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Audio: Burkina Faso

In this episode of 80 Days: An Exploration Podcast, we’ll be talking about Burkina Faso (formerly the French Upper Volta), a landlocked country in West Africa bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d’Ivoire to the southwest. As of 2021, the country had an estimated population of just over 20,000,000. Total land area is around 274,000 km² (or roughly 106,000 sq mi), making it slightly smaller than Italy, slightly larger than New Zealand or the US state of Colorado. Burkina Faso has a primarily tropical climate with two very distinct seasons, wet and dry. Its northern regions are in the Sahel, making them very dry and arid, while the more southern regions are cooler and more tropical.

The Mossi people, which still dominates the country today, moved into the region around 1100, and still makes up around 50% of the ethnic population. These were a tribal, agrarian society with a love of horses. Other important ethnic groups include include Fulani 8.4%, Gurma 7%, Bobo 4.9%, Gurunsi 4.6% Senufo 4.5%, Bissa 3.7%, Lobi 2.4%, Dagara 2.4%, Tuareg/Ikelan 1.9%, Dioula 0.8% (percentages of modern population). In 1896, it was colonized by the French as part of French West Africa; in 1958, a new nation named Upper Volta became a self-governing colony within the French Community. In 1960, it gained full independence with Maurice Yaméogo as president. However, since then the country has struggled to maintain political stability, with political coups or uprisings taking place in 1966, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1987, and twice in 2022.

The nation is quite poor, and is one of the world’s least-economically developed, with around 75% of people to this day living off subsistence agriculture. Burkinabe farmers are well-known for working to music, usually drums. Burkina Faso is also one of the youngest countries in the world, thanks to very high fertility (Women have on average 5 children each) and a low average life expectancy, which currently stands at just under 60, among the lowest in the world. The median age is only around 17, and this has caused a massive spike in population over the past half-century, as yearly population growth rate is more than double the world average.

Your hosts, as always, are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Dublin, Ireland, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 in Toronto, Canada, and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Dublin, Ireland. Our theme music and other stings come from Thomas O’Boyle @thatthomasfella.

Some further reading material is provided below:

“Historical Dictionary of Burkina Faso“, Second Edition, by Daniel Miles McFarland and Lawrence A. Rupley
“The Mossi of the Upper Volta” by Elliot P. Skinner
“Burkina Faso: A History of Power, Protest, and Revolution” by Ernest Harsch
UNESCO Heritage sites include nearby Bura complex of iron-working sites and Loropéni ruins of fortresses on the gold trading routes. See also Wikipedia article on Blacksmiths of western Africa
The “griot” class in Mossi society are called the Bend Naaba, which transmits historical data and the head chief at Ouagadougou is called the the Moro-Naba or Mogho Naba. The legendary ancestor of the Mossi chiefs is the warrior princess Yennega (UNESCO biography).
A good starting point for learning about traditional masks in Burkinabe cultures is the Wikipedia article on Art of Burkina Faso, and various museum archives, such as Princeton
PhD thesis by Amy Niang “Naam : political history as state ideology“, investigation of some of the political theory underpinning Mossi states
Biography of Burkinabe historian Dim Delobsom
“Jihad and State Building in Late Nineteenth Century Upper Volta: The Rise and Fall of the Marka State of Al-Kari of Bousse” by Myron Echenberg
DW African Roots Podcast: “Revolutionary Martyrs: Thomas Sankara and Patrice Lumumba” (clip of Sankara’s voice from here)
Discussion on the translingual new name Sankara gave the country: Burkina Faso
France24: Capital’s residents remain fearful after soldiers’ mutiny
Al Jazeera: Timeline of Burkina Faso unrest (2022)
Al Jazeera: Campoaré is gone
Reuters: Ex-Burkina Faso president Compaore apologises to family of slain predecessor

Music includes:

“African Drumming” Facebook page: Mossi men dance the Warba
Mossi music: Badini Karim dig Yegdyanga. Vol. 2. (YouTube): [Archived: Burkina Faso 1996]
Lobi music: Rejoicing Music (YouTube)
Wikipedia: Music_of_Burkina_Faso
FolkCloud: Music of Burkina Faso

Boukary Koutou, also known as Wobgho, the Mossi King of Ouagadougou with his personal escort of Mossi cavalry, Burkina Faso. From “Du Niger au Golfe de Guinée par le pays de Kong et le Mossi” by Binger, Louis Gustave, 1892, page 35, illustrated by Édouard Riou.

*The Grand Mosque of Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso by **JamesA** (Wikimedia Commons)*

Thanks to all our patrons who support the show. We really appreciate your continued backing of us. If you want to join them, more information is available at www.patreon.com/80dayspodcast

S03E10 – Western Sahara Audio

In this episode of 80 Days: an exploration podcast, we’ll be talking about Western Sahara, a disputed territory in North-West Africa. Home to roughly 550,000 people and bordered by Morocco to the north, Algeria to the east, Mauritania to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara is partially controlled by the self-proclaimed Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic and partially Moroccan-occupied, and is often called ‘Africa’s last colony.’

Map of Western Sahara’s position on the west coast of Africa, between Morocco and Mauritania

First colonised by Spain in 1885, the territory’s sovereignty has been fiercely disputed for decades, particularly since 1975, when Spain officially relinquished its claim over the region. Today it is alternately known as Morocco’s Southern Provinces or the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, however, we’ll be referring to the region as Western Sahara throughout most of this episode. At roughly 260,000 square kilometers or 100,000 square miles, Western Sahara is about the size of the US state of Colorado or just slightly larger than the UK. The territory consists mostly of uninhabitable desert, and nearly 40% of its inhabitants live in Laayoune, the largest city in Western Sahara, while up to 100,000 people from the region are currently living in refugee camps in neighbouring Algeria.

Coat of arms of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which claims sovereignty over the territory

Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Morocco, which claims Western Sahara as its “Southern Provinces”

This episode, the Finale of Season 3, is our first Patreon-nominated and voted-on episode. Thanks to Erik Tastepe, in particular, for suggesting this interesting location and to all of you who voted. Join us over on www.patreon.com/80dayspodcast to have a say in the direction of future seasons or get access to various awards.

Your hosts, as always, are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly in Hong Kong, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 in the UK, and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach in Switzerland . (Theme music by Thomas O’Boyle @thatthomasfella)

In this episode, we carried out an extensive interview with Nick Brooks (@WSaharaProject), a climate scientist, who has worked over many years in Western Sahara, co-directing a project with archaeologist Jo Clarke. This “Western Sahara Project” has led to a recently-published book on the topic (see here). Nick also has a very interesting blog about his time spent there, the politics of the situation and related topics called “Sand and Dust”. Beautiful photo galleries of all the archaeological discoveries from the research project in the desert have been shared on Flickr.

Here are a few things you may want to read/watch more about: