Africa Talks is a monthly talk series purposefully launched by the African Studies Program at UW-Madison in collaboration with the African Center for Community Development, Inc to coincide with the 50th Anniversary of Africa at Noon. This year, we want to celebrate 50 years of sharing scholarships on campus by reminding our community that the work we do must extend beyond the walls of the university. Every last Wednesday from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., advanced graduate student affiliates of the African Studies Program will present a one-hour talk to community members in Madison and its environs.
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Find a Past Lineup
Spring 2026 Line-Up
Moderator: Erica Ayisi
January 28
Location: Goodman South Library, 2222 South Park St., Madison, WI 53713
Talk Title: Voices of Mixing: Hybridity and Creolization
Talk Description: This talk will focus the speaker’s research on the development and usage or lack thereof of Sierra Leonean Krio, primarily amongst diasporic communities. This also includes themes of identity, hybridity, creolization, creoles and pidgins.
Speaker: Ernesta Cole
Ernesta is a PhD candidate in African Cultural Studies. Her academic interests lie within the field of linguistic anthropology. She received her master’s from the University of Michigan in International and Regional Studies, with a specialization in African Studies. She is proudly Sierra Leonean and Gambian.
Community Panelist: Abdul Thoronka
Abdul is a community health and human service professional who works with the Community Living conections and Youth Services of Southern Wisconsn. He is originally from Sierra Leone where he received a masters of science degree from the National School of Hygiene, Bo.
February 25
Location: Goodman South Library, 2222 South Park St., Madison, WI 53713
Talk Title: Market Transformation: How Women in Mali’s Dairy Sector Respond to Armed Conflict
Talk Description: For more than a decade, central Mali has been plagued by chronic insecurity and insurgency. Women’s experiences of this violence are often reduced to statistics that emphasize harm, overlooking how they navigate insecurity in their everyday lives. In this talk, I will explore how women across central Mali are responding to the conflict within a sector they have long dominated: dairy. By tracing these changes, I hope to highlight women not as victims of conflict, but as savvy economic actors actively adapting to instability, reworking markets, and redefining resilience under conditions of protracted violence.
Speaker: Emily Fornof
Fornof is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Geography at UW-Madison. Her research focuses on political ecology in the Sahel, with an emphasis on the intersections between identity, conflict, climate change, and gender in central Mali. Previously, she was an international affairs professional with over a decade of experience working on peacebuilding, conflict, policy, education and development at the U.S. Institute of Peace, Population Services International, and the Smithsonian’s Science Education Center. She also served in the Peace Corps in Mali.
She received my MS from George Mason University’s Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution and my BA from the University of Mary Washington in international affairs and geography.
Community Panelist: Ahoifa Kouegane Traore
Traore is a mother and the owner of Optimum Vocational and Day Services LLC, in Madison WI, with the passion for community integration for young adults with disabilities through employment opportunties and community-based activities. She is originally from Mali. She received entrepreneurial training at Madison Technical College (MATC) and UW Madison. Her work and interest is in business management, accounting, mathematics, and managing challenging situations.
March 25
Location: Goodman South Library, 2222 South Park St., Madison, WI 53713
Talk Title: Diasporic Investment in Homeland Politics
Talk Description:
What motivates individuals in the diaspora to intervene in the politics of their homeland? While much of the literature on group mobilization in social science, particularly analyses of African states, highlights ethnic cleavages as the primary sources of grievance and conflict, the role of migrants and individuals within diaspora communities in sustaining and shaping mobilization in their countries of origin gets far less attention. I examine how instability in host countries can prompt diaspora members to support conflicts in their homelands. Using protest and remittance data from the Cameroonian diaspora, I demonstrate that instability in a host country increases diaspora investment in the ongoing separatist conflict in Cameroon. Leveraging the varying degrees of diasporans’ social and political integration in their host countries, I explore how critical moments and evolving political dynamics, particularly mass protests, trigger deviations from baseline patterns of homeland investment.
Speaker: Norah-Frida Tebid
Tebid (she/her) is a PhD Student in the Department of Political Science at UW—Madison. She adopts a comparative approach to analyze the factors influencing diasporan engagement in homeland politics.
Community Panelist: Yvonne Tazeh
Tazeh, originally from Cameroon, is a wife, mother of 4 and has lived in the greater Madison area for about 20 years. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Edgewood College (now Edgewood University).
She enjoys managing a multi-asset investment portfolio and staying very active in the life of her family and the African community.
April 29
Location: Goodman South Library, 2222 South Park St., Madison, WI 53713
Talk Title: Africa Beyond a Single Story
Dr. Olayinka Olagbegi-Adegbite will present on the Children’s African Story Hour (CASH), a community-engaged initiative she leads that introduces children to the diversity of African cultures through storytelling, music, and interactive activities. Centered on monthly sessions highlighting different African countries, the program brings in guest storytellers to share language, literature, and lived experiences, helping young audiences move beyond monolithic narratives of Africa. The talk will reflect on how CASH demystifies common misconceptions, fosters cultural awareness, and builds meaningful connections between families, educators, and the broader community through participatory, place-based learning.
Speaker: Olayinka Olagbegi-Adegbite
Olayinka Olagbegi-Adegbite is the Assistant Director of African Studies Program at UW-Madison. She has a PhD in Educational Policy Studies, with a concentration on Comparative and International Education, and a minor in Curriculum and Instruction. Olayinka is passionate about multicultural education especially in language and literacy opportunities for the underserved.
Community Panelists: Tracy Moore and Safiya Jama