Watch the Episodes
Stories from across the continent
Eight episodes exploring African experiences of unprecedented environmental and social change
Episode 01: What is the Anthropocene?
Across the continent, Africans are caught in the many crossfires of the current moment; the outcomes of planetary forces that render immeasurable devastation on ecological, economic, social and political fronts. Yet, against these planetary forces and attendant narratives that offer frames primarily of our subjection, Africans remain and respond as planetary actors.
From our own soils, in this series explainer we ask: ‘What is the Anthropocene?’ In the vast majority of global debates about this term, our continent is often offstaged, with no substantive reflection on, riffing off Kathryn Yusoff, the “geology [African] bodies live."
From our own soils, in this series explainer we ask: ‘What is the Anthropocene?’ In the vast majority of global debates about this term, our continent is often offstaged, with no substantive reflection on, riffing off Kathryn Yusoff, the “geology [African] bodies live."
The voices offered in this episode offer many important and overlapping reflections on this ‘geology.’ For some, the Anthropocene signals how the “white western world” is finally catching up with what has long been said by indigenous peoples. For others, the extinctions of the Anthropocene are already manifest through poverty, pollution, hunger, transphobia, state-sanctioned evictions, colonialism, and the long histories and wakes of enslavement.
Despite this ongoing harm, what threads these reflections together, in this episode and in the series broadly, is a determination to survive.
Without a doubt, while navigating the trenchant violences of the local and global forces that scaffold this age, Africans are holding fast while offering challenges to this, the age of the Anthropocene.
Despite this ongoing harm, what threads these reflections together, in this episode and in the series broadly, is a determination to survive.
Without a doubt, while navigating the trenchant violences of the local and global forces that scaffold this age, Africans are holding fast while offering challenges to this, the age of the Anthropocene.
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Featuring Murefu Barasa Comrade Adamu Abdubasit Dorphanage Towolawi Jamiu Farai Chipato Wangui wa Kamonji Fadhel Kaboub Ruth Nyambura Sarah Lindiere
Featuring Murefu Barasa Comrade Adamu Abdubasit Dorphanage Towolawi Jamiu Farai Chipato Wangui wa Kamonji Fadhel Kaboub Ruth Nyambura Sarah Lindiere
Executive Producer Wangui Kimari
Creative Director Jim Chuchu
Producer Njeri Gitungo
Research Lead Brock Hicks
Project Communications Cynthia Kemunto
Edit, Scoring and Finish Jim Chuchu
Creative Director Jim Chuchu
Producer Njeri Gitungo
Research Lead Brock Hicks
Project Communications Cynthia Kemunto
Edit, Scoring and Finish Jim Chuchu
Be sure to keep an eye out for even more exciting episodes that will be released in the year 2026!