AfriWetu on Dihya Al Kahina

Daniel Story 
I’m Daniel Story, and this is History in Focus, a podcast by the American Historical Review. This is episode 3.3, and we’re very happy to once again being sharing an episode from our latest podcast collaborator, AfriWetu. Hosted and produced by Nairobi-based storyteller Mona Nyambura Muchemi, AfriWetu explores pre-colonial African history in a thoughtful, accessible format geared to a variety of audiences. In our previous episode, we shared AfriWetu’s exploration of the East African Kingdom of Buganda. That represents one category of AfriWetu content—explorations of particular African civilizations. The other main category are episodes that explore African legends and folklore. And that is what we have for you today—AfriWetu’s exploration of the North African legendary figure of Dihya Al Kahina.

Just before we dive into that, I also want to point out my interview with Mona, which appears as a bonus episode alongside this one. We get into the backstory on AfriWetu, Mona’s journey as a storyteller and as a student of African history. And we discuss the state of popular understandings of African history across the continent. It’s a fascinating conversation, and I hope you’ll check that out as well.

Ok, let’s get to AfriWetu on the legend of Dihya Al Kahina.

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
Hello listeners, and welcome to the AfriWetu podcast, where we look to celebrate African history by telling our story. As you’re aware, one of the things that is important to AfriWetu is the importance of our very, very dope legends and ancestors as part of our story. And as we are in the month of women celebrating International Women’s Day and month, we just had to have a dope female legend, just for you all, right? So that means today’s obviously a legend show, and, by the way, a legend I only just discovered last year. But this also means—I’m so excited—it’s a guest Narrator episode! And what a treat we have for you today, good people, as in her debut, I have with me, Nyaguthii, a dear friend and adopted big sis. Do you want to say hello to the people?

Nyaguthii
Hello people. So excited to be here. Thank you, Nya, for having me.

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
So now to say a few things about Nyaguthii. I always love this because they have no clue what I’m going to say. It’s wonderful. She’s already stressed. So first of all, she is like, smart, like proper smart, not those fake ones. She’s actually had a stint as a law Lecturer in those big Ivy League unis in the abroads. For those of you who are in the abroads, I’m looking at you America. She was there teaching people law. She is therefore a lawyer by trade, and I don’t know if I should say an environmentalist by action, but we can dig into the environmentalist bit later. She is an engaged human who looks at things and understands their deeper meaning, and then with her calm voice you just heard it just now, tells it like it is, in a tone that even if you’re being blasted, you still somehow feel good about yourself. She has one of the toughest yet rewarding jobs in the world. She’s a mother of two grown humans who are now responsible adults, but she honestly looks like their sister, not their mother. She has a deep inner passion for justice, whether we’re talking about climate change or human rights, which, quite frankly, maybe are one and the same. Her knowledge and intellect are awesome. And then with all this, my most favouritist thing, favouritist is a word today, favouritist thing is that I get to call her my friend, my adopted big sis and soundboard, a true sisterhood and support. Don’t I just have the dopest, dopest friends on the planet?

Nyaguthii
Awww

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
So what I’m gonna do, as she’s busy here blushing, is, I’m gonna ask Nyaguthii, before I go into like some fun facts, do you want to give us a teaser about your legend, or do you want people to just hear about her in the story?

Nyaguthii
I think she’s so amazing that I don’t want to even leak anything right now. I want us to go in when we are ready.

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
Okay, all right, then. So the first thing I’m gonna do is, unlike a country, this is a people we’re talking about in specific, specifically the Imazighen, yes, Imazighen. I’m sure I’m pronouncing that wrong. I am so sorry.

