions that get extracted from. England industrialized first through wealth stolen from colonies and labor dispossessed through enclosure. This gave English manufacturers advantages. Namely, they could sell finished goods globally while importing cheap raw materials. Colonies were forced at gunpoint to specialize in export commodities, making them dependent on manufactured imports. That dependence made it harder to develop their own industries. Once the loop closed it became enforced — to this day through institutions like the IMF and World Bank.Sociologists Marion Fourcade and Kieran Healy show how these hierarchies get naturalized through moral categories that shape how people — including those benefiting from and those harmed by the system — come to understand themselves and others.(10) Core regions are portrayed as “developed,” “modern,” “efficient.” Peripheral regions are called “backward,” “corrupt,” “informal.” These aren't just ideological justifications imposed from above but categories that constitute people's identities. They shape how investors see opportunities, how policy makers perceive problems, and how individuals understand their own worth.Meanwhile, property rights established through colonial theft get treated as legitimate. They are backed by international law and written by representatives of colonial powers as Indigenous land claims continue to get dismissed as economically backward. This doesn't happen through conscious conspiracies. It's because the frameworks through which “economic rationality” itself is understood and practiced were constructed through and for capitalist social relations. People socialized into these frameworks genuinely perceive capitalist property relations as more efficient, more rational. Their (our?) very capacity to see alternatives is constrained by identities formed within the system in which they (we?) exist.These patterns persist because they're profitable for those with power and because people with power were shaped by the very system that gives them power. Each advantage reinforces others. It then gets defended, often by people who genuinely believe they're defending rationality and efficiency. They (we?) fail to fathom how their (our?) frameworks for understanding economy were forged through forceful and violent subjugation.INTERRUPTING INTENSIFICATIONViewing capitalism's complex geographies shows its evolution is not natural or even inevitable. It emerged, and continues to evolve, as a result of shifting relationships and feedbacks at multiple scales. Recognizing this eventuality creates space for imagining and building more ethical derivatives or alternatives.If capitalism emerged from particular violent interactions between people in specific places, then different interactions could produce different systems. If patterns locked in through feedback loops that benefit some at others' expense, then interrupting those loops becomes possible.Even within capitalist nations, alternative arrangements have persisted or been fought for. Nordic countries and Scotland maintain “Everyman's Right” or “Freedom to Roam” laws. These are legal traditions allowing public access to private land for recreation, foraging, and camping. These represent partial commons that survived enclosure or were restored through political struggle, showing that private property needn't mean total exclusion. Even in countries that participate in capitalist economies. In late 19th century America, Henry George became one of the nation's most widely read public intellectuals. More people attended his funeral than Abraham Lincoln's. He argued that land value increases resulting from community development should be captured through land value taxes rather than enriching individual owners. His ideas inspired single-tax colonies, urban reform movements, and influenced progressive era policies. Farmers organized cooperatives and mutual aid societies, pooling resources and labor outside pure market competition. Urban communities established settlement houses, cooperative housing, and neighborhood commons. These weren't marginal experiments, they were popular movements showing that even within capitalism's heartland, people continuously organized alternatives based on shared access, collective benefit, and relationships of reciprocity rather than pure commodity exchange.Or, consider these current examples operating at different scales and locations:Community land trusts in cities like Burlington, Vermont remove properties from speculative markets. These trusts separate ownership of the land from the buildings on it, allowing the nonprofit land trust to retain ownership of the land while selling homes at affordable prices with resale restrictions. While they're trying to break the feedback loop where rising prices displace residents, gentrification and displacement continue in surrounding market-rate housing. This shows how alternatives require scale and time to fully interrupt established feedback loops.Zapatista autonomous municipalities in Chiapas, Mexico governed 300,000 people through indigenous forms of collective decision-making, refusing both state control and capitalist markets — surviving decades of Mexican government counterinsurgency backed by US military support. In 2023, after three decades of autonomy, the Zapatistas restructured into thousands of hyperlocal governments, characterizing the shift as deepening rather than retreating from their fundamental rejection of capitalist control.Brazil's Landless Workers Movement has won land titles for 350,000 families through occupations of unused land. These are legally expropriated under Brazil's constitutional requirement that land fulfill a social function. Organizing 2,000 cooperative settlements across 7.5 million hectares, this movement has become Latin America's largest social movement and Brazil's leading producer of organic food. They're building schools, health clinics, and cooperative enterprises based on agroecology and direct democracy.