“The Kitchen as the First Archive”

About this episode

Joyce Jenje Makwenda discusses the significance of the kitchen as a sacred space for storytelling and cultural preservation in Zimbabwe.

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…

People in this episode

Hosts: Sean Bempong, Christopher Stalling, Tanya M. Beltran

Guest: Joyce Jenje Makwenda

Topics covered

• Zimbabwean history
• music
• women's histories
• community storytelling
• memory

Keywords

• kitchen
• archive
• urban life
• heritage
• resilience

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Four Daughters: Muchato Kumusha

Books & works: The Kitchen as the First Archive, In the Telling, Four Daughters, the Full Conversation

Places: Zimbabwe, Gwatemba, Bulawayo, Mbare

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