In this blog post, we are excited to introduce our new podcast host, Bethlehem Attfield — a translator, and passionate advocate for research that speaks with communities.
Bethlehem holds a PhD in Translation Studies from the University of Birmingham, UK, where her studies have deepened her appreciation for the significance of research engagement and the role of community-led knowledge in creating meaningful impact beyond academia.
Her most recent translation of an Amharic novel by Adam Reta, Couch Grass was published last month, adding to a growing body of work that brings Global South literature to wider audiences. Previously, her translation of Yismake Worku’s book; The Lost Spell, was published in March 2022, and was shortlisted for 2022 TA First Translation Prize by the Society of Authors. In 2023, Bethlehem received the Global Africa Translation Fellowship Award 2023.
In this listening list, Bethlehem highlights some of the podcasts that have inspired her and tells us more about the upcoming Global Souths Hub podcast series.
Introducing: Bethlehem Attfield
My interest in podcasts started years ago, before they became as widespread as they are now. It began with my interest in advocating for indigenous African literature. I had always been passionate about making Ethiopian literature, mostly written in Amharic, accessible to readers around the world. This inspired me to become a translator. I then looked for a platform to share the stories and bring them to life. It was here that my interest in podcasts and audio began, as I believe oral narration can capture stories in a particularly vivid way, preserving their depth, emotion, and cultural richness.
Decolonising Access: A Global Souths Hub Podcast
Through conversations with activists, researchers, artists, and community organisers, this podcast series will explore how colonial legacies continue to shape access today.
In Decolonising Access, I ask a central question: who is the world designed for, and who does it leave out?
Decolonising Access will challenge narrow ideas of normality, access, and inclusion. By centering lived experience and global perspectives, the podcast examines how history, power, and colonial systems structure access — and what it means to dismantle those barriers, rather than simply adapt to them.
In this short listening list, I share with you some podcasts from the field that focus on academia and accessibility that have inspired me:
1. The Access Podcast
A SOAS podcast designed to bring together practitioners and policy makers to discuss the big issues of the day in relation to access, participation, success and social mobility. Episodes explore the cost of living crisis, what opportunity for all really means and more.
2. Amharic Academy
An engaging platform for Amharic language and Ethiopian culture learning. This podcast supports the learning of Amharic in a simple, engaging way. Whether you’re a beginner or brushing up your Amharic, the fun, easy-to-follow episodes will have you speaking Amharic from Day-1.
3. Radicals in Conversation
Radicals in Conversation is the monthly podcast from Pluto Press, one of the world’s oldest radical book publishers, hosted by Chris Browne. Each episode we sit down with leading authors and campaigners to bring you in-depth conversations and radical perspectives on the issues that matter the most.
4. Meri Podcast
An Ethiopian business podcast hosted by entrepreneurs Kenean and Tigabu. Each episode features brilliant entrepreneurs, exploring the strategies and stories behind their success. Their vision is to strengthen Africa’s private sector through storytelling, education, and building connections. We invite you to be part of the new movement.
5. Enabled in Academia
A podcast aimed at disabled, chronically ill and/or neurodivergent students and early career researchers. In this podcast, host Heena Sobhani chats to academics and students from different career stages about how they thrive in academia and disability, Discussions range from institutional and personal challenges, and provide helpful insights.
The first episode of the Global Souths Hub podcast on Decolonising Access is now live! Listen to episode one with Anni Domingo on ageism and doing a PhD in your 70s.
Hear more from Bethlehem’s Personal Podcast Series – A Journey to Ethiopia with a Story
These dramatised audio stories not only take you to this mysterious country but also on a time travel as early as the antiquities…
The Whip and the Lentils By Adam Reta
A young boy who finds some cultural norms very perplexing, tells this delightful story in the first person. His innocent observations and some of his expressions are hilarious.
Hatata Zara Yacob, A 17th Century Ethiopian Philosopher’s Treatise
What are the implications of Ḥatäta Zär’a Ya‛ǝqob on the history and historiography of philosophy in Africa and in a global orientation? In Search of Zera Yacob will be the first international and interdisciplinary conference on two remarkable philosophical texts from early modern Ethiopia, the Ḥatäta Zär’a Ya‛ǝqob and the Ḥatäta Walda Heywat.
An autobiographical account of Tadelech Haile Michael; from her involvement in European student’s movement, her husband’s and her role in the EPRP movement, their incarceration, his execution and her escape. Excerpt from ‘ዳኛዉ ማነዉ?’ translated by Bethlehem Attfield.
