African Roots: Shadows of German Colonialism

40 episodes

Culture in Chief: Oba Ewuare and Leopold Sedar Senghor
2025/06/16 | 21 mins.
Cai explores how Senegal's first president, poet Leopold Senghor, believed a mix of African and French culture could carry Senegal into independence. Meanwhile, Laila tells Cai how Nigerian Oba Ewuare's taste in cultural investment still has African nations and European museums at loggerheads.
Namibian women keeping traditions alive and history near
2024/12/07 | 11 mins.
The atrocities of German colonialism remained largely, and purposefully, obscure as Namibians endured successive German and British colonial administration. Under the South African apartheid rule that only ended in 1990, there was little space to confront the crimes. But women kept, and continue to keep, their people's history and culture alive.
From Douala to Ngonnso: How women fought resisted German colonialism in Cameroon
2024/12/05 | 11 mins.
In 1893, Dahomey men and women revolted against abuse by German colonial officers in Cameroon in a famous uprising that Germany was unprepared for. We look at how female resistance against colonialism has taken different forms, from the Dahomey Revolt to the battle to return the Ngonnso sculpture to Cameroon.
Who was Li'ti Kidanka, the Queen of the Bees?
2024/12/04 | 10 mins.
As German colonialists swept into East Africa, they came up against a force none had reckoned with: Li'ti Kidanka. Shrouded in folklore, we tell the story of a Tanzanian heroine who fought German colonialism with a very unusual weapon.
How Nduna Mkomanile fought German colonialism
2024/12/04 | 8 mins.
Nduna Mkomanile tried to unite East African communities against German colonialism during the Maji Maji war in the early 20th century. She's now regarded as one of Tanzania's most notable female freedom fighters, but for decades her importance was overlooked. We find out why.

About African Roots: Shadows of German Colonialism

DW’s Shadows of German Colonialism podcast explores how Germany’s imperial ambitions in Africa met fierce resistance, and descended into exploitation and violence. The series follows on from the African Roots podcast, which portrays the men and women who shaped Africa's past, present and future. We meets big names, and tell the story of others who have stayed out of the spotlight. But what binds them together, is their African Roots.

Podcast website

Documentary History Society & Culture