Climate change, habitat loss, and the endangerment of wildlife has brought about international interventions and conservation efforts throughout Africa. However, policies and programs are not without their problems. Throughout Africa, questions of environmental and climate justice are raised when communal lifestyles are threatened by initiatives that are not designed with a mindfulness of the needs of people throughout Africa. In this episode, we explore the human toll taken by climate change and sometimes even by efforts to protect the environment.
Guest Bios
Richard Schroeder
Richard Schroeder is a Professor of Geography in the Department of Anthropology at Brandeis University with expertise in political ecology, Africa, and conservation.
Malavika Vyawahare
Malavika Vyawahare is a staff reporter for Mongabay, a nonprofit environmental science and conservation news platform.
James Herrera
James Herrera is a researcher and program coordinator at the Duke Lemur Center SAVA Conservation program, Duke University, and based in Madagascar.v
Fulgence Thio Rosin
Fulgence Thio Rosin is a PhD student at the University of Antananarivo in Madagascar in collaboration with the University of Goettingen in Germany. He is a lecturer in animal biology and ecology at the Regional University Centre of SAVA region.
Oladosu Adenike
Oladosu Adenike is a Nigerian climate activist and eco-feminist working for equality, security, and peace across Africa, in particular the Lake Chad region.
Briana Brown
Briana Brown is an environmental science and biology teacher at Brookline High School in Brookline, MA.
Roger Grande
Roger Grande is a world history, social justice, and global leadership teacher at Brookline High School in Brookline, MA.
Free Resources and Featured Books
African Studies Association promotes the teaching of Africa in K-16 classrooms, promoting this work through an annual teacher workshop and the production of teacher resources.
- Youth Rise Up Against Climate Change: An Interactive Conversation Across Two Continents is a video of a panel discussion from the virtual 2020 African Studies Association Annual Teachers’ Workshop: Transnational Solidarities, featuring youth climate activists from across Africa.
- Introducing Africa, Racial Stereotyping, and Environmental Justice is a video from the virtual 2020 African Studies Association Annual Teachers’ Workshop: Transnational Solidarities, focused on a a framework for teaching about Africa in early grade, including an emphasis on environmental justice.
- Enhancing Children’s Literature with African Voices is a video from the virtual 2020 African Studies Association Annual Teachers’ Workshop: Transnational Solidarities, featuring Irene Asuwa talking about the book Seeds of Change by Jen Cullerton as part of the Boston University African Studies Center K-16 Education Outreach Program Children’s Literature Enrichment Project.
White Man’s Game: Saving Animals, Rebuilding Eden, and Other Myths of Conservation in Africa by Stephanie Hanes focuses on the narratives and misconceptions around conservation efforts in Africa, focusing on the problematic aspects of this work and the implications that it has on the daily lives of people across the African continent.
“Our House is on Fire– Time to Teach Climate Justice” is an article by Bill Bigelow, published in rethinking schools, about the urgency of introducing climate justice to students. The article offers a framework for bringing the work of climate justice into classrooms.
Teach Climate Justice Campaign consists of teaching resources, voices from classrooms, and other information about workshops and opportunities for youth engagement around the issue of climate justice.
Oladosu Adenike: I Lead Climate includes videos and writings by Oladosu regarding climate change and the role of African youth in addressing this global problem through campaigns that are centered around the voices and perspectives that tend to be eclipsed in the discourse around climate change.
Episode Acknowledgements
Thanks to Rick Schroeder, Malavika Vyawahare, James Herrera, Fulgence Thio Rosin, Oladosu Adenike, Briana brown, and Roger Grande for sharing your expertise in this episode!
Thanks to Nico Rivers for audio editing, mixing, and mastering.
Special thanks to the Boston University Africa Studies Center and the Teaching Africa Outreach Program for collaborating and providing support for this podcast.
Image Credits
“Baobab Avenue” by Fox Talbot, under Creative Commons License Attribution Share Alike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Photo of Richard Schroeder provided by Brandeis University website.
Photo of Malavika Vyawahare provided by LinkedIn.
Photo of James Herrera provided by ResearchGate.
Photo of Fulgence Thio Rosin provided by Twitter.
Photo of Oladosu Adenike provided by Wikipedia.
Featured Music
“Bowmazan Ya Mahaba Bi Kidude Song” by The Sounds of Taraab, from the album Live at WFMU on Rob Weisberg’s Show on 4/7/2007, under Creative Commons License Attribution Non-Commerical Share Alike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0). This track has been excerpted and overlaid with narrative.
“Lightstream” by Siddhartha Corsus from the album Constellations under Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). This track has been excerpted and overlaid with narrative.
“Song for Ramanujan (Saraswati Devi)” by Siddhatha Corsus from the album The Truth Within under Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). This track has been excerpted and overlaid with narrative.
“Imperial Tiger Orchestra” by Noise Problems Selections from the album NP50 Selections Vol. 2 under Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial- NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). This track has been excerpted and overlaid with narrative.
“Too Thirsty to Drink Water” by Karl Blau from the album Bread-N-Grease under Creative Commons Licence Attribution- NonCommercial- ShareAlike 3.0 United States (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US). This track has been excerpted and overlaid with narrative.
“Fogo” by Xylo-Ziko, from the album Polyrhythms, under Creative Commons License Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International (CCBY-NC 4.0). This track has been excerpted and overlaid with narrative.
“Xaleyi” by Youssoupha Sidibe, from the album Sacred Sound, under Creative Commons License Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 3.0 United States (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US).This track has been excerpted and overlaid with narrative.
“The Fires of Your Peace” by Siddhartha Corsus, from the album Night Psalms, under Creative Commons License Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 Internaional (CC BY-NC 4.0). This track has been excerpted and overlaid with narrative.
“Mwali” by Xylo-Ziko, from the album Polyrhythms, under Creative Commons License Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International (CCBY-NC 4.0). This track has been excerpted and overlaid with narrative.