AFRICA AT NOON IS 50!
Every Wednesday at noon — since 1973! — African Studies Program faculty, students, and community members have gathered for AFRICA AT NOON, a one-hour weekly lecture series bringing diverse African research from scholars around the world to a campus and community audience.
Spring 2024 Africa at Noon events will be livestreamed on Zoom. Join Zoom.
You can also view available recordings of past Africa at Noon speakers on our YouTube or through the event pages. Watch Recording.
Check us out on the news at Madison360.
Find a Past Lineup and Recording
We are currently updating this page. Kindly check back for complete Spring 2026 lineup.
Spring 2026 Schedule
Location: Room 206, Ingraham Hall, 1155 Observatory Drive Madison, WI 53706
Time: 12:00-1:00pm
January 28
Legacy of Colonial Urban Planning on Air Quality Disparities in Uganda
Dorothy Lsoto
PhD candidate, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, UW-Madison
Hosted by Jeremy Foltz
Location: Room 206, Ingraham Hall, 1155 Observatory Drive Madison, WI 53706
February 4
Illustrating Post-Colonial Africa: Image Meets Text in West and East African Literature
Tolulope Adelabu, Elaine Sullivan, Kimberly Rooney (left to right)
PhD Student at the Department of African Cultural Studies, Assistant Professor of African Cultural Studies & Art History, and Africana and Francophone Studies Librarian, UW-Madison (Respectively)
Hosted by Jeremy Foltz
Location: Room 206, Ingraham Hall, 1155 Observatory Drive Madison, WI 53706
February 11
Challenging the Marginalization of African Languages in Knowledge Production
Adeola Agoke
Teaching Assistant Professor & Director of the African Languages Program, Department of African Cultural Studies, UW-Madison
Hosted by Jeremy Foltz
Location: Room 206, Ingraham Hall, 1155 Observatory Drive Madison, WI 53706
February 18
To Help My People: Medicine and the Black International
Claire Wendland
Professor of Anthropology and Obstetrics, UW-Madison
Hosted by Jeremy Foltz
Location: Room 206, Ingraham Hall, 1155 Observatory Drive Madison, WI 53706
This in-person event was livestreamed. Recording is not available.
February 25
Moroccan Jews, American Jews, and French Decolonization in North Africa, 1945-1955
Emma Kuby
Professor of History, UW-Madison
Hosted by Jeremy Foltz
Location: Room 206, Ingraham Hall, 1155 Observatory Drive Madison, WI 53706
This in-person event was livestreamed. Recording is not available.
March 4
Behavioral Ecology in African Guenons
Margaret Bryer
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, UW-Madison
Hosted by Jeremy Foltz
Location: Room 206, Ingraham Hall, 1155 Observatory Drive Madison, WI 53706
This in-person event was livestreamed. Recording is not available.
March 11
Vlad Dima
Professor of African American Studies, Syracuse University
Hosted by Jeremy Foltz
Location: Room 206, Ingraham Hall, 1155 Observatory Drive Madison, WI 53706
March 18
Inequality and Political Cleavage in Africa: Regionalism by Design
Catherine Boone
Professor of Political Science and Comparative Politics, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
Hosted by Soeren Henn
Location: Room 206, Ingraham Hall, 1155 Observatory Drive Madison, WI 53706
March 25
Do Gender Quotas Change Politics? Evidence from the Namibian Parliament
Amanda Clayton
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley.
Hosted by Soeren Henn
Location: Room 206, Ingraham Hall, 1155 Observatory Drive Madison, WI 53706
This in-person event was livestreamed. Recording is not available.
April 8
Vernacular Architecture and Grassroots Urban Politics
Noah Nathan
Associate Professor of Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Hosted by Soeren Henn
Location: Room 206, Ingraham Hall, 1155 Observatory Drive Madison, WI 53706
April 15
Thomas Timothy Mtonga
Disability Officer, UNICEF & Lecturer, University of Zambia (UNZA)
Hosted by Nancy Kendall
Location: Room 206, Ingraham Hall, 1155 Observatory Drive Madison, WI 53706
April 22
Seventh Tejumola Olaniyan Lecture
The Man Died: Profiling Wole Soyinka
Awam Amkpa
Professor of Drama, New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) and NYU
Hosted by Jeremy Foltz
Location: Room 206, Ingraham Hall, 1155 Observatory Drive Madison, WI 53706
This in-person event will be livestreamed (Join Zoom).
April 29
Stylin’ and Profilin’: From Cairo to Cape Town
Jacqueline-Bethel Tchouta Mougoué
Associate Professor of African Cultural Studies, UW-Madison
Hosted by Jeremy Foltz
Location: Room 206, Ingraham Hall, 1155 Observatory Drive Madison, WI 53706
This in-person event will not be livestreamed