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
So let’s start with labels. There is an ignorance with these people in that they are referred to as Berbers, which actually bears serious colonial baggage. And the Berbers, the word the Berber itself, actually is rooted in the words from either, I think somewhere, read Greek, somewhere it’s Roman, where they say it comes from the word barbarians. So it’s a derivative of the word barbarians. And when it comes to the Greek version, they say it’s non-Greek speaking, foreign and barbaric. So that being the case, we are not going to refer to them as Berbers, but they’re the Imazighen they are the indigenous people of North Africa because not all of them are Arabic. In fact, many of these countries have been Arabized by the Arab Islamic conquest back in the 600s AD. These indigenous people who we’re meeting today called the Imazighen, which means free-born, and they often use, this is so dope because it’s, you know, Women’s Day, the feminine pronoun Tamazight to describe themselves and their language itself dates back to at least 2000 BC. I know right? There are approximately 25 million people who belong to this community across Algeria, Libya, and Morocco, and historically, they actually dominated the whole Maghreb region, from what are the Canary Islands off the coast of West Africa, all the way to Western Egypt, until they were conquered in the sixth, seventh century. On a somber note, in 2002 a year after the riots in Kabylie in Algeria, it left over 120 people dead, and as a result, it was, it was one of the rebellions. As a result, the Algerian government made a serious move to defuse the situation by recognizing Tamazight as a national language, and then later an official language. In fact, the language is also formally recognized by the Moroccan government. Their new year is the Amazigh New Year, celebrated mid-January. And very importantly, as I round this up, within their culture, women are hugely important members of society and many of their historical and religious figures are actually female, which leads me nicely to hand over to you, Nyaguthii for our legend.

Nyaguthii
How exciting to be able to tell you about this legend. Let’s begin with her names. Dihya al-Kahina, Dahia al Kahina, Dahlia, Daya Ult Yenfaq Tajrawt, Damya. This was a woman of many names and even more stories about her. She was a warrior, a princess, a queen, a leader, a sorceress…all pointing to a powerful legend who led her people to fight invading forces. This is her story.

Let us start with some context, for this episode and our legend. To begin with, as said in the intro, this legend has many names and stories linked to her. So what we hear today is one of the more common versions. The name we shall use is DIHYA, and the community whose story we shall follow, which at times has sprinkles from other people, is the AMAZIGH / IMAZIGHEN. Some have called them Berber’s but the majority of the people reject that descriptor, which apparently has its roots in foreign, specifically Rome. The lands she is said to have ruled and protected were the region of NUMIDA in modern day eastern Algeria. But DIHYA has been claimed by many over the years, many using the title KAHINA (which can be translated to seer or prophetess from Arabic a name given to her by her Arab enemies) from those in modern day Tunisia, Egypt, Mauritania. She appears in many tales and for various reasons, as a liberator, a tyrant, a symbol and more. And now that we have started to look at Dihya, lets move to meet her…

From the Amazigh people, our legend was born in the 7th century and said to have come from a royal bloodline of the D̲j̲arāwa. She was the daughter (in some cases niece) of King AKSEL/KUSAILA/KUSIELA) who died circa 688. He was known for being a freedom fighter.

Dihya’s people came from the larger Zanāta confederacy, a pastoralist community. She herself was of mixed heritage.

When it cam to her religion, claims of being from the Ethiopian Jews, which was not a stretch as Judaism had been adopted by the community. By the time we meet her in her full force she is seen to be Christian, and again, this falls in line with the times as her community is said to have converted to Christianity over the years.

Accounts do differ as to when she appears and her fame ignited, although it is agreed she is a widow, there is also claim that she is a very old woman, with three sons – this latter part is significant later.

The Woman – who was she? Amazigh women have traditionally and historically played a key role in their society, and Dihya is one of them.

The name DIHYA is claimed to translate to ‘the beautiful gazelle’ in Tamazight, and this is important to explore, her famed physical appearance, not because it was her most important feature in it of itself, but because as is the case in ancient times, how a person was described physically, was to point to their personality.

Dihya is described as tall and with long dreadlocked hair, a beautiful woman, she was said to be dressed in typical royal and noble Numidian style, tunics and sandals. Now when you look at ancient texts, in the description those in her time would immediately understand her character. The long wavy and tangled hair was a common way of depicting a person who was a prophet or sorceresses, powerful and feared.