(11) Still, titled arable farmland in Brazil is highly concentrated into a minuscule percent of the overall population. Meanwhile, capitalist state structures continue favoring agribusiness and large landowners despite the movement's successes with organic food production.Indigenous land back movements across North America demand return of stolen territories as restoration of indigenous governance systems organized around relationships to land and other beings rather than ownership. Through the InterTribal Buffalo Council, 82 tribes are restoring buffalo herds. The Blackfeet Nation is establishing a 30,000-acre buffalo reserve that reconnects fragmented prairie ecosystems and restores buffalo migrations crossing the US-Canada border, reclaiming transnational governance systems that predate colonial boundaries.These aren't isolated utopian fantasies, and they're not perfect, but they're functioning alternatives, each attempting to interrupt capitalism's spirals at different points and places. Still, they face enormous opposition because for some reason, existing powerful systems that claim to embrace competition don't seem to like it much.Let's face it, other complex and functional economic systems existed before capitalism destroyed them. Commons-based systems, gift economies, reciprocal obligations organized around kinship and place were sophisticated solutions to survival. And extractive and exploitive capitalism violently replaced them. Most of all them. There are still pockets around the world where other economic geographies persist — including informal economies, mutual aid networks, cooperative enterprises, and indigenous governance systems.I recognize I've clearly over simplified what is a much more layered and complex evolution, and existing alternatives aren't always favorable nor foolproof. But neither is capitalism. There is no denying the dominant forms of capitalism of today emerged in English fields through violent enclosure of shared space. It then spread through transformation of existing extraction systems into engines of competitive accumulation. And it locked in through feedback loops that benefit core regions while extracting from peripheral ones.But it also took hold in hearts and habits. It's shaping how we understand ourselves, what seems possible, and what feels “normal.” We've learned to see accumulation as virtue, competition as natural, individual success as earned and poverty as personal failure. The very category of the autonomous ‘individual' — separate, self-made, solely responsible for their own outcomes — is itself a capitalist construction that obscures how all achievement and hardship emerge from relational webs of collective conditions. This belief doesn't just justify inequality, it reproduces it by generating the anxiety and shame that compel people to rent even more of their time and labor to capitalism. Pausing, resting, healing, caring for others, or resisting continue exploitation marks them as haven chosen their own ruin — regardless of their circumstance or relative position within our collective webs. These aren't just ideologies imposed from above but the makings of identity itself for all of us socialized within capitalism. A financial analyst optimizing returns, a policy maker promoting market efficiency, an entrepreneur celebrating “self-made” innovation — these aren't necessarily cynical actors. They're often people whose very sense of self has been shaped by a system they feel compelled to reproduce. After all, the system rewards individualism — even when it's toxins poison the collective web — including the web of life.Besides, if capitalism persists only through the conscious choices of so-called evil people, then exposing their villainy should be sufficient. Right? The law is there to protect innocent people from evil-doers. Right? Not if it persists through feedback loops that shape the identities, perceptions, and moral frameworks of everyone within it — including or especially those who benefit most or have the most to lose. It seems change requires not just moral condemnation but transformation of the relationships and systems that constitute our very selves. After all, anyone participating is complicit at some level. And what choice is there? For a socio-economic political system that celebrates freedom of choice, it offers little.To challenge a form of capitalism that can create wealth and prosperity but also unhealthy precarity isn't just to oppose policies or demand redistribution, and it isn't simply to condemn those who benefit from it as moral failures. It's to recognize that the interactions between people and places that created this system through violence could create other systems through different choices. Making those different choices requires recognizing and reconstructing the very identities, relationships, and frameworks through which we understand ourselves and what's possible. Perhaps even revealing a different form of capitalism that cares.But it seems we'd need new patterns to be discussed and debated by the very people who keep these patterns going. We're talking about rebuilding economic geographies based on mutual respect, shared responsibility, and a deep connection to our communities. To each other. This rebuilding needs to go beyond just changing institutions, it has to change the very people those institutions have