Interview with Zachariah Mampilly

This interview is with Zachariah Mampilly, who is the Marxe Endowed Chair of International Affairs at the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs, CUNY. In 2012/2013, he was a Fulbright Visiting Professor at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.  This interview was recorded in October 2021. 

In this episode, Zachariah  discusses several topics, including: 

• The third wave of mobilization and protest in Africa 
• Why we seeing a constant change of political leaders in Africa, but little change in their behaviour 
• How we can evaluate the strength of democratic social movements and their success The centrality of the global order when trying to evaluate social movements 
• The type of international economic order are we currently living in and its alternatives 
• The kind of utopias that are being put on the table by social movements in Africa 

What art is inspiring Zac these days? Two genres helped him get through Covid duldrums: Afrobeats, especially Burna Boy; and science fiction––Octavia Butler saw this all coming. 

Ukombozi is a podcast about social movements on the African continent and what it means to get free. We appreciate your feedback and ratings on your various listening platforms. Spread the word! You can also contact us at jason underscore stearns at sfu dot ca and baumafred at gmail dot com.

This podcast is brought to you with the support of the Program on African Social Research (which Zac cofounded) at CUNY.