She was not easy to pidgeon hole, she was said to be Christiian and seen to carry an icon of this faith, some say it was the Virgin Mary, others a Saint and others still that os Christ – it was claimed that from this icon is where she drew her strength, the icon was imbued with this power. She was also know to practise her own indigenous religions and was a soothsayer. She could use her different divination powers, calling on the moon, sun and ancestors to tell the future and that she could commune with the birds who would act as clarions to alert her of the enemy’s approach.

Then we have the stories about her personal life, which are few and there may be an element of overlap. One prevalent story is that she married a harsh, evil and tyrannical man, a ruler in his own right and an oppressor of his people. Legend has it that she killed him on their wedding night, freeing the people from this tyrant. This particular story is linked to XXXX who is in some instances believed to also be Dihya.

In other versions she is said to have married a greek man and borne him one sone, her other sons was from her people and the last son was adopted captured Arab officer- another characteristic of sorcerors in ancient times.

Time for a quick segue….and then we shall come back to our legend, it is all linked…

Now much of Dihya’s story is around her military skills and defeat of Hasan ibn al Nu’man. Before we move to that, let us understand the context around the period and people, to help build a fuller picture of Dihya’s world.

Her lands were rich in history, culture and influence in the region, long before there were any permanent state type structures in place. Then between 202 to 40 BC, the Numidia kingdom emerged, founded by King MASINISSA (202-148BC) and it was thriving, one of the first IMAZIGHEN kingdoms.

The kingdom was raised from a conglomeration of communities by Masinissa, after the second Punic War ended in 202 BC. The region then underwent a series of changes in leadership from the Roman Caesars eventually being annexed to the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire becoming the Praetorian Prefecture of Africa.
As a result of all of these changes and movements of peoples, the kingdom was home to a diverse population in their religion, tradition and culture. This included the Abrahamic religions of Judaism and Christianity. Everyone just got along, as well as they could obviously.

But a shift change happened in the late 6th, early 7th century, the militarisation by the Arabs of Islam, this new religion that was sweeping the middle east and northern Africa. This is in itself a fascinating story of the wars and treaties and negotiations, but for now will stick to our Dihya legend’s story and how this relates to her….

The IMAZIGHEN were not having this new invader come into their lands, and they carried out guerilla attacks, and then full blown war against the Arabs, under the leadership of the Christian King Askel . He is the celebrated freedom fighter of the people, and he is a story for another day. He was eventually killed in battle by the Arab leaders Hasan ibn al Nu’man by 688 AD…..his successor….our legend today Dihya.

As the Arab UMAYYAD Dynasty moved westward, across the continent, from the Arabian Peninsula, through Northern Africa in the 680’s they were a formidable force. They had defeated the Byzantine Christians, taken Carthage and were marching on.
Their leader, Hasan ibn al Nu’man, who was riding high having beaten King Askel, and decided he would proceed and take on Numidia – but he never counted on our legend, Dihya.

Dihya was a force, she had led her people to war and victory, having taken up the sword on the death of Askel in circa 68*. She had fought alongside him and had earned the respect of the military heads as a very able commander.

Hasan, who was not paying attention, threw a challenge to Dihya, and she accepted.

Dihya, soon schooled Hasan on exactly who she was, in their first ever encounter, in the modern day province of Oum el-Bouaghi, at Meskiana, where Dihya led her army in a proper thrashing of Hasan and his army, in the Battle of Meskinana, also known as the Battle of Camels near Meskiana, Algeria. He was forced to retreat and fled to modern day Libya’s IFRIQIYA where he licked his wounds and strategised, for about five years on how to defeat the queen.

He returned when he felt he had cracked it, but he had not, and again he was forced to retreat back to either modern day Libya, some say further east still to Egypt.

On top of her clear military skills, Dihya as we know was also an acclaimed sorceress. She would have been seen to use her powers to anticipate the attacks, see the tactics and know their weak spots. She is said to have used her power of premonition to defeat Hasan a third time, although this is not clear, it may have been a similar strength army that tried to attack in the time Hasan had retreated after the second total bashing he and his armies got in their last encounter.