shaped.As fall deepens and we watch leaves and seeds spiral down, notice how each follows a path predetermined by its inherited form. Maple seeds spin like helicopters — their propeller wings evolved over millennia to slow descent and scatter offspring far from competition. Their form has been fashioned by evolutionary forces beyond any individual seed's control, shaped by gusts and gravity in environments filled with a mix of competition and cooperation — coopetition. Then reflect on this fundamental difference: Unlike seeds locked into their descent, we humans can collectively craft new conditions, consciously charting courses that climb, curl, cascade, or crash.ReferencesChibber, V., & Nashek, M. (Hosts). (2025, September 24). The origins of capitalism. [Audio podcast episode]. In Confronting Capitalism. Jacobin Radio.1. Thompson, E. P. (1971). The moral economy of the English crowd in the eighteenth century. Past & Present, 50(1), 76–136.2. Gudeman, S. (2016). Anthropology and economy. Cambridge University Press.3. Neeson, J. M. (1996). Commoners: Common right, enclosure and social change in England, 1700–1820. Cambridge University Press.4. Mintz, S. W. (1985). Sweetness and power: The place of sugar in modern history. Viking Penguin.5. Rodney, W. (1972). How Europe underdeveloped Africa. Bogle-L'Ouverture.6. Zeleza, P. T. (1997). A modern economic history of Africa: The nineteenth century (Vol. 1). East African Publishers.7. Heywood, L. M., & Thornton, J. K. (2007). Central Africans, Atlantic creoles, and the foundation of the Americas, 1585-1660. Cambridge University Press.8. Blackhawk, N. (2023). The rediscovery of America: Native peoples and the unmaking of US history. Yale University Press.9. OBrien, J. M. (2010). Firsting and lasting: Writing Indians out of existence in New England. U of Minnesota Press.10. Fourcade, M., & Healy, K. (2017). Seeing like a market. Socio-Economic Review, 15(1), 9–29.11. Carter, M. (Ed.). (2015). Challenging social inequality: The landless rural workers movement and agrarian reform in Brazil. Duke University Press. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit interplace.io
Join me this week as I dig into the real story behind Louisiana Voodoo — a spiritual tradition shaped by West African roots, Haitian resistance, and the streets of New Orleans. Discover how the Haitian Revolution sent shockwaves across the Atlantic, bringing people, beliefs, and tensions into the heart of Louisiana. Hear the story of Betsey Toledano, a name often left out of the textbooks, and unravel the legend of Marie Laveau.Voodoo in America has long been distorted by fear and folklore. It's time to set the record straight.Support the show
Sam Fenwick takes a look at the soaring cost of cybercrime, as attacks sweep across industries and threaten global business stability, spotlighting Japan's Asahi Breweries, one of the latest victims. A liquefied natural gas platform meant to bring economic prosperity in the West African nation of Senegal is at the centre of controversy.And in Tokyo, the race to lead Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party heats up. With five contenders and the economy centre stage, we explore what's at stake for the nation's future.
host: Alyson Stanfield Artist and activist Malene Barnett joins host Alyson Stanfield to unpack how she balances a multidisciplinary practice while designing work that “holds memory” in space. Malene shares the planning, community, and process-sharing that keep a long, installation-driven practice moving, and she offers a resonant lens on clay as a tool for liberation grounded in Caribbean and West African heritage. Bits of her wisdom: Plan your studio around time-intensive mediums so momentum never stalls. On social media, share process, tools, and research to connect when finished work is scarce. Think in space: design work and installations that carry memory and story. Build stability outside the studio to support long-term creative growth. Form intentional communities for critique, support, and opportunity. HIGHLIGHTS 02:10 Family lineage and a first-generation background shape Malene's practice. 04:20 The pact to center ancestry and identity in her work from art school onward. 08:20 Clay as a tool for liberation through Caribbean pottery history and markets. 13:10 Leaving bespoke rugs, after a sabbatical, to reclaim her voice and move into clay. 19:20 Tiles and architecture as ways to create a space that holds memory. 21:00 Planning around clay's long timelines for drying, firing, and glazing. 22:20 Residencies, film, and building an archive of Caribbean potters. 26:40 Why sharing process, tools, and research sustains audience connection. 32:10 Founding the Black Artists and Designers Guild and how to start a community. 35:10 Crafted Kinship: agency, blurred lines between art, craft, and design. 41:10 Career advice: seek stability, invest, and take the long view. 43:20 What's next: a large-scale ceramic mural in Greensboro, with installation in 2027. ACTION This week, share one piece of your process with your community: a tool you rely on, a test tile, or a research thread you're following.
Sam Fenwick takes a look at the soaring cost of cybercrime, as attacks sweep across industries and threaten global business stability, spotlighting Japan's Asahi Breweries, one of the latest victims.A liquefied natural gas platform meant to bring economic prosperity in the West African nation of Senegal is at the centre of controversy. And in Tokyo, the race to lead Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party heats up. With five contenders and the economy centre stage, we explore what's at stake for the nation's future.
