Ol'Things brings you all things African humanities, connecting you with interesting academic research by African and Global South early-career scholars. Seeking to go beyond the Ivory tower, Ol'things connects you with philosophical, anthropological and sociological research articulating varying aspects of contemporary African life.
EP5: Tech-Based GBV & Anti-GBV Social Media Movements in South Africa, w. Aphiwe Mhlangulana
Have South African men ever considered what it's like being a woman in South Africa?Have you ever considered how intersecting identities, like race and class, contribute to individualised experiences of gender-based violence on social media platforms? Have you considered what the potential and limitations of social media are when it comes to combating gender-based violence?Our fifth and last episode of the year continues with the "Sexualities, Gender & Violence in Africa" series. In this episode of Ol'Things Considered, I'm joined by Aphiwe Mhlangulana, a PhD researcher and activist based at the Decolonial Feminist Psychologies Hub at the University of Cape Town. She is also a doctoral fellow at @HUMA_africa (https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCZPfZnPQpnWl2asSVvs4uqQ) , the Institute for Humanities in Africa at the University of Cape Town. Aphiwe's work investigates what she terms technologically-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV), exploring the experiences of Black women journalists and content creators as they are subjected to various forms of tech-facilitated abuse on social media platforms. Importantly, Mhlangulana insists that we should not treat TFGBV as a phenomenon from what we typically refer to as GBV, but as an extension of it. Her work highlights how social media platforms, also in their design, can facilitate various forms of abuse against women. If you like what you see, please like and subscribe to this channel! Ol'Things Considered promises to deliver more intellectually stimulating and sometimes provocative conversations centring the work of scholars in the Global South! To stay tuned to our next podcast series, please follow and subscribe to the podcast on these platforms!Instagram: @olthingsconsideredSpotify: OlthingsconsideredApple Podcast: Ol'Things ConsideredTiktok: @olthingsconsideredEnjoy and feel free to share your thoughts on this conversation below!
6 Nov 2025
EP4: African Homophobia & Queer-Zulu Customary Marriage w. Zamokuhle Zulu
This month, we return with a new series titled "Sexualities, Gender & Violence in Africa". In this Episode, we consider how South African Zulu LGBTQI people navigate customary isiZulu marriages in the face of longstanding homophobia in their communities. This episode contests the rift typically drawn between African cultures and queerness as incompatible. This conversation is in part a critical response to the recent homophobic outrage by Ngizwe Mchunu against a gay couple getting married, with one wearing imvunulo (Zulu traditional attire). In this episode, Zamo shares their thoughts on Isintu (the Zulu way of life) as constantly negotiated, plastic and malleable to situation, time and place. Taking Isintu to be negotiated opens the possibility of undoing the estrangement of African queer people from their cultural communities. I'm joined by Zamokuhle Zulu, a scholar-activist based at the Hub for Decolonial Feminist Psychologies in Africa, at the University of Cape Town. Zamo's work looks at the ways in which Isintu sakwa Zulu (The Zulu way of life) can be a conduit to securing the well-being of people with different sexualities and genders in South Africa. Our discussion in this episode is informed by Zamo's ethnographic research into how same-sex couples navigated Zulu customary marriages. If you like what you see, please like and subscribe to this channel! Ol'Things Considered promises to deliver more intellectually stimulating and sometimes provocative conversations centring the work of scholars in the Global South! To stay tuned to our next podcast series, please follow and subscribe to the podcast on these platforms!Instagram: @olthingsconsideredSpotify: OlthingsconsideredApple Podcast: Ol'Things ConsideredTiktok: @olthingsconsideredEnjoy and feel free to share your thoughts on this conversation below!
19 Oct 2025
EP3 - Don't Migrants Deserve to Eat? Anti-Immigration as Anti-Blackness w. mpho ndaba
In closing off our series on African migrants, we consider the lives of African migrants living in Yeoville, Johannesburg. In conversation with mpho ndaba, we touch on the politics of food (and health) access for migrants in South Africa - exploring how legality and anti-Blackness preclude African migrants from the most basic sustenance in South Africa. We explore the ways South Africa, as a liberal nation-state, is shaped by anti-Blackness, which in turn shapes the dignity and basic rights accorded to Black migrants from the continent living in South Africa.