One of the war tactics she used, which becomes key later in her story, is her use of fire. In a battle where she and her forces were under siege and could only retreat, she instructed her army to set fire, as she noted the direction of the wind favored her forces. Once they set the fires, the wind spread them to the Arabs who were forced to retreat themselves.

Hasan’s defeat was so so bad and so memorable, that there on the banks of the Oued Nīnī, the Arabs called the area of battle Nahr al-Balāʾ (“river of trials”), and the second time round in Gabès.

He took his time to set up camp and find a new plan the second time, one that would have to work.

Aside from just being a fierce warrior she was the Queen of her people.

Dihya ruled over a free state which covered the modern day area from the Aurès Mountains to the oasis of Gadames. There are claims her influence was far wider, as wide as the whole of the Maghrib. One thing was certain, is her name was known much further afield than her physical region under her control.

She ruled over her lands for five years (695–700 AD), over the IMAZIGHAN in the semi-autonomous Zenata kingdom, which was part of the large coalitions of the IMAZIGHENS.

She was also a mother – and here is a fun fact – many of the stories say she had three sons, they become relevant in the later years. Two sons are said to be her biological children BAGAY and KHANCHLA, the third KHALED IBN YAZID AL_QAYSI was adopted.

The symbolism here around the sons again links to the stories and depictions of powerful sorceresses.

The final season of Divya’s life is not very clear cut, and this is because politics comes into play here. The are two possible paths one could follow to understand how this legend was brought to her end. The first is that which is recorded by her enemies, the Arabs. Their writings claim that despite her victory, she was only marking time knowing that Hasan would come back stronger and with reinforcements that she could not defeat.

She was aware that the value of her lands were what kept the Arabs interested. Some say that this was actualised in the last battle with Hasan when she had been forced to retreat.

Either way the point of contention is this, the Araba writers claim that in seeing her defeat being imminent, she ordered her army to deploy a scorched – earth policy. In order to keep the lands and benefit from them, they burned down the fields, the cities and towns, the orchards, the army were also ordered to get the wealth in terms of gold and silver and melt those down. It was total destruction in order to ensure even in victory the Arabs would reap nothing but ashes, or at the very least not pursue a campaign as the lands were worthless.

This action led to her own people rejecting her as their leader and resenting her for basically leaving them to a life of poverty cos they lost everything as part of this war tactic. The lands they had left to live on were already destroyed, becoming an arid wasteland, as part of the earlier retreat and use of fire against the Arabs we heard earlier.

Now another view of this scorched-earth policy was that it was in fact the Arabs who burned the lands. They were well known to have used this tactic in other conquests across northern Africa, from Egypt in Libya and Mesopotamia. And that actually the people didn’t so much turn on her, but when they had been subdued they couldn’t afford to support her and were resigned to their fate. This was then twisted by the Arab writers to reimagine the story with Divya as the instigator.

There are a number of versions as to how our Legend’s mortal story came to and end, here we shall look at the common threads. Divya, was greatly outnumbered by the Arab army, when they met in 702/705 AD.

Some say it was still Hasan (others point to his successor Musa bin Nusayr who is said to have completed the conquest of North Africa) who led this force. He greatly respected Divya and was not going to take any chances, with a bigger force to face her.

Divya, was at a disadvantage not just because of the numbers but also because of other factors, for one, many of her own allies had defected to the other side, INCLUDING one of her sons. He is then said to have sold her secrets of battles, so they had the advantage. – why? The reasons vary.

Divya, also knowing the end wasn’t so far off, she sent her other two sons to Hasan’s camp, again reasons vary. They were accepted and taken care of, growing in the Muslim army and soo leading their own armies as part of the Arab militia.

On the battlefield, Divya and her army fought valiantly and fiercely, she did not back down, neither did her army – the enemy was impressed.

She is said to have died on the field, either by sword or poison, her body was found, her head taken as a trophy to Hasan.

Where she fell, there was a well, which now bears her name Bir Al-Kahina (The Well of The Kahina) – With a plaque that reads: Queen of the Berbers from the “Jerawa” family, Daughter of “Tabet” Died in the year 701/702 AD, By the well of Atter, near the city of Tébessa. This is not the end of her story, her fighting spirit lives on to this day. The immediate aftermath of her death was devastating to her people, tens of thousands of them were sold into slavery by the Arab conquerers. By 750 the had converted the region to a Muslim stronghold. But the people were not defeated, as many smaller resistance groups fought back, the wives of Numidian chiefs could not allow themselves to be taken and so they killed themselves in defiance.

This spirit of defiance, especially by the women carried on till the invading Europeans. Warrior Queens of the region, including Lala hadija bellachem, who fought the colonizers, and Lala Fatma in Sumer, who had been inspired by her. Then and today, in modern-day, Algeria, the Imazighen women use her as their symbol. As the women have traditionally played a very strong role in society. She represents their resistance to the male hegemony in politics and society. Then and Now, the community have used her image and story and identify with the fight against oppression of their people. Many name their daughters after her with pride, the area of Kabylia has been a hotbed of defiance to conquest from outsiders, seen in the insurgencies, not just in 1851 and 1857 but also in the 21st century, in 2002. It was after this, when over 100 people died, that the Algerian government agreed to recognize Tamazight as an official national language, as well as officially Gazette the Amazigh New Year in mid-January as an official public holiday. Dihya al-Kahina, a symbol of resistance of Arab occupation in North Africa, is very much alive for women who look to her for inspiration in their own pockets of resistance, bold women across northern Africa, from Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria to Libya and Morocco, immortalized in literature, stories, songs, poems, and statues, and now more and more people are hearing about her and her remarkable story. And so our journey ends here, true to her spirit as a warrior who lived by the sword, as a leader, fighting alongside her army, as a woman, protecting her people. Dihya, a true legend.

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. How was that?

Nyaguthii
Oh, my God, I loved it.

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
Thank you. That was so dope. But before we get excited, what was your, I know it’s unfair to ask, but what was your favorite bit about your legend?

Nyaguthii
I loved the fact that she goes by so many names. When you have somebody who is in so many ways hard to pin down, right? Yeah, you can’t put her in one box, right? And, and I think one of the amazing things, and we have this as well in our in our cultures here in Kenya, that people go by so many names, right? And in the Kikuyu culture, you have somebody who is given a certain name at birth, and they get certain names according to their characteristics, and they’re also known as the children of, and throughout their lives, they get names that are defining them because of who they are.

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
Actually, that’s true.

Nyaguthii
And I love that that she has names that I mean, I know there could be ways that I butchered her the pronunciation, and we apologize to everybody, but especially the Imazighen people. But thinking about the way she was hard to pin down, and all those characteristics that were of her really embody this, this whole figure of who she is.

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
But isn’t that also the beauty about being a woman is that we, they keep trying to pin us down into a particular thing I know, right? Let me tell you something I think about these things…

Nyaguthii
That’s right.

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
To be honest, when I when I read this legend, which I discovered last year, I honestly just heard your voice telling her story, because there’s so many like points, I was like, ah, yeah, this is a Nyaguthii story, because the fierceness that she had, the leadership role that she took, the legendary status that she had, and that protection of her people you know, very much in line with what it is that you do, which is look to protect.

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
Yeah. Oh my gosh,

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
I know sometimes I seem a little shallow. Sometimes I think about these things.

Nyaguthii
I mean deep and dope.

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
And also the fact that she’s used as a symbol for resistance and human rights, etc, it’s just, it’s just really resonated to me because I was thinking. I was like, who? Because I found this story, and I was like, my mind is blown. What voice is going to actually give this and that whole, as you say so you immediately went to the name and culture,

Nyaguthii
Yeah, yeah,

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
Everything about her was dopeness. But I just love the fact that she’s this woman who I’d never heard of before. Yeah, and in, and this is why I love honestly, doing what I do, and it’s like ah! dopeness. And the fact that if you go to Northern Africa, I’m sure if you ask people, this is a common name.