This episode of our Resisting Empire series explores the life of Samory Touré, the 19th-century West African leader who built an empire across Guinea, Mali, Sierra Leone, Côte d'Ivoire, and Liberia. Known as the “Napoleon of Africa,” he modernised his armies, outmanoeuvred the French for over sixteen years, and used scorched-earth tactics to hold back European expansion. But Samory was more than a military strategist. He united diverse groups under Islam, pursued bold ambitions, and ruled with authoritarian discipline that left deep divides. Captured in 1898 and exiled to Gabon, his legacy remains complex — both celebrated as a symbol of resistance and remembered as a ruthless conqueror. PSA: You Are African First Before Anything REFERENCES Samory - African History (journal article) Samori Touré (1830-1900) Quand les empires se faisaient et se défaisaient en Afrique de l'Ouest : le cas Samory Touré (in French) West Africa the fight for survival Follow us on IG: itsacontinentpod and Twitter: itsacontinent. It's a Continent (published by Coronet) is available to purchase: itsacontinent.com/book We're on Buy me a Coffee too: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/itsacontinent Visit our website: itsacontinent.com Artwork by Margo Designs: https://margosdesigns.myportfolio.com Music provided by Free Vibes: https://goo.gl/NkGhTg Warm Nights by Lakey Inspired: https://soundcloud.com/lakeyinspired/... Follow us on IG: itsacontinentpod and Twitter: itsacontinent. It's a Continent (published by Coronet) is available to purchase: itsacontinent.com/book We're on Buy me a Coffee too: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/itsacontinent Visit our website: itsacontinent.com Artwork by Margo Designs: https://margosdesigns.myportfolio.com Music provided by Free Vibes: https://goo.gl/NkGhTg Warm Nights by Lakey Inspired: https://soundcloud.com/lakeyinspired/... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sometimes the most powerful conversations happen outside the studio. Recorded live at the Abilities Expo in Chicago, this episode introduces you to Victoria Jembe, a remarkable self-autism advocate revolutionizing opportunities for people with disabilities through the captivating rhythms of West African drumming.Victoria shares the inspiring story behind founding Victoria Djembe Academy in 2021, where students with disabilities learn authentic drumming techniques from Guinea, Ivory Coast, Senegal, and Mali. Her vision goes beyond simply teaching music—she's creating spaces where people with disabilities can be "seen, heard, and celebrated" through cultural expression and public performance. We explore Victoria's entrepreneurial journey and recent successes, including features on Fox 32 Chicago and in Block Club Chicago newsletter. Her ambitious plans to expand nationally and eventually connect back to West Africa demonstrate her commitment to both disability inclusion and cultural preservation. The conversation highlights additional community initiatives, including monthly drum workshops and disability-focused open mic events that welcome talents ranging from poetry to comedy.Whether you're interested in disability advocacy, cultural arts, or inclusive entrepreneurship, Victoria's story offers inspiration and practical insight. Discover how rhythmic expression is creating powerful new opportunities for community building and creative celebration. Visit Victoria's website or attend an upcoming event to experience firsthand how West African drumming is breaking barriers and building bridges.
I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved. — 1 Corinthians 10:33 About 15 years ago my wife and I spent time with a small team in a West African country. One day we enjoyed a meal of rice and chicken served on a large platter. We gathered around the food, and each person took a portion with their hand. I did the same, but then I heard a shout and saw fingers pointing at me! I jumped back in shock, wondering what I had done wrong. Then my hosts burst out laughing. I am left-handed, and, without thinking, I had used my left hand to scoop food from the communal platter—and that was a no-no in that culture. We had a good laugh together over my mistake. To engage with people of other cultures means that sometimes we are going to make mistakes. That's a part of learning in contexts that we are not familiar with. But when we take on a posture of vulnerability and humility, we also find our lives deeply enriched through our friendship with people whose background is different from ours. In our passage from 1 Corinthians today, we see the example of Paul adjusting his behavior to the culture of others wherever possible, in order to honor them and to glorify God. We represent God faithfully when we respect other cultures and are willing to learn. Jesus, help me to grow in curiosity and openness to coworkers and neighbors whose cultural backgrounds may be different from mine. May your love shine through me as I seek to bring your goodness to others. Amen.
