We had the pleasure to wrap up season three by talking to Dr Chisomo Kalinga (University of Edinburgh) and Dr Carla Tsampiras (University of Cape Town) about the growth of Medical and Health Humanities Africa (MHHA). Adopting an intersectional perspective, we explored many exciting projects and initiatives, focusing on the south of the continent.

Here are some of our key takeaway messages from the conversation and some good reasons why you should listen to the podcast to find out more about Chisomo’s and Carla’s inspiring work.

African-led research frameworks

Medical and Health Humanities Africa (MHHA) is a network lead by African scholars who work in the field. We were reminded by Chisomo and Carla that an African-led approach to the study of Africa has not been the historical default. In many cases, the academy remains dominated by Eurocentric perspectives on Africa, which has a pernicious impact on who gets to the determine what research and which stories are considered “legitimate”. We can only really refer to the podcast itself for Chisomo and Carla to provide further insight into their experiences and those of their close collaborators.

Lessons from and for Covid

We spent quite a bit of time reflecting on MMHA found itself navigating the complexities of the Covid-19 pandemic – something which put us very much in mind of our own journey with the Conversations series through this turbulent time. We also talked about how dealing with the pandemic is exactly one of those areas where African-led expertise is often insufficiently acknowledged in the research institutes of the Global North. Chisomo and Carla pointed us toward invaluable intellectual pathways and traditions that we encourage of all to follow up on, including through the MMHA website.

A plea for collaboration

We finished the conversation reflecting on the often competitive nature of academia, where people often feel the need to assert their knowledge in a display of “epistemic arrogance.” By contrast, Chisomo and Carla shared many rich perspectives on the fruitful collaborations facilitated by MHHA – in a spirit of “epistemic generosity”. This plea resonated very strongly with us and it is this spirit of collaborative exchange we also hope to stimulate through our own Conversation series. Chisomo and Carla introduced several key concepts to make such exchange possible, including a critical kindness and an acknowledgement of our limitations without denying our expertise. These are themes we have explored in previous conversations as well, so we couldn’t have hope for a more appropriate conclusion to this season.

Do tune into the podcast to hear Chisomo’s and Carla’s full perspectives on these topics and many others!

Dieter and Ian