Nwando Achebe, FNAL, FRHistS has given over one hundred invited keynote lectures and talks on four continents, in universities in the US, UK, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Germany, The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and China. Additionally, she has appeared frequently in television programs, podcasts, and magazine articles.
Featured Appearances
Nwando Achebe recently presented The 17th Indian Economic and Social History Review Lecture (IESHR) Lecture in New Delhi. Titled “ỊGHỌTA: African Histories and the Work of Knowing,” her lecture challenges us to think differently about the past. ịGhọta is an Igbo practice of knowing through movement, relationship, participation, and accountability. Drawing from African histories, including the extraordinary life of Ahebi Ugbabe, Achebe explored what becomes possible when we take African ways of knowing seriously—not simply as sources for history, but as ways of making historical knowledge itself.
Elected a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters, Dr. Nwando Achebe joins the distinguished ranks of Fellows recognized for their outstanding contributions to scholarship and the advancement of the humanities in Nigeria.
Nwando Achebe has been named a University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University, recognized for her groundbreaking work in African history, gender, and oral traditions. Read the official announcement here: MSU Today – 2025 University Distinguished Professors.
AFRICA DAY MEMORIAL LECTURE – Gender as African Archive: POwer, Authority, & Reckoning on Africa Day
What if our understanding of early societies is incomplete? In this featured segment, Author Dr. Nwando Achebe highlights the central roles women played in early African communities — as leaders, decision-makers, knowledge keepers, and architects of social order. Re-centering women in historical narratives reshapes how we understand power, governance, and legacy. Experience her full lecture at the 46th Annual Marion Thompson Wright Lecture Series at Rutgers University–Newark on February 21st, 2026 Join us in-person or via Zoom, Register Today!
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Watch the lecture’s recording here.
Nwando Achebe gave the keynote address at ASA 2025’s Women’s Caucus on the occation of a its 50/55th Anniversary. Founded in 1970, the ASA Women’s Caucus is a solidarity network open to all.
The Royal Studies Podcast, “African Queenship Episode 1: Interview with Nwando Achebe and Lydia Amoah,” October 03, 2025. In this episode, host Ellie Woodacre interviews two scholars who work on African queenship: Professor Nwando Achebe and Lydia Amoah. We discuss the distinctive features of African queenship with many rich and fascinating examples of powerful royal women from across African history from ancient Egypt and Kush to the recent death of the Asantehemaa in Ghana.
British Broadcast Cooperation (BBC) Radio 4, “Nsukka is Burning,” BBC, premier, September 1, 2020. Producing some of the most formidable voices in African literature, like Chinua Achebe, Ifeoma Okoye and Chimamanda Adichie, this Igbo town has burned bright as a beacon of resistance in Nigeria. Inua Ellams speaks with Nwando Achebe, oral historian and the daughter of Chinua Achebe, about the war’s impact on the town and how creativity was nurtured at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
History Channel/A&E Television Network documentary, “Roots: A History Revealed” and “Roots: A New Vision,” History Channel/A&E Television Networks, premiered June 2016.
British Broadcast Corporation (BBC) Radio 3, Sunday Feature, “Afterwards: Chinua Achebe,” June 19, 2022. “The life and ideas of the Nigerian novelist, poet and critic, Chinua Achebe, in his own words, and in the words of those who knew, loved, and were inspired by him.”
British Broadcast Corporation (BBC) World Service, “Witness,” “Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart,” BBC, premier, July 21, 2016. The book revolutionized African culture, and began a whole new genre of world literature.
“A Stolen Past” Europe and the Compensation of Colonial Injustice,” Invited Panel Debate, The Körber History Forum, “Connecting History and Politics,” Humboldt Carré, Berlin, Germany, May 13-14, 2019.
“Becoming: Africanist, Oral, and Gender Historian.” Invited Lecture, The Stanley P. Stone Lecture Series, Boston University, February 8, 2024. “Dr. Achebe mesmerized the packed auditorium with her presentation which she explained would be like a “dance,” in that she would keep moving seamlessly between the story of her personal journey and her advocacy for a multi-faceted, multi-voiced approach to history, particularly African history.”
- Article about the Invited Lecture
- Photo by Chelsea Feinstein
Invited Presentations
“Opening Address” at the Journal of West African History‘s 10th Anniversary Conference. The conference gathered leading scholars and students to explore West Africa’s role in world affairs, its cultural ties with the Diaspora, and the effects of globalization and environmental change. Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center at Michigan State University on October 4, 2024
Book Discussion for Women’s Month Celebration, The Female King of Colonial Nigeria: Ahebi Ugbabe, World Ebony Network Book Club, March 30, 2024. The book discussion addressed comprehensive understandings of cultural, social, and religious norms, the intricacies of community expectations, the complexities of beliefs, realities and their implications on the livelihood trajectory of the female gender and those around. The discussion also clarified terms, such as “female husbands,” and cultural beliefs and practices as drivers of decision making and social deviances.
“African Feminisms: Critical Knowledge Productions on/from the Continent,” Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora and the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies, November 8, 2021.
Author Conversation and Reading, Female Monarchs and Merchant Queens in Africa, Instagram Live Book Series with Dr. Natanya Duncan, Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora, October 6, 2020.
Author Conversation and Reading, Female Monarchs and Merchant Queens in Africa, the Abuja (Nigeria) Literary and Arts Festival, August 13, 2020.
