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Zeinab Badawi on an African History of Africa, with Kate Williams

Art &
Culture

A new history of Africa told through the voices of Africans themselves

‘The history of Africa is the story of the origins of human civilisation’ – Zeinab Badawi 

Too often historians have told the history of Africa through the prism of colonialism. But what picture of the continent emerges when we do away with making the story of Africa so anchored in European colonialism? 

In May 2024, award-winning broadcaster Zeinab Badawi came to the Intelligence Squared stage to tell a new history of Africa – in all its shades and complexities – without the stifling gaze of Europe. Drawing on the themes of her latest book, An African History of Africa: From the Dawn of Humanity to Independence, she described the origins of humankind, the emergence of ancient civilisations and empires, and the joys and thrills of Independence. 

Badawi was in conversation with historian and broadcaster Kate Williams. 

Speakers for the motion

  • Zeinab Badawi

    Broadcaster, journalist, and filmmaker

Chair

  • Kate Williams

    Historian and broadcaster

Speakers

Speaker

Zeinab Badawi

Broadcaster, journalist, and filmmaker

Zeinab Badawi is an award-winning broadcaster, journalist, and filmmaker. She is President of SOAS University of London and is an honorary fellow of her alma mater St Hilda’s College, Oxford. Born in Sudan, she has worked in the British media for several decades. Zeinab is a recipient of the President’s Medal of the British Academy, a Patron of the United Nations Association UK, and is on the boards of the Arts, Humanities and Research Council, MINDS (the Mandela Institute for Development Studies), the International Crisis Group and Afrobarometer. She was previously Chair of the Royal African Society. An African History of Africa is her first book.
Host

Kate Williams

Historian and broadcaster

Historian, broadcaster and Professor of History at Reading University. She has written ten historical books and her next book, in November, A New History of Royal Women, is about the history of queenship across the world. She presents many TV shows on history and is CNN's royal historian..