Nyaguthii
Yes, yes, and who? And the fact that we spent a lot of time say, Well, how do you pronounce it? Well, how do you pronounce it?

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
Yes, guys, we were here with Google on pronunciation, Google. Pronounce,

Nyaguthii
Yeah, but that is so true. And how incredible is it that, you know, we’re hearing about her here? I mean, we’re physically right now in Nairobi, and of somebody who, when we look to our past for inspiration, incredible that there’s this African woman that we had never heard about, never until, you know, practically two minutes ago, and she’s here in this in how amazing it is that our sisters in North Africa continue to be inspired by her. You know, hundreds of years later,

Both
Hundreds

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
And actually, so funny story I’m just going to have to have a little dig for a moment is that, and I’m reading this out, so it’s like, apparently, and I’m going to read this. It’s a quote you’ll appreciate this from a professor Becker at Boston University, who says, “Since the ninth century, accounts of the Kahina have been adopted, transformed, and rewritten by various social and political groups in order to advance such diverse causes as Arab nationalism, Berber ethnic rights, Zionism, and feminism.2 Throughout history, Arabs, Berbers, Muslims, Jews, and French colonial writers, from the medieval historian Ibn Khaldūn to the modern Algerian writer Kateb Yacine, rewrote the legend of the Kahina, and, in the process, voiced their own vision of North Africa’s history.” Like that is how deeply ingrained this woman is in their culture that even the French, by the way, the French guys, guys, guys, history has been taught by the French historian and political Ernest Mercier to legitimize French colonization by framing it as the liberation of the Amazigh people from their Arab oppressors. I mean-

Nyaguthii
Okay, my jaw-

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
Your jaw dropped. Isn’t it interesting how, if we don’t know our stories, how others will come and twist it to, I mean, they literally used this as a tool to colonize like, they literally used this woman, this warrior queen, this amazing African woman, to be the excuse and portray her as, like, yeah. She is our symbol for why we are getting out of the Arab oppressors. Like, wow,

Nyaguthii
Yeah, whoa. I mean, how incredible is that, and what a lesson it is for us to really hold on to these stories and this history, right? Because how easy is it for it to get lost?

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
So easy. We found out about it last year.

Nyaguthii
Well, me, two minutes ago,

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
And, and that’s the other thing is like, if we don’t if we don’t, and that’s honestly if we don’t celebrate and talk about and share these stories, then other people will share it for us, and it will not be from necessarily a place of our benefit. But at the same time, it also goes to show just how powerful a figure that is, because if you think about it at the time that this was happening, there was there was there was the fact that women were liberators in this era and the fact that in their own culture, women have such a strong place. It’s so very what’s it called. It’s, it’s, it’s so very sad sometimes that we we forget that it’s so very sad sometimes that we allow others to tell us, no, no, no, no, no. That’s not how it’s always been. But we need to keep unearthing more and more of these stories because we need to celebrate them

Nyaguthii
I like to, I like to remind ourselves of, truly one of our legends and one of our heroes. Professor Wangarĩ Maathai reminded us frequently that the rights that we fight for human rights, environmental rights, social and economic rights, that they’re not given to us as a gift that we fight for them, and we must continue to always, always work hard to ensure that those rights are not taken away from us. These, these are rights that we fight for and for ourselves, this current generation, and for future generations. And so that’s what I feel that I do. It changes sometimes the the particular areas of focus that I’m working on at a particular time. But ultimately that is, is what I feel is apart from when I am called upon and hang out with my very good friends like Mona, to really interesting and cool things, like podcasts, thank you, and going to stand-up comedy shows and so the rest of the, you know, so those kinds of things are really amazing to do, but I think it also behooves us whether we do it as a calling, whether we do it as on our professional lives, or whether we do it supporting people is to always remember that it is our responsibility. It truly is our responsibility as conscientious human beings on this planet to make sure that we’re protecting those rights for ourselves and for future generations.

