BAB Interviews and Conversations
33 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 month ago -BAB is a centre of documentation and expertise on Namibia and southern Africa, located in Basel, Switzerland. Our podcast features extracts from past and recent interviews with scholars and BAB guests as well as selected recordings from the extensive southern African historical audio archive curated at the BAB.
The series maintains a loose format. Listeners may also want to consult the BAB online catalogues of the archive, library and publishing house for additional information about a scholar or theme. The catalogues are found on www.baslerafrika.ch.
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Episodes
Kritische Rückblicke: Solidaritäts- und Anti-Apartheidsengagement des Afrika-Komitees, Basel
June 14, 2024 10:00 - 21 minutes - 18.4 MB1973 als Teil einer Solidaritätsbewegung gegen Kolonialismus, Rassismus und Ausbeutung in der Schweiz entstanden, konzentrierte sich das Afrika-Komitee in Basel auf eine kritische Solidaritäts- und Informationsarbeit mit und zur Zivilgesellschaft in Afrika. Nach 50 Jahren löst sich das Komitee 2024 auf. Mitbegründer:innen Gertrud Baud und Hans-Ueli Stauffer reflektierten bereits 2018 in einem Gespräch mit BAB Archivar Dag Henrichsen über damalige Themensetzungen in der Schweizer Zivilgesellsc...
Tuli Mekondjo‘s art performance „Ousie Martha“
October 12, 2023 10:00 - 12 minutes - 10.9 MBThe Namibian artist Tuli Mekondjo reflects in this conversation about her work in the colonial image archives of the Basler Afrika Bibliographien and how this led her to initiate new artistic practices and conceptualise and design a new art performance. «Ousie Martha» references generations of African laundry women in Namibia as wage labourers in white settler homes, often depicted in settler family photography. Inventing an outdoor print technique with copies of one particular photograph of ...
Solidaritäts- und Anti-Apartheidbewegungen in der Schweiz – „kämpfendes afrika“ (Zürich)
March 09, 2023 14:16 - 24 minutes - 20.3 MBBarbara Müller fungierte von 1973 bis 1988 als Präsidentin des Komitees «kämpfendes afrika» (ka), das 1971 in Zürich als politische Solidaritätsorganisation Medic’ Angola begann. Zunächst eng mit dem maoistisch geprägten «proletarischen Internationalismus» der Kommunistischen Partei der Schweiz verbunden, konnte das sich seit 1976 ka nennende Komitee besonders enge Kontakte zu einigen antikolonialen Befreiungsbewegungen im südlichen Afrika aufbauen. Innerhalb der Schweizer Solidaritätslandsch...
Solidaritäts- und Anti-Apartheidbewegungen in der Schweiz – Komitee Südliches Afrika (Zürich)
December 21, 2022 08:27 - 20 minutes - 17.2 MBSusy Greuter erinnert sich im Gespräch mit dem BAB Archivar Dag Henrichsen an ihr vielfältiges Engagement zum afrikanischen Kontinent, zunächst als Studentin der Soziologie und Ethnologie an der Universität Zürich und im Komitee Südliches Afrika (1975). Das Komitee Südliches Afrika verstand sich als Abspaltung des maoistisch ausgerichteten «kämpfenden afrika» und war nur eines von vielen Komitees in der deutschsprachigen Schweiz. Susy Greuter bettet ihr studentisches Engagement in eine Vielza...
Solidaritäts- und Anti-Apartheid-Bewegungen in der Schweiz – Südafrika-Boykott
July 14, 2022 14:26 - 16 minutes - 13.9 MBBeatrice Felber Rochat erinnert sich im Gespräch mit dem BAB Archivar Dag Henrichsen an ihr frühes Engagement in der von christlichen Frauen gegründeten transnationalen Solidaritätsgruppe «Südafrika-Boykott». Die Boykott-Gruppe organisierte gegen Ende der 1970er Jahre öffentliche Anti-Apartheid Aktionen in Basel, trat für den Boykott von Konsumprodukten und von multinationalen Firmen und Banken, die mit dem Apartheidregime Beziehungen unterhielten, ein und solidarisierte sich mit der afrikani...
Solidaritäts- und Anti-Apartheid-Bewegungen in der Schweiz – Das Afrika-Komitee Basel
March 22, 2022 11:20 - 34 minutes - 28.1 MB1973 als Teil einer Solidaritätsbewegung gegen Kolonialismus, Rassismus und Ausbeutung in der Schweiz entstanden, konzentriert sich das Afrika-Komitee in Basel bis heute auf eine kritische Solidaritäts- und Informationsarbeit mit und zur Zivilgesellschaft in Afrika. In diesem Auszug aus einem Gespräch mit dem BAB Archivar Dag Henrichsen vom November 2015 reflektiert der Mitbegründer des Komitees, Hans-Ulrich Stauffer, über die Aufbauarbeit und Schweizer Solidaritätsnetze in den 1970er Jahren ...
Solidaritäts- und Anti-Apartheid-Bewegungen in der Schweiz – Das Afrika-Komitee Basel
March 22, 2022 11:20 - 34 minutes - 28.1 MB1973 als Teil einer Solidaritätsbewegung gegen Kolonialismus, Rassismus und Ausbeutung in der Schweiz entstanden, konzentriert sich das Afrika-Komitee in Basel bis heute auf eine kritische Solidaritäts- und Informationsarbeit mit und zur Zivilgesellschaft in Afrika. In diesem Auszug aus einem Gespräch mit dem BAB Archivar Dag Henrichsen vom November 2015 reflektiert der Mitbegründer des Komitees, Hans-Ulrich Stauffer, über die Aufbauarbeit und Schweizer Solidaritätsnetze in den 1970er Jahren ...
Solidaritäts- und Anti-Apartheidbewegungen in der Schweiz – Das Afrika-Komitee Basel
March 22, 2022 11:20 - 34 minutes - 27.8 MB1973 als Teil einer Solidaritätsbewegung gegen Kolonialismus, Rassismus und Ausbeutung in der Schweiz entstanden, konzentriert sich das Afrika-Komitee in Basel bis heute auf eine kritische Solidaritäts- und Informationsarbeit mit und zur Zivilgesellschaft in Afrika. In diesem Auszug aus einem Gespräch mit dem BAB Archivar Dag Henrichsen vom November 2015 reflektiert der Mitbegründer des Komitees, Hans-Ulrich Stauffer, über die Aufbauarbeit und Schweizer Solidaritätsnetze in den 1970er Jahren ...
The Day Mandela is arrested – Lewis Nkosi
February 18, 2022 10:00 - 23 minutes - 18.8 MBLewis Nkosi (1936–2010), born in Embo (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa), was an acclaimed journalist, writer and professor of literature in various African and European countries as well as in the USA. Living in exile since 1960, he resided in Basel between 1997 and 2010. On 11th November 1999 he gave a reading from his yet unpublished novel “Mandela’s Ego” (2006) at the BAB. In the extracts of the audio recording presented here, he explains his motivation to write about ‘the day Mandela is arres...
Snippets from the Audio Archive VI – Carol and Ron Gestwicki
November 19, 2021 08:00 - 10 minutes - 8.7 MBCarol and Ron Gestwicki, a couple from northern America, worked for the Anglican Church in Namibia from 1964 to 1966. Ron worked as a priest in Windhoek’s African township, the Old Location, and as such worked closely with oppositional leaders such as Hosea Kutako and Clemens Kapuuo. Carol, a trained nurse, gave courses in the Red Cross clinic of the Old Location and also evening and Sunday classes for the Anglican church congregations. For a while they lived in a caravan on the outskirts of ...
Snippets from the Audio Archive V – Freedom Nyamubaya and Ruth Weiss
October 15, 2021 10:20 - 12 minutes - 10.5 MBFreedom Tichaona Nyamubaya (1958 – 2015) was a Zimbabwean freedom fighter, activist and poet. In 1975, she left what was then Rhodesia to join the Zimbabwe National Liberation Army (ZANLA) in Mozambique. She achieved the rank of Female Field Operation Commander and was elected the Secretary for Education in the first ZANU Women's League conference in 1979. After independence she worked as a rural development, gender and peace activist as well as a farmer, dancer and poet. Ruth Weiss (*1924),...
Zur Geschichte der BAB, mit Albert M. Debrunner
September 02, 2021 11:40 - 11 minutes - 9.69 MBDie BAB blicken 2021 auf 50 Jahre Institutsgeschichte zurück. 1971 von Carl Schlettwein als Bibliothek und Verlag gegründet, um Publikationen insbesondere zu Namibia unabhängig von kolonialen Rahmenbedingungen zugänglich zu machen, gewährleistet die Carl Schlettwein Stiftung seit 1994 das Bestehen der BAB als Namibia Resource Centre und Southern Africa Library, inklusive eines Archivs. In dem Gespräch von Dag Henrichsen und Daniela Schlettwein-Gsell mit Albert M. Debrunner im Juni 2018 erzähl...
Snippets from the Audio Archive IV – Sister Janice McLaughlin and Ruth Weiss
August 06, 2021 07:15 - 14 minutes - 12.5 MBIn this extract from an interview Ruth Weiss conducted with Maryknoll Sister Janice McLaughlin (1942–2021) in Harare (Zimbabwe) on 30th July 1982, Sister Janice reflects on her decision to move to Rhodesia where she worked for the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in 1977. Documenting atrocities of the Zimbabwean war of liberation she was arrested and deported, only to continue to work from Mozambique. After Rhodesia gained its independence in 1980, Sister Janice returned to Zimbabwe ...
Snippets from the Audio Archive III - Kenneth Kaunda and Ruth Weiss
July 02, 2021 06:50 - 9 minutes - 7.77 MBKenneth Kaunda (1924–2021) was the first State President of independent Zambia. On March 30, 1977 Ruth Weiss conducted an interview with Kaunda in Lusaka on the occasion of the visit of Nikolai Podgorny, then President of the Soviet Union. In this extract from the interview, Kaunda provides an assessment of the Cold War situation in southern Africa, Zambia’s position as a member of the Non-Aligned Movement and the supportive role of the Soviet Union for Zambia.
Snippets from the Audio Archive II - Mike Muendane and Vuyisile Dlova
June 04, 2021 07:00 - 24 minutes - 19.9 MBIn the 1970s and 1980s, the political solidarity committee “kämpfendes afrika” (fighting africa) in Zurich engaged in the support for African liberation movements. Its archives of papers, images and sound recordings are today housed at the Basler Afrika Bibliographien. The extracts of a recording presented here document an event of the “ka” on 1st March 1980 in the Zurich Volkshaus. Mike Muendane and Vuyisile Dlova speak as representatives of the South African liberation movement Pan Africani...
Snippets from the Audio Archive II
June 04, 2021 07:00 - 24 minutes - 19.9 MBIn the 1970s and 1980s, the political solidarity committee “kämpfendes afrika” (fighting africa) in Zurich engaged in the support for African liberation movements. Its archives of papers, images and sound recordings are today housed at the Basler Afrika Bibliographien. The extracts of a recording presented here document an event of the “ka” on 1st March 1980 in the Zurich Volkshaus. Mike Muendane and Vuyisile Dlova speak as representatives of the South African liberation movement Pan Africani...
Returning Home
May 04, 2021 06:00 - 13 minutes - 10.7 MBLewis Nkosi (1936–2010), born in Embo (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa), was an acclaimed journalist, writer and professor of literature in various African and European countries as well as in the USA. Living in exile since 1960, he resided in Basel between 1997 and 2010. On 11th November 1999 he gave a reading from his novels at the BAB. In this extract of the ensuing conversation, he talks about his identity as a writer and the experience of arriving in exile in London in 1960 and returning to ...
Returning Home - Lewis Nkosi
May 04, 2021 06:00 - 13 minutes - 10.7 MBLewis Nkosi (1936–2010), born in Embo (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa), was an acclaimed journalist, writer and professor of literature in various African and European countries as well as in the USA. Living in exile since 1960, he resided in Basel between 1997 and 2010. On 11th November 1999 he gave a reading from his novels at the BAB. In this extract of the ensuing conversation, he talks about his identity as a writer and the experience of arriving in exile in London in 1960 and returning to ...
Snippets from the Audio Archive I - Libertina Amathila and Ruth Weiss
March 16, 2021 08:25 - 19 minutes - 16.1 MBIn this extract from an interview conducted by Ruth Weiss on September 28th, 1979, the then “first and only” Namibian medical doctor, Libertina Inaviposa Amathila (née Appolus), also known as Libertine Amathila, talks about studying in exile and becoming a doctor as well as women’s education, gender issues and life in the Namibian refugee camps in Angola and Zambia. Amathila, who had fled South African ruled Namibia in the early 1960s, became a high-ranking SWAPO official. Ruth Weiss intervie...
Snippets from the Audio Archive I
March 16, 2021 08:25 - 19 minutes - 16.1 MBIn this extract from an interview conducted by Ruth Weiss on September 28th, 1979, the then “first and only” Namibian medical doctor, Libertina Inaviposa Amathila (née Appolus), also known as Libertine Amathila, talks about studying in exile and becoming a doctor as well as women’s education, gender issues and life in the Namibian refugee camps in Angola and Zambia. Amathila, who had fled South African ruled Namibia in the early 1960s, became a high-ranking SWAPO official. Ruth Weiss intervie...
African Collections and Decoloniality
November 13, 2020 11:05 - 9 minutes - 8.06 MBNashilongweshipwe Mushaandja, doctoral student at the University of Cape Town, performed the “Ondaanisa yo Pomudhime” (Dance of the Rubber Tree) at the Basler Afrika Bibliographien and inside its archives shortly before this conversation took place with the BAB archivist. He reflects about the challenges of “decolonizing the archive” and his roles as a performance artist in “cleansing a space which is speaking to ghosts.”.
African Collections and Decoloniality - Nashilongweshipwe Mushaandja
November 13, 2020 11:05 - 9 minutes - 8.2 MBNashilongweshipwe Mushaandja, doctoral student at the University of Cape Town, performed the “Ondaanisa yo Pomudhime” (Dance of the Rubber Tree) at the Basler Afrika Bibliographien and inside its archives shortly before this conversation took place with the BAB archivist. He reflects about the challenges of “decolonizing the archive” and his roles as a performance artist in “cleansing a space which is speaking to ghosts.”.
Namibian historiography - Vilho Shigwedha
October 16, 2020 10:06 - 14 minutes - 12.2 MBVilho Shigwedha is a senior lecturer at the Department of Geography, History and Environmental Studies at the Unversity of Namibia in Windhoek. He, Martha Akawa and a group of students visited the Basler Afrika Bibliographien in August 2015. In this interview he talks about becoming a historian and researching the controversial history of the Cassinga massacre in southern Angola in 1978 during the Namibian liberation struggle
Namibian historiography II
October 16, 2020 10:06 - 14 minutes - 12.2 MBVilho Shigwedha is a senior lecturer at the Department of Geography, History and Environmental Studies at the Unversity of Namibia in Windhoek. He, Martha Akawa and a group of students visited the Basler Afrika Bibliographien in August 2015. In this interview he talks about becoming a historian and researching the controversial history of the Cassinga massacre in southern Angola in 1978 during the Namibian liberation struggle
South African history research
September 11, 2020 10:07 - 13 minutes - 11.5 MBIn this extract of a conversation with the BAB archivist about his audio research archive, Patrick Harries, who passed away in 2016, reflects about his early career as a historian, researcher and lecturer at the University of Cape Town in the 1970s and 1980s
South African history research - Patrick Harries
September 11, 2020 10:07 - 13 minutes - 11.5 MBIn this extract of a conversation with the BAB archivist about his audio research archive, Patrick Harries, who passed away in 2016, reflects about his early career as a historian, researcher and lecturer at the University of Cape Town in the 1970s and 1980s
Bittercomix - Anton Kannemeyer
May 12, 2020 09:53 - 15 minutes - 12.7 MBIn this extract from a Lunch Talk with a Basler Afrika Bibliographien librarian and a wider audience, the South African comix artist Anton Kannemeyer reflects about the early history of comix and cartoons in South Africa, his own career and the history of the controversial Bittercomix No 1, published in 1992
Bittercomix
May 12, 2020 09:53 - 15 minutes - 12.7 MBIn this extract from a Lunch Talk with a Basler Afrika Bibliographien librarian and a wider audience, the South African comix artist Anton Kannemeyer reflects about the early history of comix and cartoons in South Africa, his own career and the history of the controversial Bittercomix No 1, published in 1992
Mozambican film
May 11, 2020 09:52 - 18 minutes - 15 MBJoão Ribeiro is manager, documentalist and producer for film and TV production at Kanema Produçoes Maputo and independent film director in Mozambique. He visited the Basler Afrika Bibliographien (BAB) in September 2015 at the occasion of showing his film „O Ultimo Voo do Flamingo“ in the BAB film series „mozambique in motion“. In this interview with the BAB Managing Director he talks about the challenges of movie making in his country and state funding for cultural activities in Mozambique.
Mozambican film - João Ribeiro
May 11, 2020 09:52 - 18 minutes - 15.4 MBJoão Ribeiro is manager, documentalist and producer for film and TV production at Kanema Produçoes Maputo and independent film director in Mozambique. He visited the Basler Afrika Bibliographien (BAB) in September 2015 at the occasion of showing his film „O Ultimo Voo do Flamingo“ in the BAB film series „mozambique in motion“. In this interview with the BAB Managing Director he talks about the challenges of movie making in his country and state funding for cultural activities in Mozambique.
Namibian historiography
May 10, 2020 09:51 - 18 minutes - 14.5 MBMartha Akawa is the Head of the Department of Geography, History and Environmental Studies at the Unversity of Namibia in Windhoek. She and a group of students visited the Basler Afrika Bibliographien (BAB) in August 2015. In this interview with a BAB archivist she talks about becoming a historian, her research interests and history debates in Namibia.
Namibian historiography - Martha Akawa
May 10, 2020 09:51 - 18 minutes - 14.6 MBMartha Akawa is the Head of the Department of Geography, History and Environmental Studies at the Unversity of Namibia in Windhoek. She and a group of students visited the Basler Afrika Bibliographien (BAB) in August 2015. In this interview with a BAB archivist she talks about becoming a historian, her research interests and history debates in Namibia.
Trailer
May 09, 2020 08:00 - 53 seconds - 813 KBIntroducing Basler Afrika Bibliographien (BAB). The podcast series "Interviews and Conversations" features past and recent interviews with scholars and BAB guests as well as selected recordings from the BAB audio archive.