The goal of Africa Talks is always to put the audience first. To help meet that goal, I’m excited to announce the launch of a brand new version of the site. You, the audience, will get to experience a simple, clean, responsive and interactive site.
In this video interview, Dr. Mark Walters, a professor at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg at the Department of Journalism and Media Studies, discusses his experiences in Gabon while conducting research through Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine in 1994.
There is an increasing anger toward how Africa as a continent is covered in the mainstream media. Often, news reports this vast and complex continent have a monolithic tone where all of the negative news is highlighted and accepted by an audience that is not well informed. Even the positive news is met with the... Read more »
This Summer Saudi Arabia announced plans to “regularize residency and employment status” of foreign workers in the country. This euphemistic language was a warning to the thousands of undocumented workers that they had from July 3 to November 4 to get documentation or get out. The move was reportedly made in response to Saudi Arabia’s 13 percent... Read more »
Over the past couple of months, I have been following refugee resettlement efforts in the Tampa Bay area. I’ve been able to meet different resettlement agents from churches, governmental organizations and other groups working together to help those who have fled their home countries for one reason or another. The report below is about a garden for refugees in the Tampa Bay... Read more »
Shortly after Kieran Dwyer, the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations, gave a presentation about U.N. peacekeeping missions (watch video below), he said that the mission also receives “bad press” for some of its work in Africa. The phrase jumped out at me. Bad press is what happens when a Hollywood movie flops. In Africa,... Read more »
In the last blog entry, I talked to Ambassador Vicki Huddleston who suggested that America should focus on training and supporting African forces so they can battle extremists in the Sahel. In the wake of the Boston bombings, questions have arisen about immigration and the process of assimilation in the United States. We’re all trying to... Read more »
When the French first intervened in Mali, Ambassador Vicki Huddleston penned an Op-Ed in the New York Times outlining reasons why the U.S. should assist France in fighting the terror group Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Huddleston was the United States ambassador to Mali from 2002 to 2005 and urged the U.S. not to intervene... Read more »
Africa on the Agenda: Conference on World Affairs in St. Petersburg Initiated by Douglas McElhaney, a former ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2004 to 2007, and hosted at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, the first annual St Petersburg in the World Conference was held from March 28 to 29. The conference brought together... Read more »