Author Conversation and Reading, Female Monarchs and Merchant Queens in Africa, the Abuja (Nigeria) Literary and Arts Festival, August 14, 2020. Source Booksellers, a minority owned, independent bookstore in Detroit’s Midtown district.
“The Politics of Knowledge Production—A Reflective Journey and Dance about the Epistemology and Practice of African Gender History.” Invited Lecture, The James S. Coleman Memorial Lecture, University of California, Los Angeles, April 29, 2019.
“The Female King of Nigeria,” Invited Presentation, “Coffee With the Profs,” Michigan State University Alumni Association, Michigan State University, April 6, 2015.
Media Appearances
“Another Africa | A New Day | Part 2,” Discussion with Host Priscilla Nyenator, Focus on Liberia, June 2, 2024.
“Another Africa | A New Day | Part 1,” Discussion with Host Priscilla Nyenator, Focus on Liberia, May 5, 2024.
“My study of African elite women originated from my wanting to present a counter narrative to the problematic histories about African women. I wanted to tell the whole story” — Nwando Achebe. “Scholar Spotlight: Nwando Achebe,” Elite Africa Project, 2024.
“Weekend Deal: 15 Minutes Studio With Nwando Achebe,” Studio Discussion Programme with Elizabeth and Nwando Achebe, Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Abuja, October 18, 2015.
“One on One With Prof. Nwando Achebe,” interviewed by Samuel Adogamhe Sanni of SD Productions, Thought Pyramid Art Centre, Abuja, October 16, 2015.
“Morning Live” interviewed by Leanne Manas, South African Broadcasting Cooperation (SABC), November 7, 2013.
British Broadcast Cooperation (BBC) Documentary, “Chinua Achebe: A Hero Returns,” BBC, February 18, 2009.
Podcasts
The Royal Studies Podcast, African Queenship Episode 1: Interview with Nwando Achebe and Lydia Amoah, October 03, 2025. In this episode, host Ellie Woodacre interviews two scholars who work on African queenship: Professor Nwando Achebe and Lydia Amoah. We discuss the distinctive features of African queenship with many rich and fascinating examples of powerful royal women from across African history from ancient Egypt and Kush to the recent death of the Asantehemaa in Ghana.
“The Kingdom Behind Glass” on Throughline, NPR, January 30, 2025. Nwando Achebe answers the question, “Who owns stolen art?”
The Black Studies Podcast, a Mellon-funded series of conversations examining the history of Black Studies, January 20, 2025.
“Prof. Nwando Achebe in Conversation with Ndirangu Wachanga” on Wachanga Productions, December 11, 2024. Nwando Achebe discusses her book Female Monarchs and Merchant Queens in Africa.
“ALLES ZERFÄLLT” [Things Fall Apart] created by Johannes Gelich, January 4, 2024. Nwando Achebe made a guest appearance on a German language program about Chinua Achebe.
“Female Monarchs and Merchant Queens in Africa: Professor Achebe,” on Rocking Our Priors hosted by Dr. Alice Evans. African societies have historically respected women’s authority, spiritual power, physical strength, and moral judgement. Their cosmology upholds gender complementarity. Dr. Nwando Achebe and Dr. Alice Evans discuss pre-colonial gender relations across Africa.
“The Invisible Hand,” made by Georgina Savage, Sophie Seyd, and Esa Williams, 2021. At the intersection of environmental and humanitarian issues, this documentary features conversations with world renowned scholars who have spent their lives dedicated to asking critical questions about the history and politics of Africa and the ongoing effects of race, class and gender in shaping contemporary issues.
“Stuff the British Stole–Blood Art,” Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Radio National Podcast, November 28, 2020.
New Books in African Studies: Female Monarchs and Merchant Queens in Africa. New Books Network. August 10, 2020.
New Books in African Studies: Holding the World Together: African Women in Changing Perspective. New Books Network. August 5, 2020.
“Citing Africa #6—Identifying the Right Journal for your Work,” LSE Podcasts, May 30, 2019.
“Dealing with Rejection in Academia,” LSE Podcasts, June 13, 2019.
“AHR Interview: A Special Four-Part Series on the Film Black Panther, with Nwando Achebe, Tanisha Ford, Andre Carrington and Sean Jacobs.” American Historical Association, 4 tracks, 1 hour 26 minutes, July 10, 2018.
British Broadcast Corporation (BBC) World Service, “The History Hour,” BBC premier, July 23, 2016.
“Africa in Translation: What’s Love Got to Do with it?” Africa Writes 2015 at the British Library, July 3, 2015.
“A Female King: Gender and Oral History in Eastern Nigeria.” Africa Past & Present: A Podcast about African History, Culture, and Politics. Episode 65. September 6, 2012.
New Books in Gender Studies: The Female King of Colonial Nigeria: Ahebi Ugbabe. New Books Network. June 29, 2012.
Magazines
“”A People’s Historian”—Nwando Achebe is an award-winning historian who focuses on oral history in the study of women, gender, and sexuality in Nigeria. She has emerged as a strong voice for West African history,” The Engaged Scholar Magazine, (Cover Page feature), THE ENGAGED SCHOLAR MAGAZINE focuses on collaborative partnerships between Michigan State University and its external constituents/partners, forged for mutual benefit and learning, with an emphasis on research. Volume 13, 2018.
Popular Cultural
“56A Nigerian-American scholar who wrote 2005’s Farmers, Traders, Warriors, and Kings,” Matt Gafney’s Weekly Crossword Contest #831, Friday, May 3rd, 2024.
