For this week’s CBC Radio Active column, I headed to the University of Alberta to interview Peter Midgley. Peter is the Senior Editor at the University of Alberta Press and the author of a recent memoir, Counting Teeth: A Namibian Story and the upcoming book of poetry based on this material. He has also written or edited several other books for adults and children, many of them focusing on his life and experiences growing up in various African nations.
After a delightful pre-interview in the gardens outside the Faculty of Arts Building, we ventured into a boardroom that had been booked for us by the kind folks in the Faculty.
Peter and I chatted about topics like colonialism, identity, privilege, the immigrant experience, and how communities have re-established themselves in Edmonton. It’s going to be tough to squeeze into a seven-minute column, but I’ll try, knowing it is just a beginning for more learning.
As I prep my column, here are some sites I’m finding useful – hope they are to you too!
- Africa Centre of Edmonton
- Pan-Africanism and Afropolitanism
- A Brief History of European Colonialism in Africa (Caution: Violent Imagery)
- “A Letter from a White South African to White America“
