Entries Tagged to 'history'
Historian Ed Keazor talks about: the two military coups that took place in 1966; who was involved in each of the coups and who was killed; the element of revenge by Northern army personnel; and the creation of a permanent rift in Nigeria in the army and the Nigerian polity.
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May 27, 2016
Historian Ed Keazor talks three controversial events in Nigerian History. The first of these controversies is the 1951 elections in Western Nigeria: He talks about: what happened during these elections that gave rise to charges of tribalism; the very different accounts left by those involved; earlier incidents that show tribalism was at work; and the attitude of the British imperial rulers to tribalism.
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November 26, 2014
Mothobi Mutloatse, a South African writer and publisher, talks about the sinking of the SS Mendi in the First World War in 1917, with many South Africans on board, how it inspired the Sesotho version of South Africa's national anthem, and the ongoing struggle for recognition for their sacrifice.
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April 30, 2014
Afrinolly short film competition winner Daniel Effiong talks about the 3 part short film series (The Crimson series) about mysterious incidents in Nigerian history which he recreates in fictional form. The interview covers: Your Cup of Tea about the arrest and interrogation of Olusegun Obasanjo for plotting to overthrow the Abacha regime; the interrogation of a writer and publisher during the years of military rule, who was subsequently killed by a bomb; and the arrest and interrogation of Amazing Grace, an alleged drug courier, who was supposedly working for a very powerful Nigerian, and who disappeared while in detention. He also talks about his next film which will be about Kuramo Beach, which has been cleared to build a hotel and casino, and will tell the lives of those who used to live on the beach.
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March 14, 2014
Film-maker David Forbes talks about: who the Cradock Four were and what they did; the murky circumstances of their assassination in 1985; the unsatisfactory testimony by the police who carried out the killing to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission; and how the ANC Government sought to surpress any attempt to get at the truth of what really happened.
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September 28, 2013
Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainana talks about: what Dedan Kimathi means to Kenyans; how he fits into people's memories of the period under Kenya's first President Jomo Kenyatta; the achievements and the rough underside of this period; the forgetting that went with the achievements of that period; the Kikuyu claims on the achievements of Kimathi; and how the idea of Kenya as a country is always in the future.
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July 14, 2013
Historian Toby Green, author of The Rise of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in Western Africa: 1300-1589 on: the scale of the Transatlantic slave trade over 350 years; its relationship to the previously existing slave trade and the growth of global capitalism; and its impact on those parts of Africa where the Transatlantic slave trade first took off.
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March 25, 2013
Historian Toby Green, author of The Rise of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in Western Africa: 1300-1589 on: the Mandinkas' strong links in West Africa with the North African slave traders; the adoption of the cultural patterns of these slave traders and their cultures (which he terms primary creolisation); the role of the New Christians (converted Jews out of Spain and Portugal) in the Transatlantic slave trade; and the strong facility of those in the region to speak many languages.
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March 25, 2013
Historian Toby Green, author of The Rise of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in Western Africa: 1300-1598 on: on contemporary attitudes to race and racism; how the incomers took on different aspects of African culture; how during this period African rulers remained powerful but how these external influences created cycles of violence and destabilisation.
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March 25, 2013
Historian Richard Rathbone talks about: the complex motivations for imperialism; whether it was a profit-making activity; the differences between French, British and Portuguese imperialsm; and the distinction between settler and non-settler countries.
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February 19, 2013
Historian David Cannadine, author of In Churchill's Shadow on: why historians write essay collections; why write on Churchill when so much is already written; and Churchill's changing attitude to Monarchy
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July 1, 2012
For a long time I drifted, so painful and weary was I after the violence I had been through, and so intense the heat upon the water. Then my fears got the better of me again, and I resumed my paddling. The sun scorched my bare back. At last, as the bridge at Walton was coming into sight round the bend, my fever and faintness overcame my fears, and I landed on the Middlesex bank and lay down, deadly sick, amid the long grass. I suppose the time was then about four or five o'clock. I got up presently, walked perhaps half a mile without meeting a soul, and then lay down again in the shadow of a hedge. I seem to remember talking, wanderingly, to myself during that last spurt. I was also very thirsty, and bitterly regretful I had drunk no more water. It is a curious thing that I felt angry with my wife; I cannot account for it, but my impotent desire to reach Leatherhead worried me excessively.
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June 15, 2011
Brian Parritt, author of The Chinese Hordes, describes: the course of this first armed conflict in the Cold War; the motivations of the different major players, the USA, Russia and China; and General MacArthur's fateful decision to push north to the Yalu river.
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June 10, 2011