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Join Fleur & Keshia East as they share the inspiring story behind Curl Kitchen, the innovative brand that blends the worlds of food, family, and haircare. In this episode, the sisters open up about their journey as entrepreneurs, the cultural traditions that shaped their vision, and how food became a powerful symbol of love and connection in their lives. Discover how Curl Kitchen was born from a passion for celebrating natural beauty and heritage, and learn how Fleur & Keshia have created a unique synergy between nourishing recipes and holistic haircare. There is, of course, also talk about Fleur's time on X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing. From heartfelt family memories to practical tips for embracing your roots, this conversation is packed with insights, laughter, and inspiration. Fleur East is a versatile performer, presenter, and broadcaster with credits across music, television, and film. She currently stars in the BBC drama Phoenix Rise and has also appeared in Ted Lasso and the feature film Tomorrow Morning. Fleur first rose to prominence as runner-up on The X Factor, becoming the first contestant to top the UK iTunes chart during the show. Since then, she has established herself as a popular broadcaster, fronting Hits Radio's Breakfast and Saturday Morning shows, co-hosting ITV's The Void with Ashley Banjo, and presenting on Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway. In 2020, she launched her successful podcast The Reality of Reality TV. Fleur also wowed audiences as a finalist on Strictly Come Dancing in 2022, confirming her status as one of the UK's most dynamic entertainers. Keshia East is a London-based make-up artist, content creator and entrepreneur whose work champions self-love and natural beauty. As the founder of No Knot Co Ltd, she designs hair tools tailored for waves, afros, curls and kinks — a business born from personal experience and launched during lockdown in 2020. Keshia studied History at Queen Mary University, building freelance make-up experience before growing a sizeable digital audience. Keshia regularly posts tutorials, hair hacks, product reviews and beauty advice on social media. She's worked with major brands like MAC Cosmetics, Benefit, Superdrug, and Beauty Bay, and is recognised as a role model for young women, especially women of colour, in the beauty industry. Subscribers to the Good Food app via the App Store get the show ad-free, plus regular bonus content. Download the Good Food app to get started. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Interview with Ian Cockerill, CEO of Endeavour Mining Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/endeavour-mining-tsxedv-free-cash-flow-surges-to-411m-in-q1-7087Recording date: 17th September 2025Endeavour Mining, one of the world's top 10 gold producers, is demonstrating exceptional operational execution amid gold's surge beyond $3,600 per ounce. The West African-focused miner delivered 58% of annual production guidance in the first half of 2025 while maintaining industry-leading costs across its five-mine portfolio.The company's disciplined capital allocation strategy has positioned it as a leader in shareholder returns. Endeavour will distribute $379 per ounce produced through dividends and buybacks, including $150 million in cash dividends and $69 million in share repurchases by end of H2 2025. "We have class leading dividends both in terms of guaranteed dividends, supplemental cash dividends as well as buybacks," noted CEO Ian Cockerill.Despite generous shareholder distributions, management is strategically reinvesting windfall cash from elevated gold prices. The company plans material increases in exploration spending, leveraging historical discovery costs of just $25 per ounce versus current gold prices exceeding $3,600. "Our discovery cost historically has been $25 an ounce. $100 to find something that's worth $3,500. Think of the value add that brings to us," Cockerill emphasized.Endeavour has secured 30% organic production growth through 2030, targeting 1.5 million ounces annually from existing project pipelines. This growth foundation provides flexibility for additional opportunities without execution pressure. The company is evaluating geographic expansion beyond West Africa, focusing on similar geological terrains where its frontier market expertise applies.While current gold prices create approximately $1,500 per ounce windfall above guidance assumptions, management recognizes commodity price cyclicality. Their balanced approach of returning substantial cash to shareholders while investing in high-return exploration and operational improvements positions Endeavour to maintain industry-leading performance regardless of future price movements.Learn more: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/endeavour-miningSign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com
A conversation with Bnnyhunna – musician from the Dutch R&B scene whose soulful music has West African influences and was in Japan for the first time for live shows in September 2025. Bnnyhunna shares stories about his musical journey including winning the 2025 Edison Pop Award (the Dutch equivalent of the Grammy Awards) in the Soul/R&B/Funk category.
Have you tried Dubai chocolate, hot honey or the fruit sando? They're just a few examples of viral food trends which got everyone talking on social media. Rumella Dasgupta talks to creators and product developer to find out how much work goes into creating the next big thing in food. She hears how there's often years of work behind the product that seems to suddenly be the latest craze. It might look as though some food trends go viral overnight, but entrepreneur Mike Kurtz explains how creating his brand Mike's Hot Honey took years of hard work. Product developers Katie McDaid and Robert Craggs tell Rumella how their jobs involve travelling the world to find the next big thing in food. Plus chef and food writer Pierre Thiam, explains how he's been working tirelessly for decades to bring the ancient West African grain Fonio to worldwide attention. We'd love to hear about the viral foods you've tried and what you thought of them. You can email the team at thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk Producer: Lexy O'Connor
