Join me this week as we learn about how the French created, sustained and eventually deposed, Africa’s first emperor; Jean-Bedel Bokassa.

Sources:

Amnesty International (Newsletter) (1987)

Brian Titley, Dark Age: The Political Odyssey of Emperor Bokossa (1997)

Jeremy Leudi, The Vietnamese daughters of an African emperor (2018)

Kelechi Chika Ubaku, Chikezie Anyalewachi Emeh, Kelechi Collins Okoro - Imperialism and Underdevelopment in Post-Independence Africa: Focus on Central African Republic (2015)

Leon Dash, Nightmares from Bokassa’s Empire (1979)

Silja Fröhlich, Africa and France: An unfulfilled dream of independence? (2020)

World Bank, Central African Republic Economic Update: Breaking the Cycle of Conflict and Instability (2018)

Policing in Kenya is a colonial hangover, that we can’t quite shake. Complete with the headbanging and misery. In this episode, let’s learn a little about policing, in general, colonial policing and Kenyan policing.

Sources

Amnesty International, Police Reform in Kenya: “A Drop In The   Ocean” (2013)

Bruce Chtalu, The Challenges   Related To Police Reforms In Kenya: A Survey Of Nairobi County, Kenya, (2011)

Clive Emsley, Policing the empire / Policing the metropole: Some thoughts on models   and types (2014)

David Whitehouse, Origins of the Police (2014)

Douglas Lucas Kivoi,   Why violence is a hallmark of Kenyan policing. And what needs to change  (2020)

Emma Bell, Normalising the exceptional : British colonial policing cultures come   home (2013)

Independent Police Oversight Authority   (IPOA) Strategic   Plan 2019-2024

International Centre for Transitional   Justice, The Persistent and   Widespread Need for Police Reform: Lessons from Kenya’s Police Vetting   Process  (2020)

J. Oloka-Onyango, Police Powers, Human Rights, and the State in Kenya and Uganda: A   Comparative Analysis (1990)

Jill Lepore, The Invention of the Police (2020)

Martin Thomas, Violence and Colonial Order: Police, Workers and   Protest in the European Colonial Empires, 1918–1940 (2012)

Sam Mitrani, The Police Were Created to Control Working Class and   Poor People, Not ‘Serve and Protect’ (2015)

Sarah Johnson, ‘The wounds won’t heal’: Kenya’s agonising wait for   justice on killings by police (2020)

The Voodoo that you do is not that Vodou that Haitians do. So let’s drop the pin dolls, the skulls and possession and learn about Vodou (with a “u”); a religious belief with millions of adherents around the world, and the reason why Haiti successfully orchestrated a successful slave revolt and built the worlds' first black Republic. Along the way, we'll chart Vodou's path through Haiti's history, from 1492 to the Present

Sources

Cain Stoneking, The Decline of the Tainos, 1492-1542: A Re-Vision (2009)

Chris Woolf, When America occupied Haiti(2015)

Eliza Kamerling-Brown, More Than a Misunderstood Religion: Rediscovering Vodou as a Tool of Survival and a Vehicle for Independence in Colonial Haiti (2016)

Guilberly Louissaint, What is Haitian Voodoo? (2009)

John Merrill, Vodou and Political Reform in Haiti: Some Lessons for the International Community (1996)

Kim Wall and Caterina Clerici, Vodou is elusive and endangered, but it remains the soul of Haitian people (2015)

Laurent Dubois, Vodou and History (2001)

Louise Fenton, Representations of Voodoo: The history and influence of Haitian Vodou within the cultural productions of Britain and America since 1850 (2009)

Mike Dash, The Trial That Gave Vodou A Bad Name (2013)

Mike Mariani, The Tragic, Forgotten History of Zombies (2015)

Renee Morgan Goodridge, Haitian Vodou as a Means of Resiliency (2018)

Saumya Arya Haas, What is Voodoo? Understanding a Misunderstood Religion (2011)

Sharon Guynup, Haiti: Possessed by Voodoo (2004)

The Pluralism Project (Harvard University), Vodou, Serving the Spirits (2020)

Tim Johnson, How voodoo is rebuilding Haiti (2015)

Timothy J Yeager, Encomienda or Slavery? The Spanish Crown's Choice of Labor Organization in Sixteenth-Century Spanish America (1995)

University of Michigan, Haiti & the Truth about Zombies

We've spoken about Ethiopia's early days and how it contributed to victory at Adwa in the 19th Century. Today, we cover the three monarchs who shaped modern-day Ethiopia, the Battle of Adwa and the legacy of Ethiopia's victory. 

