Sylvia Wynter offers a bold and provocative assessment of the role of the humanities in understanding humankind.

HAP 135 - Mastering Ceremonies - Sylvia Wynter

Cedric J. Robinson reflects on the power and limitations of Marxism while charting the past and prospects of black radical thought.

HAP 134 - The Marx Brothers - Cedric J. Robinson

The author of an important book on Glissant joins us to talk about his approach to this major Caribbean thinker.

HAP 133 - John Drabinski on Edouard Glissant

Poet, novelist, playwright and philosopher Edouard Glissant, his theory of "creolization", and the Creolists who were influence by him. 

HAP 132 - French Creolizing - Edouard Glissant and the Creolité Movement

Stuart Hall pioneers “cultural studies,” offering tools for analysis of films, television, fiction and music that were put to use by followers like Paul Gilroy and Hazel Carby.

HAP 131 - Mixed Messages - Black British Cultural Studies

The great Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o joins us to speak about his career, his influences, and the power and politics of language.

HAP 130 - Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o on... Himself!

How one of Kenya's greatest writers came to argue that African literature should be written in African languages.

HAP 129 - Afrophone Home - Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o

We bring the story of black feminism up to the turn of the century with the incisive works of bell hooks and Patricia Hill Collins.

HAP 128 - Marginal Comments - bell hooks and Patricia Hill Collins

In poetry and prose, especially her collection "Sister Outsider," Audre Lorde explores ideas of difference, eroticism, and feminist theory.

HAP 127 - Knowing the Difference - Audre Lorde

The eventful life and penetrating philosophy of Angela Davis, an icon of resistance deeply informed by Marxism and influential on black feminist thought.

HAP 126 - Fugitive for Justice - Angela Davis

Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou and Alice Walker explore the themes of black feminism (or “womanism”) in their fiction. Warning: this episode contains discussion of sexual violence and suicide.

HAP 125 - Phenomenal Woman - The Black Women’s Literary Renaissance

1970s black feminists like Toni Cade Bambara, the Combahee River Collective, and Awa Thiam critique white feminist and black nationalist failures to recognize the unique struggle of the black woman.

HAP 124 - Double Jeopardy - Black Feminism

Another Caribbean thinker, Walter Rodney of Guyana, explores Africana history from a Marxist perspective. 

HAP 123 - History Teaches Us - Walter Rodney

Famous for his killing at the hands of the Apartheid government in South Africa, Steve Biko was also a deep thinker, who introduced the notion of Black Consciousness.

HAP 122 - A More Human Face - Steve Biko

The political and musical revolution of Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat, and the social critique of his cousin, the playwright Wole Soyinka.

HAP 121 - No Agreement - Fela Kuti and Wole Soyinka

How the Rastafari movement grew from trends within Africana philosophy, and then passed into global popular culture in the music of Bob Marley and other reggae artists.

HAP 120 - Redemption Songs - Reggae and Rastafari

Sun Ra and Parliament-Funkadelic return to claim the pyramids, and Octavia Butler uses science fiction to confront the brutal past of slavery.

HAP 119 - The Space Race - Afrofuturism

Abdias do Nascimento, a leader in Brazilian theater and politics, and his theory of Qilombismo.

HAP 118 - African Survivals - Abdias do Nascimento

The career and ideas of Nelson Mandela up to the time of his imprisonment, in the context of the founding of the African National Congress.

HAP 117 - Spear of the Nation - Nelson Mandela and the ANC

Two scholars of the same name join us to shed further light on Amílcar Cabral.

Get Started

Download the App