Latest Podcasts

In part II of this two-part special on 2012 Elections in Africa, our producers interview Senegalese artists and activists who discuss the political forecast for heavily contested presidential elections scheduled on February 26, 2012. There has been an uproar about standing President Abdoulaye Wade, 85, seeking a third term even though he initially promised to step down after his second term. The bulk of the opposition voices have been young men, with a politicised musical movement gaining momentum in poor communities throughout the country. Their message? They want change, and they want it NOW.

As the hitherto isolated hip-hop scene in South Bronx is leapt upon by producers, critics and art collectors alike, new hip-hop singles are generated at a rate of knots in the early 80s, and create new movements around the globe, but as the profit is taken out of the hands of the creators of the innovative artform, some try to claim it back. We also hear some music from Irish and Jewish communities, hardcore punk and Philip Glass.

In English: Peter Austin, Director of the Endangered Languages Academic Programme at SOAS talks about the Bangla-speaking students of the University of Dhaka who were protesting on 21 February 1952, against the then Government of Pakistan’s decision to promote Urdu as the sole national language. He also speaks about current review of bilingual education in Australia and the importance of Mother language education.

In Russian: Worldwide an estimated number of 6000 languages are spoken. About 60% to 80% of these languages are endangered, meaning that they might not be spoken in 100 years. Ensuring the preservation of languages can improve the quality of education, maintain cultural diversity and support nation building. In this clip, Elena Giniotyte talks about Archi, an endangered language in the Northeast Caucasus.

Sources: The Surrey Morphology Group, Recording of Archi language ‘The Bear Story’, Available from: http://www2.surrey.ac.uk/english/smg/

In Mandarin: Ensuring the preservation of languages can improve the quality of education, maintain cultural diversity and support nation building. In this clip, Lianhong Yo talks about the example of Singapore which shows how language policies that recognise and preserve important languages within a national territory can strengthen national cohesion and the building of a national identity.

In Arabic: Worldwide an estimated 6000 languages are spoken. About 60% to 80% of these languages are endangered, meaning that they might not be spoken in 100 years. Ensuring the preservation of languages can improve the quality of education, maintain cultural diversity and support nation and identity building. In this audio clip, Samah Bushra Yousef talks about the example of bilingual education in Burkina Faso and its positive impacts.

In Portuguese: Ensuring the preservation of languages can improve the quality of education, maintain cultural diversity and support nation-building. However, implementing an educational reform for bilingual education on a national scale can be challenging. Helena De Moraes Achcar talks about the example of Bolivia, where an educational reform encouraged intercultural bilingual education in the rural areas, while urban areas were not incorporated into the educational policy.

While Egypt and Syria attract the full glare of the world media spotlight, and other countries like Bahrain and Yemen catch a few of its rays, there are also protest movements in the Arab world that remain firmly in the dark, such as the 25th of February movement in Mauritania and recent student protests in Morocco. Clearly, the protest movements that have swept across the Middle East affect the entire region in a much wider scope, than one could tell from mainstream media. Therefore we interviewed two young Sudanese, asking how the Arab uprisings are perceived in their country.

Zhongdong Wave is a show on culture and history of Middle-East in Mandarin Chinese and English.

Bedouins are a wide-spread normadic group among Arabic socities. In this fifth episode, we take Jordan as an example, exploring the geographic condition and historical tradition which help shaping Bedouin culture as a whole.

Guy Schalom brought his percussive skills to AWIL in this episode. The
London based dancer & composer also treated us to an exclusive preview of
his forthcoming album, Baladi Blues 3 which is set for release on May 21st.
A pop fan and musical chameleon, Guy enjoyed our closing track in this show
paying tribute to superstar Whitney Houston.

It's Carnival time in Brazil and the Caipirinha Appreciation Society contrasts olden days festivities with the current street carnival in Rio.

Cal Jader talks to Micheal Chanan - director of a new 3 part film on the protest movements in Chile "3 Short Films About Chile" who explains the background behind the films, the situation in Chile in general and the context of a highly privatised education system. Setting the scene with two hard hitting tracks by Chilean rapper Ana Tijoux, one featuring controversial Cuban rappers Los Aldeanos.

FREEDOM IS AN AKA

Us music types like to hide behind acronyms, nicknames, aliases, nom de plumes or whatever you wanna call 'em. It gives us the freedom to reinvent ourselves when changing musical tack. No harm in that says MADERA VERDE aka BOIS VERT aka CHRISTO PACHANGA aka C*** although accusations of multiple personality syndrome could be hard to refute...Nevertheless, in the studio talking nuff sense about his new project AFRIQUOI, and a recent musical trip to Ethiopia, we have BOBBY GANDALF aka HAILE BADASSIE aka ANDRE MARMOT.

A proper mix, fix up globe trotting selection for today's show. Music from all over and covering all bases. From modal to raver, jump blues to rocksteady, cumbia, ragga, boogie, brazilian, kuduro, afro and soul. A celebration a great music new, old and international .

Former President of Pakistan and retired General, Pervez Musharraf, visited SOAS to discuss, amongst other things, Pakistan, politics and the war on terror. The event was co-sponsored by the CISD and SOAS Pakistan Society and was chaired by renowned TV presenter Kamran Shahid, of SAMAA TV. The event addressed some of the most important topics of the last decade in International Relations and was followed by a Q&A.

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