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BAB Interviews and ConversationsAuthor: Basler Afrika Bibliographien (BAB) - Namibia Resource Centre & Southern Africa Library
BAB is a centre of documentation and expertise on Namibia and southern Africa, located in Basel, Switzerland. Our podcast features extracts from past and recent interviews with scholars and BAB guests as well as selected recordings from the extensive southern African historical audio archive curated at the BAB. The series maintains a loose format. Listeners may also want to consult the BAB online catalogues of the archive, library and publishing house for additional information about a scholar or theme. The catalogues are found on www.baslerafrika.ch. Language: en Genres: History, Science, Social Sciences Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it Trailer: |
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«My very first question to you”. In memory of Ruth Weiss (1924-2025)
Episode 27
Friday, 19 September, 2025
A long-lasting collaboration and friendship has ended: BAB is mourning the passing of anti-apartheid journalist and writer Ruth Weiss at the age of 101. We are humbled by her unwavering trust over nearly 30 years in our work of curating her remarkable audio and paper archives. Her acoustic archives alone comprise some 180 tapes with interview, press conference and music recordings spanning several decades and including the voices and narratives of many southern African women and men. On occasion of her 90th birthday in 2014 we produced the exhibition “My very first question to you. An acoustic portrait of the journalist Ruth Weiss and southern African liberation politics”. “My very first question to you” was Ruth’s frequent opening phrase in her interviews. Drawing on her interviews we commissioned recompositions from her archives and as such recompositions of her voice and the voices of her interview partners. The exhibition was shown in Basel, Cape Town, Lusaka and Bayreuth. It invited visitors to become listeners to the acoustic reverberations of the African liberation archive. We invited reflection on the continued relevance of the political and moral claims at stake during the struggle for freedom and justice in Africa. Ruth’s legacy is closely entangled with these values which she continues to share with us through her unique archives. This podcast features one of the 2014 exhibition recompositions. We invite you to listen to Ruth’s “very first question to you”. Recomposition © : Ramon De Marco & Henrik Plünnecke, Idee und Klang (Basel, Switzerland) Gesprochenes Audio Intro: Welcome to the podcast series “BAB Interviews and Conversations” presented by the Basler Afrika Bibliographien. Today’s episode provides an acoustic homage to the anti-apartheid journalist Ruth Weiss who passed on in early September 2025 at the age of 101. The episode features Ruth’ frequent opening phrase in her many interviews with southern African women and men: “My very first question to you”. Recomposed with extracts from her unique acoustic archives, the composition invites reflection on the continued relevance of her decade-long engagement in the struggle for freedom and justice in Africa. The recomposition is one of several which featured in the exhibition “My very first question to you. An acoustic portrait of the journalist Ruth Weiss and southern African liberation politics”, shown on occasion of her 90 th birthday in 2014 in Basel, Cape Town, Lusaka and Bayreuth.
