African History and Culture – Badger Talks – UW–Madison

Lowell Brower

mreinfeldt — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 17:13:36 +0000

Lowell Brower is a fourth-generation Wisconsinite, a former werewolf hunter, the father of a Wisconsin State Cow Chip Throw champion, and a current member of the Teaching Faculty in UW-Madison’s Folklore Program, where he teaches classes on supernatural storytelling, internet culture, campus traditions, migration narratives, and ‘the folklore of emergency.’ Lowell has conducted long-term fieldwork in communities throughout Rwanda, Tanzania, and the Upper Midwest, focusing on verbal traditions, vernacular memory, and the politics of storytelling amid conflict. Lowell’s other research interests include Upper Midwestern culture, contemporary legends & conspiracy theories, fandoms, cryptids, and the weaponization of folklore in digital spaces. Lowell earned a PhD in African and African American Studies from Harvard University, an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Washington, and a B.A. in English, and African Languages and Literature from UW-Madison.

Talks can also be offered in Swahili.

Emily Callaci

mreinfeldt — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 21:08:19 +0000

I am an historian of modern Africa, global feminism and decolonization. My first book, Street Archives and City Life: Popular Intellectuals in Postcolonial Tanzania, explores the creative lives of urban migrant youth to the city of Dar es Salaam during Tanzania’s socialist era, from 1967 through 1985.
My second book Wages for Housework: The Story of a Movement, an Idea, a Promise is an intellectual and social history of the global Wages for Housework movement from the 1970s.
I am currently working on a third book, provisionally called Planning the African Family, which explores the intersection of decolonization and search for health and reproductive justice in sub-Saharan Africa in the 1960s-1980s.

Ainehi Edoro

mreinfeldt — Mon, 01 May 2023 20:19:45 +0000

Prof. Ainehi Edoro-Glines is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she teaches and researches African literature and digital culture, in addition to holding a joint appointment in the African Cultural Studies Department. She is is the Editor of Brittle Paper, a leading online platform dedicated to African writing and literary culture.

Olayinka Olagbegi-Adegbite

mreinfeldt — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 21:36:14 +0000

Dr. Olayinka Olagbegi-Adegbite is the Assistant Director of the African Studies Program, where she advances interdisciplinary initiatives, curriculum development, and student engagement that promote understanding of Africa’s cultural, historical, and linguistic diversity. Her scholarship focuses on African studies, early literacy development, and language and language policy.

She leads community-engaged outreach that builds partnerships with public libraries, K–12 schools, and community organizations. Her work includes developing literacy programs, organizing educational workshops and public lectures, and promoting African languages and cultural traditions. She is the founder of the Children’s Africa Story Hour, an initiative designed to broaden understanding of the African continent and challenge misconceptions.

Through her teaching, research, and outreach, Dr. Olagbegi-Adegbite promotes inclusive education and highlights the impact of language, literacy, and policy on educational opportunities across African and diasporic communities.

Talk can also be offered in Yoruba and Pidgin English.

KD Thompson

mreinfeldt — Tue, 01 Jul 2025 16:07:00 +0000

KD Thompson is a linguistic anthropologist and discourse analyst who explores the intersections of language, power, and identity in Muslim communities in East Africa and North America. Their research delves into how language shapes religious belonging, community formation, and nonconformist identities. Through ethnographic work in Zimbabwe and Tanzania, as well as in digital spaces and North American Muslim communities, Thompson’s scholarship bridges geographical and cultural contexts. Their books—including Muslims on the Margins: Creating Queer Religious Community in North America (NYU Press, 2023), Popobawa: Tanzanian Talk, Global Misreadings (Indiana University Press, 2017), and Zimbabwe’s Cinematic Arts: Language, Power, Identity (Indiana University Press, 2012)—offer critical insights into discourse, representation, and lived experiences. As a faculty member in the Religious Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Thompson teaches courses on language and religion, Islam in Africa and the diaspora, identity in religious communities, and Buddhism and anti-racism.

Presentation can also be offered in Swahili.