The WISER Podcast

Today we hear from Najibha Deshmukh, WISER’s Senior Administrator and Adila Deshmukh, WISER’s Financial Manager. Najibha and Adila, who are sisters, give us their take on life at WISER, offering an inside view of everyday life, from both the front desk and the Institute’s financial office. In a richly nuanced and finely observed  - and often very funny – set of observations, they reveal aspects of their own stories over the last two decades, of the pressures and pleasures of their jobs, and of the lives, minds and foibles of academics at work. They talk about the joys of seeing students graduate and become professors – and about some of the strangest requests they received over the years. It’s a wonderful listen and will give you a new perspective on the academy – enjoy!

The members of The WiSER Podcast team are Sarah Nuttall, Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh, Isabel Hofmeyr, Tinashe Mushakavanhu and Achille Mbembe.

Dr Tinashe Mushakavanhu discusses the coup of November 2017 in Zimbabwe, the death of Robert Mugabe, and why it is necessary to build a new set of digital tools for re-reading the country’s history. The podcast grapples with the question: how do we read a country beyond an individual?

The members of The WiSER Podcast team are Sarah Nuttall, Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh, Isabel Hofmeyr, Tinashe Mushakavanhu and Achille Mbembe.

Today we release the second of several podcasts marking WiSER’s 20th anniversary. The Institute was launched in September 2001 and we asked a number of colleagues from Wits, the region and beyond to offer reflections on the last two decades of WiSER’s critical engagement with our country, our region and the world at large. In doing so, we also wish to thank all who have contributed to the Institute’s work over the last two decades, making it into what it is today.  

Today we release the first of several podcasts marking WiSER’s 20th anniversary. The Institute was launched in September 2001 and we asked a number of colleagues from Wits, the region and beyond to offer reflections on the last two decades of WiSER’s critical engagement with our country, our region and the world at large. In doing so, we also wish to thank all who have contributed to the Institute’s work over the last two decades, making it into what it is today.  

In this podcast, we present highlights from an event “On Violence: An Intergenerational Conversation about Women's Resistance” held at WiSER on August 11 2021. 

Welcome to Season 4 of The WISER podcast. We begin this season with a number of event podcasts, capturing key debates happening at WISER on matters of urgent national importance.

Welcome to Season 4 of The WISER podcast. We begin this season with a number of event podcasts, capturing key debates happening at WISER on matters of urgent national importance.

For Ryan Brunett’s short video, which many of the speakers refer to, see here.

Our latest episode focuses on oral poetry from the Kenyan coast and its relation to indigenous marine conservation knowledges; black travel writing from the Indian Ocean world in the early twentieth century;  learning to surf and read waves in Cape Town; and the recent rise in postcolonial fiction about mermaids. 

Each of these topics, and many more, form part of a special issue of the magazine Wasafiri on "Water", edited by Charne Lavery and Stephnaie Jones and available here:  https://www.wasafiri.org/product/wasafiri-issue-106/. The issue covers multiple forms of writing on water from around the world - from the Philippines to the Somali coast, Kenya to Antarctica - in a time of planetary change. It forms part of the Oceanic Humanities for the Global South project (www.oceanichumanities.com) at WiSER . 

The second episode of our two-part series on Regions2050: mobility, extraction, circulation focuses on the Congo Basin eco-region of Africa, the world’s second largest rainforest block after the Amazon. In particular, the podcast examines how significant demographic, ecological, political and economic changes in this region are linked to climate. It also explores the interactions between human populations and the environments in which they live. 

The podcast is a conversation between Rogers Orock (Department of Anthropology, Wits), Achille Mbembe (WISER) and Joshua Walker (Congo Research Group, Center on International Cooperation, New York University). All are members of the research cluster on the Congo Basin within WISER’s Regions2050 project.

The members of the WISER Podcast team are Sarah Nuttall, Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh, Isabel Hofmeyr, Tinashe Mushakavanhu, Mpho Matsipa, Achille Mbembe and Bronwyn Kotzen.