In this season’s premiere episode of In the Telling (Season 5, Episode 35), Miranda Mims and Steven G. Fullwood speak with renowned Zimbabwean scholar, archivist, ethnomusicologist, filmmaker, and author Joyce Jenje Makwenda, whose four decades of work document Zimbabwe’s early urban life through music, women’s histories, and community storytelling.

Raised by six parents across Gwatemba, Bulawayo, and Mbare, Joyce reflects on her grandparents’ house of ancestors and the kitchen as a sacred space built by women—where storytelling, childbirth, and remembrance intertwined to preserve family and culture. She traces how memory travels from pre-colonial hearths to township streets where jazz played by the gate, revealing how home, heritage, and everyday acts of resilience shape collective history. Her message is clear and enduring: “Documentation, documentation, documentation.”

Selected Music from the album Four Daughters: Muchato Kumusha

To learn more about our guest and her work, check out the following links:

• ​Unpacking significance of the kitchen: https://www.heraldonline.co.zw/unpacking-significance-of-the-kitchen/
• ​Zimbabwe Township Music Documentary: https://youtu.be/K-IAOlM250g?si=qKxxC7YJQfH3l4A1

📺 Watch the Full Conversation on YouTube!

We’ve launched our ⁠⁠Nomadic Archivists Project YouTube channel⁠⁠—watch this episode in living color!

For more podcasts, ⁠⁠Nomadic Archivists Project⁠⁠⁠: https://www.nomadicarchivistsproject.com/in-the-telling-podcast

Original music by Sean Bempong

Designs by Christopher Stalling