TM Smoke Signals: Building The Nation. A read by Monica Kamandau

What does it really mean to “build the nation,” and who pays the price for that work?

In this Smoke Signals episode, Monica Kamandau reads Building the Nation by Ugandan poet Henry Barlow, a biting and darkly humorous poem that exposes the everyday hypocrisies of power, privilege, and sacrifice in postcolonial African states.

This reading lands powerfully in our current moment, where ordinary people are repeatedly told to endure hardship in the name of progress, stability, or patriotism.

Key Ideas and Highlights

Nation-building as performance, where power is exercised through routine and ceremony rather than service
The quiet violence of inequality hidden behind jokes, lunches, and official duties
Satire as resistance, and poetry as a mirror held up to political hypocrisy

Why This Poem Still Matters

Henry Barlow’s Building the Nation remains painfully relevant across Africa and beyond. It challenges listeners to question who benefits from the language of sacrifice, and whose hunger is normalised in the process.

Monica Kamandau’s reading brings fresh urgency to the poem, inviting us to reflect on leadership, accountability, and the everyday cost of governance.

Credits

Poem: Building the Nation by Henry Barlow (Uganda).
Reader: Monica Kamandau.
Producer: Rodgers George.

Licensing

Anyone can use this podcast for free, with attribution to Troublemakers (the podcast). It is held under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License and can be used for radio or any other media. The Beautiful Trouble toolbox inspires our podcast.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(72)

Ep 53: No One Is Coming to Save You, with Nalishebo Sinyama

What makes someone walk to the utility company with a placard instead of posting complaints online? Nalishebo Sinyama has been answering that since 2019, when a load shedding protest in her Lusaka sub...

7 Elo 42min

TM Smoke Signals: Silence! A poem by Sylvie Baziga

TM Smoke Signals: Silence, by Sylvie Baziga A spoken word piece by Sylvie Baziga on the slow deaths that leave no bullet holes: the swallowed cry, the smothered dream, the word never spoken because sp...

24 Heinä 2min

Ep52: The Moral Political Economy, with Joe Kobuthi

Host: Thompson Luzendi (Zambia) Guest: Joe Kobuthi - philosopher, public theologian, political analyst, and curator of The Elephant Pan-African magazine. The rules of the house were written by someone...

17 Heinä 32min

TM Smoke Signals: From Protest to Power, with Boniface Mwangi

Human rights defender, activist, and presidential candidate for the Republic of Kenya, Boniface Mwangi joins Smoke Signals for a direct, unfiltered conversation on what it will actually take for Kenya...

10 Heinä 11min

TM Smoke Signals: Même Bêtise, by Frank Amani

A spoken word piece by Frank Amani on the cycles we inherit and refuse to break. Same Stupidity confronts the ways human beings repeat patterns across generations, dressing up the same vicious circle ...

3 Heinä 4min

Troublemakers Ep51: Put your target in a decision dilemma, with Willy Nkya

Guest: Wilson (Willynkya), film & TV producer, content creator, and influencer based in Tanzania Rodgers sits down with Willynkya to unpack "Put Your Target in a Decision Dilemma" (Andrew Boyd & Joshu...

26 Kesä 38min

TM Smoke Signals: Africa will be saved: A poem by Opolot Emmanuel Solomon

In this powerful spoken-word piece, poet Opolot Emmanuel Solomon paints a vision of an Africa that has moved beyond division, dependency, conflict, and limitation. Through repetition, imagination, and...

19 Kesä 2min

Ep 50: The Stop EACOP Project with Ziada

What does “development” really mean—and who is forced to pay for it? Meet the Guest Ziada is a climate and gender justice advocate working at the frontlines of renewable energy and community resistanc...

15 Touko 25min