Kathryn de Luna on Africa, Bantu, and Historical Linguistics

Tides of History

Wondery / Patrick Wyman

Documentary, Society & Culture, History

4.8 • 6.3K Ratings

🗓️ 24 March 2022

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

About one in every five people alive on the planet today speaks a language belonging to the Bantu family, and Bantu-speaking peoples have shaped the history of Africa in profound ways. But how did they expand from their original homeland, and how can we tell? Professor Kathryn de Luna joins me to talk about historical linguistics, archaeology, and how they can shed light on one of the most important processes of the past several thousand years.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi everybody, from Wondery, welcome to another episode of Tides of History.
0:13.2	I'm Patrick Weiman, thanks for joining me.
0:15.5	In the grand scheme of global history, Africa's past, both extremely ancient and more recent
0:20.3	is one of the most misunderstood and overlooked topics.
0:24.0	Distortions, oversimplifications, and outright falsehoods all shape how African history is
0:28.0	understood and perceived.
0:30.0	This has serious consequences for the present, and it's also a shame because Africa's
0:33.6	past encompasses a huge amount of human experience, diversity, and possibility.
0:39.1	Understanding Africa's past requires us to use any and all tools at our disposal.
0:43.3	Today's guest excels at combining multiple creative approaches in her work, including
0:47.4	archaeology, historical linguistics, paleo-climate, and ancient DNA.
0:51.9	Catherine D'Aluna is the Provost Distinguished Associate Professor of History at Georgetown
0:55.9	University, and she has worked on a whole variety of periods, places, and topics in African
1:00.8	history, ranging from Africa's engagement with the early modern Atlantic world to the Bantu
1:05.7	expansion of the Iron Age.
1:07.8	She's the author of several books, most recently speaking with substance, methods of language
1:12.2	and materials in African history, co-authored with Jeff Fleischer, and a ton of articles
1:17.0	and book chapters.
1:18.5	Professor D'Aluna, thank you so much for joining me.
1:20.2	Well, thanks for having me.
1:22.1	So what inspired you to work on the history of Africa and what has drawn you to such a
1:26.2	wide array of topics?
	...

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