Before borders were drawn, before colonial records and foreign tongues defined us, Africans named themselves with meaning. Names were history. And Language was philosophy.

In this episode of Born Before Borders, we explore how African names and languages were disrupted, suppressed, and deliberately sidelined under colonial rule by design. We trace how naming systems carried memory, lineage, spirituality, and worldview, and how colonial power worked to replace them with labels that were easier to control.

This is a deep dive into:

• How African naming traditions functioned before colonisation

• Why indigenous languages were banned, punished, and devalued

• The psychological consequences of being taught to think and speak through borrowed frameworks

• What it really means to reclaim identity today — without romanticising the past

In the closing segment, we connect these themes to the present, examining current events in Venezuela and the long, consistent pattern of imperial intervention, economic warfare, and resource extraction that continues to shape the modern world.