Episode 45: Nana Yaa Asantewaa

We’re back with Season 5 of the Dead Ladies Show Podcast! And we kick things off with a fierce leader, the legendary Nana Yaa Asantewaa, a West African queen who led a war against the British in pre-colonial times. The also impressive writer and activist Sharon Dodua Otoo presents her story from the courtyard stage at Berlin’s ACUD as we celebrated an open-air return to live shows. 

Sharon gives us historical and cultural context for the brave and wise leadership of the Asante ruler Nana Yaa Asantewaa, who was born in 1840, and was already a skilled farmer and mother before ascending to the title of Queen Mother in the 1880s. She defended the Asante treasure and emblem of power, the sacred Golden Stool, from the colonialist British governor, heading an army of 5,000 at the age of 60.

DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire joins producer/host Susan Stone to introduce Sharon and our new season. 

Find our more on Nana Yaa Asantewaa and Sharon Dodua Otoo at our show notes page here: https://deadladiesshow.com/podcast/

Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon.

Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month. 

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The Dead Ladies Show is a series of entertaining and inspiring talks about women who achieved amazing things against all odds, presented live in Berlin and beyond. This podcast is based on that series. Because women's history is everyone's history.

The Dead Ladies Show was founded by Florian Duijsens and Katy Derbyshire.

The podcast is created, produced, edited, and presented by Susan Stone.

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