Episode Description:
This episode features an interview with Tufts Professor Pearl Robinson, conducted by Anna Mwaba, assistant professor of government at Smith College, and Tumi Makgetla, senior lecturer in political studies at the University of Cape Town. Professor Pearl Robinson is a trailblazing scholar of African politics, former president of the African Studies Association, and a lifelong advocate for amplifying voices of African descent in the academy. Her career spans decades of fieldwork, institution-building, and engaged the African Continent and diaspora. In this episode, the first of a two-part conversation, they discuss the formative experiences that drew Professor Robinson to Political Science, from a transformative year in Bordeaux to two years in the Peace Corps in rural Niger, her influential mentors at Columbia, and her hard-won wisdom about navigating the profession.
For additional interview materials, see here: https://bit.ly/GLDep73
For a shortened version of the interview, please see the Spring 2026 APSA Comparative Politics Newsletter: https://bit.ly/4ljKUnq
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