Identity in formation

Kunle is well versed in the David Leighton canon and takes us on a tour through some of Leighton's principal works and findings.

You'll hear exactly why Leighton's books such as Hegemony and Culture, Linguistic Repertoires and State Construction in Africa, and Identity in Formation were timely when published and remain timeless today.

In fact, Identity in Formation, published in 1998, predicted the conflict that eventually erupted in Ukraine in 2022.

The two explored Leighton's productive and impactful collaborations with James Fearon and Alan Kruger that took flight while the three were at CASBUS, and as well as Leighton's more recent work with Stanford's Immigration Policy Lab.

And in a first for our show, we close the episode with a performance by a guest, a song of thanks by Kunle in a language and from a place that David knows very well.

a little bit outside of Africa for a while and begin to talk and think about what happens when empires break down and what happens to people living in those kind of successor or post-colonial cases.

So some listeners may be familiar with your amazing work on the post-Soviet era.

which, you know, related to your work in Africa, is both extremely timely and timeless, right? So I'm referring to your book, Identity in Formation, which I have to confess is was one of my favorite books that was on my comprehensive exam list.