Episode SummarySaxophonist, composer, and theater-maker Idris Ackamoor joins us to talk about Afrofuturism, ensemble storytelling, and why his performances are designed as communal happenings—part ritual, part dance-floor communion. We get into the craft behind his “artistic being” approach, the power of spoken word in jazz contexts, and how rhythm, memory, and movement drive his music.Idris Ackamoor is a Chicago-born, Bay Area–based bandleader and co-founder of Cultural Odyssey and The Pyramids. A pioneering voice in Afrofuturist jazz, his work blends West African rhythmic foundations with improvisation, theater, and multimedia staging.How he defines an “artistic being” and turns daily practice into finished compositionsThe Pyramids as an ensemble for theater, dance, and groove—music that moves people (literally)Collaborating with spoken-word icons Danny Glover and Rhodessa Jones and writing for distinctive voices“The Grandma Cole Story”: turning family memory into melody, rhythm, and testimonyAfrofuturism as compass: studies and travels that shaped his sound and stagecraftProtest music built for the body and the mind—clarity, groove, and human perspective (“Police Dem”)Set design like cinema: seamless transitions, projection, and audience participationLegacy and ownership: why preserving masters and publishing matters to the art“I call myself an artistic being… sometimes a melody appears on the piano, sometimes on the horn—I follow it until it grows.”“When you hear me play, I want you to know it's me and no one else.”“This is about participation—breaking down the wall—so the audience becomes part of the experience.”“I get to the meat of it through the human perspective. The groove invites you in; the words ask you to stay awake.”Host & Producer: Steve Roby — Backstage Bay AreaGuest: Idris AckamoorEditing/Mix: Steve RobyArtist: Idris Ackamoor / The Pyramids – official site, socials, and music streamingCultural Odyssey – background on Ackamoor's performing arts workLabel: Strut Records – catalogue and archivesPhoto: Pat Mazzera
What do you wish I asked this guest? What was your "quotable moment" from this episode? Robin and CB, the new owners of The Ninth House shop in Tucson, are building community through their extension called The Eleventh House, a space for gatherings, classes, and healing modalities designed to be inclusive and educational.• The Eleventh House provides a safe gathering space for metaphysical practitioners of all traditions• Sound healing forms a cornerstone of their practice with tools like hand pans, chimes, and tuning forks• The shop curates products from various lineages including Northern European pagan, West African, and Afro-Caribbean traditions• Monthly "Power Hours" teach accessible skills like pendulum usage in just one hour• Ecstatic dance events offer powerful somatic release of accumulated energies• New Halo Therapy (Himalayan salt therapy) services help with lung conditions and inflammation• Their Patreon grimoire offers weekly spells designed to be affordable using common household items• Combat metaphysical misinformation with trusted, ethical practices and education• The space can be rented by teachers for classes, or for private gatherings like coven meetings• Plans to expand virtual offerings to reach communities beyond TucsonVisit us at theninthhouseshop.com, on Instagram @theninthhouseshop, on TikTok @therealninthhouseshop, and visit The Eleventh House at theeleventhhouse.space to learn more about our classes and community events.Support the showSupport the show and get tons of bonus content, videos, monthly spell boxes, and more at CrepuscularConjuration.com!Or become a paying subscriber on Buzzsprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1777532/supportWant to see if you're a good fit for the show? (Hint: if you're a witch, you probably are!) email me at youraveragewitchpodcast at gmail.comFollow YAW at:instagram.com/youraveragewitchpodcastfacebook.com/youraveragewitchpodcastReview the show on Apple podcastspodcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/your-average-witch-podcast/id1567845483
AP correspondent Julie Walker reports West Africans deported by US to Ghana have all been sent to their home countries.
Nigeria, the most populous African nation, has the continent's third largest standing military and fourth largest economy. The West African nation operates four sovereign satellites and has ambitions to become a space economy leader and space technology exporter. Laura Winter speaks with Nigerian Communications Satellite Ltd. (NIGCOMSAT) CEO and Managing Director Jane Egerton-Idehen.
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 10, 2025 is: griot GREE-oh noun The term griot refers to any of a class of musician-entertainers of western Africa whose performances include tribal histories and genealogies. The term is also used broadly to refer to a storyteller. // Tracing her family lineage back to West African griots inspired the singer to focus on storytelling through her music. See the entry > Examples: “Music is both the subject and mechanism of Sinners, which opens with a voiceover history of how some musicians, dating back to the West African griots, have been seen as conduits between this world and the one beyond.” — Paul A. Thompson, Pitchfork, 22 Apr. 2025 Did you know? In many West African countries, the role of cultural guardian is maintained, as it has been for centuries, by griots. Griot—a borrowing from French—refers to an oral historian, musician, storyteller, and sometimes praise singer. (Griots are called by other names as well: jeli or jali in Mande and gewel in Wolof, for example). Griots preserve the genealogies, historical narratives, and oral traditions of their tribes. Among the instruments traditionally played by griots are two lutes: the long-necked, 21-string kora, and the khalam, thought by some to be the ancestor of the banjo.
Béchir Sylvain (Jurassic World Rebirth) stars as trickster Anansi in a West African tale about a magic stone, a major trick, and getting a taste of your own medicine.