I'm joined by mpho ndaba, a writer and researcher at the University of Cape Town. This conversation is centred around mpho's upcoming book chapter titled: "The right to eat: How black migrants in South Africa accessed food during the COVID-19 pandemic". Book can be pre-ordered here: https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526184740/
Please like and subscribe to this channel for more intellectually stimulating conversations centring the work of scholars in the Global South!
To stay tuned to our next podcast series, please follow and subscribe to the podcast on these platforms!
Instagram: @olthingsconsidered
Spotify: Olthingsconsidered
Apple Podcast: Ol'Things Considered
Tiktok: @olthingsconsidered
Enjoy and feel free to share your thoughts on this conversation!
5 Oct 2025
EP2 - African Migrant Workers: Navigating Precarity & Afrophobia in South Africa w. Celine Masheleni
Have you ever considered what it's like to be an African migrant working as an Uber driver in South Africa? On the second episode of Ol'Things Considered, we examine the realities of African migrants in South Africa as they navigate livelihoods, precarity, vulnerability, and exploitation on e-hailing platforms . We explore how anti-African migrant state policies and Afrophobic movements in South Africa are used as tools for Neo-Liberal capitalist exploitation.I'm joined by Celine Masheleni, who is completing her PhD in sociology at the University of Cape Town. Celine's work explores the labour conditions of being an African migrant in South Africa. Celine's theoretical contribution involves the concept of "place-making", where she explores the ways in which migrant workers resist their vulnerabilities by engaging in practices of place-making (i.e., practices of "carrying on" through establishing networks of stability, groundedness and grassroots structures of making a hostile place work for them).
Have you ever considered what it's like to be an African migrant working as an Uber driver in South Africa? On the second episode of Ol'Things Considered, we examine the realities of African migrants in South Africa as they navigate livelihoods, precarity, vulnerability, and exploitation on e-hailing platforms . We explore how anti-African migrant state policies and Afrophobic movements in South Africa are used as tools for Neo-Liberal capitalist exploitation.I'm joined by Celine Masheleni, who is completing her PhD in sociology at the University of Cape Town. Celine's work explores the labour conditions of being an African migrant in South Africa. Celine's theoretical contribution involves the concept of "place-making", where she explores the ways in which migrant workers resist their vulnerabilities by engaging in practices of place-making (i.e., practices of "carrying on" through establishing networks of stability, groundedness and grassroots structures of making a hostile place work for them). Please like and subscribe to this channel for more intellectually stimulating conversations centring the work of scholars in the Global South!Please follow and subscribe to the podcast on these platforms!Instagram: @olthingsconsideredSpotify: OlthingsconsideredApple Podcast: Ol'Things ConsideredTiktok: @olthingsconsideredFeel free to share your thoughts on this conversation below!
21 Sept 2025
EP1 - Border Regimes, Migrant Death & Disappearance w. Nabil Ferdaoussi
Have you ever considered what African migrants encounter as they seek to cross the Strait of Gibraltar or the Atlantic Ocean in search of a new life in Europe? Have you thought about the countless migrants who lost their lives in the passage and the families migrants left behind, battling with an ambiguous sense of loss?
Hi! My name is Dr Olerato Mogomotsi, and I host Ol'Things Considered. For our inaugural episode, I'm joined by Nabil Ferdaoussi. Nabil is a Moroccan social anthropologist working on migrant death and disappearance, focusing on how the environment is militarised as a containment and death strategy against migrants.
Follow us on our platforms for updates on upcoming episodes!
YouTube - Olthingsconsidered
Tiktok - @olthingsconsidered
Instagram - @olthingsconsidered
Contact Ol'Things Considered
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of Ol'Things Considered?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