Sources:

Abdur Rahman Alfa Shaban, UK museum to return lock of hair of Ethiopia's Emperor Tewodros I(March 2019)

Alistair Boddy-Evans, Countries in Africa Considered Never Colonized (September 2020)

Anke Wanger, The Biblical Canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church (2012)

David M Perry and Matthew Gabriele, A New History Changes the Balance of Power Between Ethiopia and Medieval Europe (June 2021)

Donald Crummey, Tewordros as Reformer and Modernizer (1969)

Gareth Austin, Sub-Saharan Africa in, Joerg Baten A History of the Global Economy – From 1500 to the President (2016)

Henry George Liddell and Robert Scott "Aithiops".

Iris Gerlach, The Great Temple of Yeha (Ethiopia) (November 2017)

Joshua Keating, Lessons from the Uncolonized (April 2013)

Marjolein ‘t Hart – Why was Ethiopia not colonized during the late-nineteenth-century ‘Scramble for Africa’? in Joerg Baten A History of the Global Economy – From 1500 to the President (2016)

Mohammed Girma, The Ethiopian king who shot himself rather than be captured by the British(March 2019)

Overly Sarcastic Productions, History Summarized: Ethiopia (March, 2020)

Raymond Jonas, The Battle of Adwa: African Victory in the Age of Empire (2011)

Taye Assefa, Tewodros In Ethiopian Historical Fiction(July 1983)

Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes, The Battle of Adwa: an Ethiopian victory that ran against the current of colonialism (February 2020)

Let’s talk about Ethiopia; the only empire in which the sun has never set. With a history dating back to the Bible, and a legacy of thwarting colonial ambition, it’s time we recognise the Lion of Africa.

Support this Podcast: https://anchor.fm/utajuahujui/support | Instagram: @utajuahujui.pod

Sources:

Abdur Rahman Alfa Shaban, UK museum to return lock of hair of Ethiopia's Emperor Tewodros I (March 2019)

Alistair   Boddy-Evans, Countries   in Africa Considered Never Colonized (September 2020)

Anke   Wanger, The   Biblical Canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church (2012)

David M   Perry and Matthew Gabriele,   A New History Changes the Balance of Power Between Ethiopia and Medieval   Europe (June 2021)

Donald Crummey, Tewordros as Reformer and Modernizer (1969)

Gareth   Austin, Sub-Saharan Africa in, Joerg Baten A History of the Global Economy –   From 1500 to the President (2016)

Henry   George Liddell and Robert Scott "Aithiops".

Iris Gerlach,   The   Great Temple of Yeha (Ethiopia) (November 2017)

Joshua   Keating, Lessons   from the Uncolonized (April 2013)

Marjolein   ‘t Hart – Why was Ethiopia not colonized during the late-nineteenth-century   ‘Scramble for Africa’? in Joerg Baten A History of the Global Economy –   From 1500 to the President (2016)

Mohammed Girma, The Ethiopian king who shot himself rather than be captured by the   British (March 2019)

Overly   Sarcastic Productions, History   Summarized: Ethiopia (March, 2020)

Raymond   Jonas, The Battle of Adwa: African Victory in the Age of Empire (2011)

Taye Assefa, Tewodros In Ethiopian Historical Fiction (July 1983)

Yirga   Gelaw Woldeyes, The   Battle of Adwa: an Ethiopian victory that ran against the current of   colonialism (February 2020)

We all know the rule; puff puff pass. No one likes a hogger. But what if you're "puff puff passing" are a series of problematic drug control policies that overwrite traditional practices, and cement a system of class and race oppression? Let’s find out.

Sources:

Alyssa Pagano, How racism contributed to marijuana prohibition in the US (March 2021)

Chris S Duvall, A brief agricultural history of cannabis in Africa, from prehistory to canna-colony (April 2019)

Chris S Duvall, Cannabis and Tobacco in Precolonial and Colonial Africa Chapter (March 2017)

John Hudak, Marijuana’s racist history shows the need for comprehensive drug reform(June, 2020)

Kojo Koram, The War on Drugs and the Global Colour Line (2019)

Little Henry Lee, Land of Dope and Glory: Cannabis and the British Empire (July 2012)

Mariah Woelfel, Pot? Weed? Marijuana? What Should We Call It? (September 2019)

MaryJane; A Gateway Drug? – US National Institute on Drug Abuse, Marijuana Research Report(2020)

Matthew Herbert, Review: Africa and the War on Drugs (2013)

NO IS NOT AN OPTION. THE STRANGEST SECRET IN THE WAR ON DRUGS– Transform Drug Policy Foundation

Virginia Comolli and Claudia Hofmann, Modernizing Drug Law Enforcement Report 6 (September 2013)

We often hear that homosexuality is “unAfrican” and a Western import. But how true is this (hint: it isn’t).

To support queer activist projects in Africa, please consider donating to, or following (giving a S/O) to: GALCK Kenya | INEND Kenya | Freedom and Roam Uganda | Association of LGBTI People in Zimbabwe (GALZ) | LEGABIBO (Lesbians, Gays & Bisexuals of Botswana) | LGBT Voice Tanzania

If you are a queer person of faith in Kenya and would like to be part of a community that accepts and embraces your queerness, check out Cosmopolitan Affirming Community – issa church.

Sources:

Alok Gupta, This Alien Legacy; The Origins of "Sodomy" Laws in British Colonialism (Human Rights Watch)

Binta Bajaha, Postcolonial Amnesia: The Construction of Homosexuality as ‘un-African’

Bisi Alimi, If you say being gay is not African, you don’t know your history

Boris Bertolt, The invention of heterosexuality in Africa

Busangokwakhe Dlamini, Homosexuality in the African Context (2006) 67 Agenda 128 – 136.

George Paul Meiu, Colonialism and Sexuality (2015)

Keletso Makofane, Unspoken facts: a history of homosexualities in Africa, 2013 15(1) Culture, Health and Sexuality, p.114 – 116.

Leah Buckle, African Sexuality and the Legacy of Imported Homophobia

Limakatso K Kendall: “’When a Woman Loves a Woman’: In Lesotho: Love, Sex, and the (Western) Construction of Homophobia.”

Maxim Ananyev and Michael Poyker, Christian missions and anti-gay attitudes in Africa (2020)

Okafor Samuel Okechi, The Indigenous Concept of Sexuality in African Tradition and Globalization(2018) 6(1) Global Journal of Reproductive Medicine

Rita Schäfer & Eva Range, The Political Use of Homophobia Human Rights and Persecution of LGBTI Activists in Africa (2014)

The Black Youth Project (2019), Comic: Queer Folks Existed in Pre-Colonial Africa and y’all can stay mad,

University of New York, Albany Queering History, Queering Africa, University of New York Albany

Wairimũ Ngarũiya Njambi and William E. O'Brien, Revisiting "Woman-Woman Marriage": Notes on Gĩkũyũ Women(2000)

Zahrah Z Devji, Forging Paths for the African Queer: Is There an “African” Mechanism for Realizing LGBTIQ Rights?

Today, we learn about the women who inspired the Dora Mijale in Marvel’s Black Panther (2018); the Ahosi of Dahomey. Wives of the Leopard.

Support this podcast: anchor.fm/utajuahujui/support

Bibliography

Stanley Bernard Alpern, Amazons of Black Sparta: The Women Warriors of Dahomey (New York: New York University Press, 1998),

Robin Law, The ‘Amazons’ of Dahomey, 39 Paidenuma Bd. 1993, 245- 260, 247

Dr. Oyeronke Oyewumi The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourse (Minnesota, Minnesota University Press, 1997)

Stuff You Missed in History Class, The Amazons of Dahomey, 5 August 2015 < https://www.iheart.com/podcast/stuff-you-missed-in-history-cl-21124503/episode/the-amazons-of-dahomey-30207780/> accessed 22 Feb 2021

Lize Okoh, Meet the Dahomey Amazons: The All-Female Warriors of West Africa, Culture Trip 2018 <https://theculturetrip.com/africa/benin/articles/meet-the-dahomey-amazons-the-all-female-warriors-of-west-africa/> accessed 22 Feb 2021

Mike Dash, Dahomey’s Women Warriors (Smithsonianmag.com, 23 September 2011) <https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/dahomeys-women-warriors-88286072/> accessed 22 Feb 2021

@alokvmenon, https://www.instagram.com/p/CLAW4W4BmWy/

The Aberdare region of Kenya was the setting for a hedonism last seen in the Wolf of Wallstreet. Known as the “Happy Valley,” the Happy Valley Set were a group of white settlers who turned Kenya into their personal playground. Replete with drink, drugs, and sex. Utajua hujui, the story of the Happy Valley.

Sources:

https://oldafricamagazine.com/what-brought-lord-delamere-to-kenya/

https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/magazine/the-delameres-open-up-their-home-and-hearts-1403010

https://therake.com/stories/happy-valley-set/

https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-101230

Nicolas Best, Happy Valley Set: The Story of the English in Kenya

Juliet Barnes, The Ghosts of the Happy Valley

Juanita Carberry, Child of Happy Valley

Connect With Me on Instagram @utajuahujui.pod

A tree under arrest?! Yes, you read that right! Join me to learn about this tree-mendous story about Banyan Tree and Officer James Squid.

To connect with me follow me on @utajuahujui.pod on Instagram and suggest topics there! Also support us on - https://anchor.fm/aileen-waitaaga-kimuhu

Intro Music: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/the-lost-files/why-wait

Sources

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/09/03/this-chained-century-old-tree-in-pakistan-is-a-perfect-metaphor-for-colonialism/

https://tribune.com.pk/story/301002/frontier-crimes-regulation-centuries-old-law-will-take-time-to-reform

https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/17-Jun-2016/this-tree-has-been-under-arrest-for-the-past-118-years

https://loweringthebar.net/2016/11/tree-not-arrested.html