How did Black Women become magical? In episode 138, Ellie and David talk to Lindsey Stewart about her book, The Conjuring of America: Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women's Magic. They talk about how the concept of ‘conjure' shifted from its origin in the West African tradition to how it manifests in African American communities today. They discuss how Yoruba religion traveled to the US with slavery, as well as exploring the impact of historical images like the Mammy and the Voodoo Queen. What are the dangers of rhetoric of Black women being magical? How has Christianity influenced the ignorance that many Americans have around conjure? Is Beyonce magical? And does her album Cowboy Carter invoke the West African concept of Sankofa? In the Substack bonus segment, Ellie and David talk about magic on a larger scale, and parse out the differences between magic, religion and science. Works Discussed: Keisha L. Bentley-Edwards and Valerie N. Adams, “I am not (your) superwoman, Black girl magic, or beautiful struggle: Rethinking the resilience of Black women and girls” Kim R. Harris, “Beyoncé's ‘Cowboy Carter' embraces country music, Black history and religious imagery” Lindsey Stewart, The Conjuring of America: Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women's Magic Support the showPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast
How percent of Americans are aware that the United States has been at war in Somalia for over 20 years? America's involvement with this West African nation started during the Cold War as the U.S. scoured the globe looking for allies against the U.S.S.R. It evolved over the decades into the never-ending, soul-crushing, immoral, civil rights-erasing, War on Terror with several corrupt CIA twists and turns along the way. The result is a war-torn country, millions displaced, hundreds of thousands dead and a bunch of rich American military contractors. The story of America's involvement in Somalia should make one question the claim that America is a force for good in the world. How can a country driven by Judeo-Christian principles pursue a war like this? Show Notes Twitter | Rumble | BitChute | Spotify | Apple -------------------------------- Support the podcast by shopping at the Truth Quest Shirt Factory.
Send us a textWhat if the ground beneath your feet holds ancient wisdom waiting to be rediscovered? Across every continent, indigenous cultures have developed profound relationships with the earth element that modern society has largely forgotten.In this journey through global shamanic traditions, we explore how diverse cultures—from African tribes to Aboriginal Australians, Siberian nomads to Andean peoples—have honored their sacred connection to earth. These aren't merely historical curiosities but living practices that continue to provide stability, nourishment, and spiritual grounding to communities worldwide.The earth element speaks to us through countless voices: the trees in your neighborhood, the insects buzzing around flowers, the stones that catch your eye on a morning walk. I'll guide you through fascinating earth-honoring rituals including West African ancestor offerings poured into soil, Aboriginal songlines mapped through music rather than roads, Siberian shamans playing drums while barefoot to connect with Mother Earth's heartbeat, and Native American medicine wheels representing elemental balance.What unites these diverse traditions is a simple truth: the earth isn't just something we walk upon—it's present in every living organism, the foundation of our stability and abundance. For those struggling with feelings of disconnection or seeking a sense of belonging, these ancient practices offer surprising relevance to modern life.By the end of our time together, you'll discover simple yet profound ways to communicate with the natural world around you. Whether it's sitting with your back against a tree trunk, observing a bee with childlike wonder, or expressing gratitude to the wooden table in your home—these small acts of connection can transform your relationship with the world and yourself.Listen now to begin your own dialogue with the earth element, and join us next week when we'll implement practical rituals you can incorporate into daily life while honoring the elders who preserved these traditions. Let's continue ascending together!
