Podcast Episode 8: How Waste Reclaimers Recycle 80 to 90% of South Africa's Waste

Urban Limitrophe

Date: December 17, 2021

Summary:

In this podcast episode, the host interviews Dr. Melanie Samson, a human geographer at the University of Johannesburg, discussing the crucial role of waste reclaimers in cities, particularly Johannesburg. Dr. Samson works with the African Reclaimers Organisation (ARO), a non-profit advocating for the rights of waste reclaimers. The episode explores the challenges faced by reclaimers, ARO's efforts at achieving recognition, and the efficiency of reclaimers in waste collection compared to private companies. Listeners learn about the importance of reclaimers in recycling and ways to support their work in the community. The episode is sponsored by the University of Toronto School of Cities and the Department of Geography and Planning.

Read about the interview here.

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Podcast Episode 9: How the Dikan Center is Building the First Photo Library in Ghana

Urban Limitrophe

Date: January 17, 2022

Summary:

In this podcast episode, host Alexandra Lambropoulos interviews Paul Ninson, a photographer and filmmaker, about the creation of The Dikan Center in Ghana, the first visual storytelling library in the country. The centre, currently in its early stages, aims to train the next generation of storytellers and serve as a community hub challenging negative narratives about Africa. Topics include the centre's programming, an upcoming photography exhibition, the extensive book collection gathered for the Dikan Center, its role as a talent incubator and community space, and opportunities for involvement in supporting its construction and promoting visual storytelling. Ninson, based in New York, shares his passion for using photography as a form of expression and problem-solving. The episode is co-sponsored by the University of Toronto School of Cities and the Department of Geography and Planning.

Read about the interview here.

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Zainab Usman

Director, Carnegie Endowment

Sector:

Think-Tank

Location:

USA

Contact:

https://twitter.com/MssZeeUsman

Hannah Uzzor

Visual Artist (Painting)

Location: UK

Website: hannahuzor.com

Sarah Van Beurden

Associate Professor, African Art History, Ohio State University

van-beurden.1@osu.edu, 614- 292-9298,  486G University Hall, 230 North Oval Mall

Columbus, OH 43210-1340

Van Beurden, Sarah. “Culture, Artifacts and Independent Africa: The Cultural Politics of Museums and Heritage.” In The Palgrave Handbook of African Colonial and Postcolonial History, edited by Toyin Falola and Martin S. Shanguhyia, 1193-1212. New York: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2018.

This chapter traces how, in the context of Western colonial knowledge cultures and regimes of value, certain objects from African material cultures were reinvented as art, and considers the impact of these changes on the development of museum and heritage cultures in postcolonial Africa, in which museums were seen both as subjects of, and tools for, cultural decolonization. African cultural institutions were confronted with the legacies of colonial regimes of value, but also with the physical legacies of colonial cultural infrastructures, in which large collections of what was now considered national heritage were located in the West. The chapter addresses the rising importance of international heritage and conservation regimes supported by organizations such as UNESCO, and their role in the negotiation of restitution claims.

[Source: abstract sourced from Springer].

Van Rouveroy van Nieuwaal. “Chieftaincy In Africa: Three Facets of a Hybrid Role”, In Rouveroy Van Nieuwaal, Emile Adriaan Benvenuto Van, And Rijk Van Dijk, African Chieftaincy in A New Socio-Political Landscape. (1999).

Van Nieuwaal argues that the chief practices a syncretic leadership system where he gains access to economic resources and politico-legal means of power form separate sources. He is assured of access and control from his traditional area such as the allocation of land and dispute settlement whilst he also gets access to power from the state as a subordinate local administrator. This dual basis of power shows mutual dependence between state government and chiefs. Both actors struggle for power among their followers and as they operate within the same territory, this means that they are bound to negotiate. A strategic game of power thus arises from constant negotiations. Van Niewuaal concludes that the relationship between the chief and the modern government is both of mutual dependence and competition as both actors aim at expanding power at the expense of the other. This competition drives both to mutually depend on each other.

Emile A.B. Van  Rouveroy van Niewuwaal

Professor, African Studies, African Studies  Centre, Leiden University, The Netherlands

Contact:

Afrika-Studiecentrum

PO Box 9555

2300 RB Leiden

The Netherlands

asc@ascleiden.nl