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Why do good intentions by international aid workers often lead to unintended negative outcomes? What led European settler farmers to frequently view African workers as lazy? How should African leaders grapple with the tension between embracing Western ideas without being dominated by them?
Jonathan Schoots and I discuss these – and many more – questions in the first podcast interview with author and historian Bronwen Everill. Bronwen is the author of Africonomics: A History of Western Ignorance (available for pre-order on Amazon). Formerly a fellow of Gonville & Caius College, University of Cambridge and the Director of Cambridge’s Centre of African Studies, she joined the faculty of the Princeton Writing Program in August.
In the podcast, Bronwen refers to her research on slavery and emancipation in Senegal. Here is the relevant paper. (Read it against this paper by Kate Ekama on the Cape.) For this episode, I created a Suno (AI-generated) song about Bronwen’s research: Shadows of Freedom. It is worth a listen. A previous episode, in which Jonathan and I introduce the podcast, is available here: Episode 0.
This is the first interview of the Our Long Walk podcast. In future, all podcasts, including these short summaries and links, will be available to paid subscribers exclusively a day before their release on other platforms. Please consider a paid subscription to support more of our work. Today, to celebrate Heritage Day in South Africa, new subscribers get 50% off.
‘Are good intentions bad?’ was first published on Our Long Walk. Thank you for your support. The image was created with Midjourney v6.
Are good intentions bad?