Interview with Segun Lawson, CEO of Thor Explorations Ltd.Our previous interview: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/posts/thor-explorations-lsethx-surging-cash-flow-debt-paydown-and-exploration-upside-for-2024-5141Recording date: 5th September 2025Thor Exploration (LSE:THX) has emerged as a compelling West African gold story, operating Nigeria's first large-scale commercial gold mine while building a multi-jurisdictional portfolio across the region. The company's Segilola mine produces approximately 85,000 ounces annually with industry-leading 93% recovery rates, positioning it among the lowest-cost producers globally.The Nigerian operation currently faces a strategic inflection point as management evaluates the optimal transition from open-pit to underground mining. Recent drilling has revealed continued mineralization below the current pit design, with CEO Segun Lawson noting that rising gold prices favor extracting additional open-pit material before transitioning underground. Technical studies through year-end will determine the final approach, balancing strip ratio economics against favorable commodity pricing.Thor's growth strategy centers on the advanced Douta project in Senegal, which holds 1.78 million ounces of global resources and is progressing toward a Q4 2025 preliminary feasibility study. The project targets 100-120,000 ounces of annual production using conventional processing methods, benefiting from Senegal's established mining infrastructure and regulatory framework.Early-stage exploration in Côte d'Ivoire adds further portfolio diversification, with the Guitri project showing high-grade intersections across an 8km by 5km anomalous area. The company has committed to delivering a maiden resource by year-end, while the Marahui project presents additional upside with impressive rock chip results across a 5-kilometer anomaly.Thor's capital allocation strategy reflects management confidence in both current operations and future growth prospects. The company has initiated quarterly dividend payments while simultaneously increasing exploration budgets across all jurisdictions. This balanced approach addresses immediate shareholder returns while maintaining aggressive investment in resource expansion, supported by strong cash generation and an improved balance sheet that provides access to development capital for future projects.View Thor Exploration's company profile: https://www.cruxinvestor.com/companies/thor-explorations-ltdSign up for Crux Investor: https://cruxinvestor.com
On 3 November 1961, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was founded, bringing all existing aid work under one single agency. A key proponent of it was Barbara Ward, a pioneering British economist and journalist who had the ear of presidents and prime ministers across the world. Later known as Baroness Jackson, she spoke to the John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum Oral History Program in 1964 about how the newly independent West African nation of Ghana was one of the first countries to benefit with funds to construct the Volta River Project. Surya Elango listens back to those archive interviews.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from the death of Adolf Hitler, the first spacewalk and the making of the movie Jaws, to celebrity tortoise Lonesome George, the Kobe earthquake and the invention of superglue. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: Eva Peron – Argentina's Evita; President Ronald Reagan and his famous ‘tear down this wall' speech; Thomas Keneally on why he wrote Schindler's List; and Jacques Derrida, France's ‘rock star' philosopher. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the civil rights swimming protest; the disastrous D-Day rehearsal; and the death of one of the world's oldest languages.(Photo: Barbara Ward. Credit: Getty Images)
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WAF has been halted as it is being reported the Burkino Faso government wants to take a 35% stake in its subsidiary. Equinox Gold has begun processing ore at Valentine. Magna Mining and Koryx Copper publish new drill results. Cartier Resources and Kingfisher Metals share an exploration update from their projects. This episode of Mining Stock Daily is brought to you by... Revival Gold is one of the largest pure gold mine developer operating in the United States. The Company is advancing the Mercur Gold Project in Utah and mine permitting preparations and ongoing exploration at the Beartrack-Arnett Gold Project located in Idaho. Revival Gold is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the ticker symbol “RVG” and trades on the OTCQX Market under the ticker symbol “RVLGF”. Learn more about the company at revival-dash-gold.comVizsla Silver is focused on becoming one of the world's largest single-asset silver producers through the exploration and development of the 100% owned Panuco-Copala silver-gold district in Sinaloa, Mexico. The company consolidated this historic district in 2019 and has now completed over 325,000 meters of drilling. The company has the world's largest, undeveloped high-grade silver resource. Learn more at https://vizslasilvercorp.com/Equinox has recently completed the business combination with Calibre Mining to create an Americas-focused diversified gold producer with a portfolio of mines in five countries, anchored by two high-profile, long-life Canadian gold mines, Greenstone and Valentine. Learn more about the business and its operations at equinoxgold.com Integra is a growing precious metals producer in the Great Basin of the Western United States. Integra is focused on demonstrating profitability and operational excellence at its principal operating asset, the Florida Canyon Mine, located in Nevada. In addition, Integra is committed to advancing its flagship development-stage heap leach projects: the past producing DeLamar Project located in southwestern Idaho, and the Nevada North Project located in western Nevada. Learn more about the business and their high industry standards over at integraresources.com
While Congress is on its traditional August recess, the House Oversight Committee is still investigating the alleged cover-up of former President Biden's decline. However, the former President insists he was responsible for all decisions that came out of the White House during his time in office, and former staff members claim they saw no obvious sign of a decline. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (KY-1) joins the Rundown to discuss the Committee's investigation into whether the Biden administration covered up the cognitive deterioration of former President Biden. For decades, advocates have been trying to convince the government that psychedelic drugs could be used as medicine and help with conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. But their efforts fell short. However, there is hope with the Trump Administration as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has voiced his openness to testing their effectiveness. A few states have legalized psychedelics for therapy, and Texas has recently approved funding for research into ibogaine, a psychoactive compound found in a West African shrub. Former Texas Governor and first-term Trump Energy Secretary Rick Perry was behind the effort in Texas and hopes it leads to the development of a drug that wins approval for clinical trials and could eventually be given in a monitored hospital setting. Gov. Perry joins the Rundown to discuss the potential benefits of ibogaine and other psychedelic therapies, and how an Afghanistan veteran inspired his advocacy. Plus, commentary by Vice President of Communications for Focus on The Family, Paul Batura. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices