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African Studies Library

Your one-stop-shop for all things African Studies at the University of Cambridge & beyond

List of Blogs & Podcasts

Blogs

  • ASCL Africanist Blog - is written by scholars and other staff members of the African Studies Centre Leiden. 
  • Africa at LSE blog - Africa at LSE is a platform for the latest expert analysis on African political, social and economic affairs, placing the continent at the heart of contemporary global debates.
  • Africa Book Link - is a quartlery newsletter, primarily announcing new and forthcoming African literature, drama and criticism.  It also publishes articles and reviews.
  • Africa in words - is a blog that focuses on cultural production and Africa.  We cover books, art, film, history, music, theatre, ideas and people and the ways they interact, through their publication and circulation, with societies, economies and space.
  • Africa Writes blog - Africa Writes festival is a celebration of contemporary literature from Africa and the diaspora, brought to you by The Royal African Society and presented in partnership the British Library.
  • AfriSpeak blog (link currently broken - Oct. 2023) - Established in 2009, the African Democratic Institute(ADI)is non-profit and non-governmental organization based in Johannesburg, South Africa. ADI is geared towards enhancing democracy and democratic values on the African continent.
  • African Collections Futures - Curated by Dr. Eva Namusoke, this blog reflects on the activities and findings of the African Collections Futures project. Broadly, the project seeks to develop a better sense of where Africa-related objects and materials are across the University of Cambridge, what kinds of engagements scholars, African research and heritage institutions, and African diaspora and communities of origin have with these objects, and what more can be done.
  • Another World? East Africa and the Global 1960s - (blog posts from) A Leverhulme Trust funded collaboration between the universities of Edinburgh, Warwick and York, seeks to understand and explain how East Africa’s global connections systematically broke down after independence, opening up a set of new and unpredictable paths forward
  • Brittle Paper - your go-to site for African writing and literary culture.
  • Cambridge Centre of African Studies Blog - our very own blog updating you with library materials, events, and developments

  • China in Africa podcast - a lively discussion about all aspects of Chinese engagment in Africa.

  • Commonwealth Writers - Stories from ‘adda’ - Read compelling new fiction, non-fiction and poetry from across the globe on adda, the online magazine that crosses literary borders. 

  • James Murua’s Literature Blog - "Writing Africa" explores African Literature - news and reviews from the African literary scene.
  • Johannesburg Review of Books - an independent literary review, publishes reviews, essays, poetry, photographs and short fiction from South Africa, Africa and beyond.
  • Languages Across Borders - This blog is the joint blog of two departments across Cambridge University Librarie: Collections and Academic Liaison, who started the blog in 2013, and World Collections (including African Studies!), who joined it in 2023. It has contributions from Cambridge Library staff, students, and friends. Do get in touch if you have an idea and think it would fit well on this blog!
  • Okay Africa - Connecting a global audience to Africa.
  • Read African Books - brought to you by African Books Collective, offers a place where people can come to read about the latest books, news, reviews and comment, on African publishing.
  • Syncity NG (website link currently broken - Oct. 2023) - Your hangout zone for everything African literature.
  • The Journal of African Youth Literature - not a blog as such, but a site to access this exciting literary and creative arts periodical.

Recommendations for improving this page are welcome - email us this link with your thoughts at afr@lib.cam.ac.uk. 

Podcasts

  • Africa Oxford Initiative - The AfOx podcast series has been introduced for the global AfOx community. 

  • Africa Past & Present - "is a podcast about history, culture, and politics in Africa and the diaspora."

  • Africa Today podcast (BBC) - "News and analysis from the BBC's Focus on Africa. The Africa Today podcast is published from Monday to Friday. It contains the day's top African stories"

  • African Podcasts - "a collection of podcasts featuring unique voices and stories from Africa"

  • Afropop World Wide - African diaspora music show.

  • Afroqueer podcast - "AfroQueer is a podcast from AQ Studios telling the stories of Queer Africans from across the continent and diaspora."

  • ALC Pan-African Radio - "is a public interest radio established by the African Leadership Centre (ALC) with a core focus on peace, security and leadership in Africa. It will serve audiences across Africa and in the Diaspora."

  • Cheeky Natives - "is a literary podcast primarily focused on the review, curatorship and archiving of black literature"

  • Citing Africa podcasts - "The Citing Africa Podcast series is made up of nine episodes which deal with a variety of knowledge production issues in African countries as well as providing practical advice for early-career researchers seeking for publishing their work in highly-ranked international journals."

  • The Global History Podcast - exploring cross-cultural encounters in the early modern world.

  • ​New Books Network podcasts - (African Studies) "a consortium of author-interview podcast channels dedicated to raising the level of public discourse by introducing scholars and other serious writers to a wide public via new media. Covering 80+ subjects, disciplines, and genres, we publish over 100 episodes every month and serve a large, worldwide audience" (Twitter - @NewBooksAfrica)

  • New Frame (link currently broken - Oct. 2023) - "is a not-for-profit, social justice media publication based in Johannesburg, South Africa."

  • On Things We Left Behind - "A podcast exploring the hidden afterlife of war."

  • The Pan African Cinema Podcast: June Givanni Pan African Cinema Archive - "In each episode we bring together the works and voices of filmmakers, artists and writers around a wide range of themes, debates and interests related to Pan African culture and identity."

  • Sound Africa - "is the brainchild of a group of dedicated journalists who saw a need for innovative, informed, and in-depth coverage of the world’s second most populous continent, told in ways that are creative and accessible, and through a rapidly expanding new medium."

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