What if African mythology was a sophisticated system for preserving law, philosophy, science, governance, and historical memory?

In this episode of The Lateral Humanities Podcast, I sexplore with Chinenye Egbuna Ikwuemesi, Nigerian-British author, researcher, and founder of the Afrodeities Institute, how African civilizations developed and transmitted knowledge across generations, and why these traditions continue to be misunderstood today. Drawing on her research into African mythology, writing systems, and civilizational memory, Chinenye challenges the widespread assumption that Africa possessed only oral traditions. Together, we discuss African scripts such as Nsibidi, Ge'ez, Vai, Meroitic, Tifinagh, and Ajami, the relationship between orality and writing, and how colonial narratives shaped contemporary understandings of African intellectual history.

The conversation also turns toward the future. As artificial intelligence increasingly mediates how knowledge is produced and accessed, what happens when AI inherits incomplete or biased histories? How can African knowledge systems become part of the datasets that shape tomorrow's technologies?

This episode invites listeners to rethink what counts as knowledge, how civilizations preserve memory, and why recovering African intellectual traditions matters not only for history, but also for the future of the humanities and AI.

Chinenye Egbuna Ikwuemesi is a Nigerian-British author, independent researcher, and public speaker whose work explores African mythology, civilizational knowledge systems, intellectual history, and the politics of knowledge production. She is the Founder and Director of the Afrodeities Institute, an organization dedicated to researching, teaching, and promoting African intellectual and mythological traditions. Her work argues that mythology functions not merely as folklore, but as a sophisticated operating system through which African societies transmitted governance, philosophy, law, medicine, ecological knowledge, and historical memory across generations. She is also the creator of The Bridgeworks, a civilizational framework that maps the infrastructures through which African knowledge has been preserved and transmitted, connecting mythology, oral traditions, writing systems, music, ritual, and historical archives.

Her research has been deposited on the Open Science Framework (OSF/SocArXiv) under ORCID: 0009-0000-8538-8347, and she has presented her work internationally, including at NFEAP (Oslo), NATE (Manchester), and upcoming conferences hosted by ASALH and ASAUK.

Nigerian Mythology: The Shadow Sky

Meet the Orisas

The Girl Who Climbed the Tree

Coming Soon

Cross the Afromantasy Bridge

Website

African Mythology

Nigerian Mythology

Afrodeities Institute

https://afrodeitiesinstitute.org

OSF Research Hub

LinkedIn

Music: 

KAROL BEFFA: Blow-up, pour quatuor de vents et piano (2008).

Jaamu Africa by Ismael LO

Vintage Intro by Dilukshan Mahendra

Production

Recorded and produced by Malick LO

Podcast Logo Design: Lulu Heffernan

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In this inaugural episode of the Lateral Humanities Podcast at the University of Colorado Boulder, Malick LO interviews Professor Emerita Mildred Mortimer about her decades-long engagement with Francophone literatures. The episode traces Mortimer’s intellectual journey, her work on women’s writing and the Algerian War, the role of literature as counter‑archive, encounters with memory and trauma, translation challenges, and the importance of teaching and mentorship. Particular attention is given to her book, Women Fight, Women Write: Texts on the Algerian War (University of Virginia Press, 2018) which offers a critical re-evaluation of women’s roles in the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962).

Mortimer, Mildred P. Journeys Through the French African Novel. Heinemann; J. Currey, 1990.

Mortimer, Mildred P. Maghrebian Mosaic: A Literature in Transition. L. Rienner, 2001.

Mortimer, Mildred P. Women Fight, Women Write: Texts on the Algerian War. University of Virginia Press, 2018.

Mortimer, Mildred P. Writing from the Hearth: Public, Domestic, and Imaginative Space in Francophone Women's Fiction of Africa and the Caribbean. Lexington Books, 2007.

Bâ, Mariama. Une Si Longue Lettre. Nouvelles éditions africaines, 1980.

Cassin, Barbara, et al. Dictionary of Untranslatables: A Philosophical Lexicon. Princeton University Press, 2014.

Assia Djebar, La Nouba des femmes du Mont Chenoua

Fatima Sissani, documentary works on memory and women’s narratives

Nassima Guessoum, documentary works on Algerian women’s testimonies

Blow Up by  Karol Beffa

Source: KAROL BEFFA: Blow-up, pour quatuor de vents et piano (2008).

Les mots du récit by Felwine Sarr

Source: Les mots du récit

Jaamu Africa by Ismael LO

Source: Jaamu Africa

Production

Recorded and produced by Malick LO

Podcast Logo Design: Lulu Heffernan