Indigenous Stories as Monuments and Narrative Activism with Samba Yonga

Greetings Glocal Citizens!

This week’s herstory comes to us from southern Africa. We’re exploring Zambia in a big way, especially the role that women have played in forward movement in the country. My guest is award-winning journalist, communications specialist and cultural curator, Samba Yonga. She is Founder and Head Communications Strategist at Ku-Atenga Media and co-founder of the Women’s History Museum of Zambia, established in 2017, with the mandate to research and restore African indigenous narratives, knowledge and 'living histories' focused on women. She has curated exhibitions and written papers focused on indigenous African knowledge systems and narratives in Zambia but also for art spaces, museums and universities such as National Musuems of World Cultures in Sweden, Yale University in USA, Windybrow Centre in South Africa and many others. In fact, she joined me in conversation just as she was headed to Shanghai University to present her works in the museum space at Museums, Decolonisation and Restitution: A Global Conversation.

Samba has been recognized as 100 most influential Africans by Quartz, New York, and one of 40 most influential Africans. She is also a Google Podcast Creator, TEDx Lusaka speaker and a Museum Lab Fellow for 2022. It’s always a treat to connect with other podcasters and after you have a listen, be sure to head over to the museum’s Youtube channel to check out the Leading Ladies animated podcast!

Where to find Samba?
www.whmzambia.org
On LinkedIn
On Instagram
On Facebook
On Twitter
On YouTube

What’s Samba reading?
Of Water and the Spirit: Ritual, Magic, and Initiation in the Life of an African Shaman by Malidoma Patrice Some
491 Days: Prisoner Number 1323/69 by Winnie Madikizela-Mandela
Wallpaper Magazine
Vanity Fair Magazine

What’s Samba watching?
Luther on Netflix
Chef’s Table on Netflix
East Asian Dramas on Netflix

What’s Samba listening to?
Ratchet & Respectable Podcast
The Comb on BBC
Hidden Brain Podcast
The Moth Podcast
Selam & Hello Podcast

Other topics of interest:
The Old Drift: A Novel by Namwali Serpell
Lusaka, Zambia
About Trendsetters Magazine
On Settler Societies
Glocally Speaking in Zambian Languages
Mass Design Group
Third Culture Kids