There’s an Igbo saying, quoted by Chinua Achebe, that goes like this: ‘A man who does not know where the rain began to beat him cannot say where he dried his body.’ It’s a fitting way to end Season 1 of the Our Long Walk podcast, a season shaped by the question: what can Africa’s history teach us about its present, and its possible futures? In the …

What if history is not only what we are told, but also what we choose to remember? What if the stories of apartheid are not just tales of villainy and victimhood, but of complexity, contradiction and human agency? And what if loving a country – its landscapes, its memories – requires that we also confront its darkest truths? In this final interview…

How should we understand the era before Africa’s colonisation? Was it a period of stagnation or one of profound innovation and change? Why has the ‘Scramble for Africa’ dominated historical narratives, often overshadowing Africa’s own dynamic histories? Can warfare be understood not only as destructive but also as a creative and even culturally sig…

What determines opportunity in Africa? Does religion shape upward mobility? How do artificial borders, landmines, and weak states constrain economic development? And why has Africa largely resisted the global rise of populism? In this episode of the Our Long Walk podcast, Jonathan Schoots and I sit down with Elias Papaioannou, academic director of …

How far back should economic history go? Most textbooks start with agriculture, trade, and the emergence of states. But what if we looked further – beyond written records, beyond cities, beyond even the first farms? What if the deepest economic lessons come not from the past few thousand years, but from the hundreds of thousands before them? For mo…

What shapes the decisions we make each day, from the seemingly trivial to the transformative? Why do trust, honour or zero-sum thinking persist in some societies but not others? How does a legacy of past events influence not just institutions but the very beliefs we carry and pass on? These questions form the heart of cultural economics, a field th…

What makes a city thrive in the Global South? Why do some cities build stronger connections between their citizens, social movements, and governments while others remain fragmented? Can the lessons from São Paulo helpSouth Africa’s struggling urban centres? And what can a sociologist teach us about the future of African cities as urbanization accel…

What does it mean for African economies to be dynamic? How did the Mineral Revolution reshape the continent's economic trajectories? Can Africa’s internal markets be thefoundation for future prosperity? And, crucially, why should Africa chart its own development path, distinct from Asia’s? In this episode of the Our Long Walk podcast, Johan Fourie …

What does it mean to say institutions are ‘inclusive’? What impact does coercive labour have on trust in society? Can technology disrupt entrenched gender inequalities in the workplace? And, crucially, why should policymakers in Washington care about Africa? In this episode of the Our Long Walk podcast, Jonathan Schoots and Johan Fourie discuss the…

How do historical insights inform modern governance? Can traditional institutions be as effective as modern bureaucracies in driving development? What can Africa’s diverse historical pathways teach us about building effective policies today?In this episode, Jonathan Schoots and Johan Fouriesit down with James Robinson, an economist and political sc…

What role do African parliaments play in shaping governance? How do historical legacies affect contemporary political systems, and why does foreign aid often fail to build stronger local institutions? Johan Fourie and Jonathan Schoots discuss these questions - and many more - with Ken Opalo, Associate Professor at Georgetown University and author o…

Why do good intentions by international aid workers often lead to unintended negative outcomes? How should African leaders grapple with the tension between embracing Western ideas without being dominated by them? Hosts Johan Fourie and Jonathan Schoots discuss these – and many more – questions in the first podcast interview with Princeton author an…

Get to know your hosts, economic historian Johan Fourie and historical sociologist Jonathan Schoots, as they introduce Our Long Walk, a new podcastexploring the past, present, and future of South Africa and Africa. This podcast is produced with the help of Voice Note Productions. Our producer is Vasti Calitz with editing done by Andri Burnett. Kels…

Welcome to Our Long Walk, a podcast series aboutSouth Africa’s past, present, and future. In this series, economic historian Johan Fourie and historical sociologist Jonathan Schoots interview social science scholars who ask fascinating questions about our country and continent to distil those lessons into practical policy suggestions today. Subscri…