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
Told you she was smart. I’m just saying. No, but, and to be honest, I think that’s why our sisterhood thrives, because it’s that passion, as I said at the beginning, the passion you have for justice, justice itself. Sometimes that English is so narrow in the definition of what it is, but it’s like you’re hacky that that thing that is within it’s it’s beautiful to watch. So can you tell people where they can at least see what it is that you work on, if not you yourself, personally, but any organization that they should be following, so they can understand what it means to actually be involved? Be engaged. Social justice. Be involved. Be engaged. Environmental Be involved. Be engaged as just general humans, on this planet.

Nyaguthii
Yeah, yeah. Oh, thank you. I would love to and an organization and work that is very near and dear to my heart is the work of the Green Belt Movement, founded by Professor Maathai 45-plus years ago, still working, still still on a day-to-day, year-to-year basis, really, really focused on protecting our environment, because that is the only way truly that we will be able to realize all the other rights that we want and believe we should have, whether it’s peace, security, right to a clean and healthy environment, means that we have will be ultimately, living the kind of lives that should not only be a privilege to the very few but is truly available to all of us, both in Kenya and around the world.

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
Thank you. So what are the social media handles? Is it GBM? Is a Green Belt Movement, or should people just go and just type in Green Belt Movement, go to the website, and check it out?

Nyaguthii
Yes, I am still old school. I still call that platform Twitter.

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
Oh, gosh, okay, that’s okay.

Nyaguthii
That’s all right.

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
We still call them tweets.

Nyaguthii
We still call them tweets. And so we are we, you know, our website is greenbeltmovement.org we are at a hyphenated version of Green Belt Movement, but if you search for us on both Instagram because movement is not spelled the whole- that’s a long word. So but if you look up Green Belt movement, you will find us on Insta, on Facebook, on Twitter, and on our websites. Thank you. Thank you, ma’am.

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
So any parting shots before we say goodbye to the AfriWetu.

Nyaguthii
Mona, you’ve created something amazing here. Love this podcast. I can’t think of a better way for us to spend an evening together. It is great. And I just want to tell everybody, seriously, of course, I’m self-interested since I’m here right now, but I really want to tell everybody what an amazing thing it is that we have this, this ability to to really connect with, with with history, which is not truly dead, which is the incredible thing that it’s living here today. I mean, to talk about the influence that Dihya had in 2002 it’s amazing that’s in our lifetime, from somebody who we talking about was living in the six hundreds. Yes, yeah, that’s, that’s just amazing. So it was, it’s, it’s a it’s such a privilege and a pleasure to to be able to take part in telling these stories. And I want to encourage you to continue doing that. I also want to make sure to encourage everybody to read. I love reading, and as as as Mona knows, we love to read so much, and there’s so much around African history, both fiction literature today is incredible. So really exciting. What an exciting time for us to be here, to be alive, and all that and all that’s available to us. And so just, just enjoy, enjoy the the opportunities, and find them wherever they are.

Mona Nyambura Muchemi
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you again. Thank you so much for coming on. Thank you so much for taking up Dihya and showing her to the world. And you know you’re welcome to come again. Well, usually when I say that, I mean that I will find another legend for you to come again, or another fable or folklore. That’s going to happen for sure. Thank you so much. Nyaguthii, thank you everybody for tuning in, and until next time, mubare kiwe.

Daniel Story
Our thanks to Mona and AfriWetu who we partnered with to bring you that episode on the North African legend of Dihya Al Kahina and the previous episode on the history of the East African Kingdom of Buganda. I encourage you also to checkout my interview with Mona which we’re releasing as a bonus episode along with this one. We talk AfriWetu, Mona’s journey as a storyteller, and about the state of popular understandings of African history. Of course, we also encourage you to check out more great content from AfriWetu, which you can find wherever you get your podcasts.

History in Focus is a production of the American Historical Review, in partnership with the American Historical Association and the University Library at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Shout out to Mona and her team for producing this episode and sharing it with us. And thanks to Phoebe Rettberg who helped us out with the transcript. You can find out more about this and other History in Focus episodes at historians.org/ahr. That’s it for now. See you next time.