Re Membering Kenya Vol 2

Out of the first series of public lectures titled (Re)membering Kenya organised by the Volume editors together with Twaweza Communications and supported by the Goethe Institut Kenya, The Ford Foundation and the Institute for International Education, and whose key outcome was the publication of Remembering Kenya Vol.1 (2010) grew a second round of lecture series. The second series took cognisance of the fact that the problems that bedevil Kenya as a nation go far beyond questions of culture and identity that Volume 1 dealt with. Thus, the second presentations revolved mainly around issues of economics, governance and power. The awareness of the role and/or lack of equity and social justice in causing Kenya's persistent problems informed all these presentations. Issues of how to bring marginalised groups into the mainstream were discussed. This Volume, in part, arises from the second presentations. The authors of chapters attempt to provide answers to the question: what entails (re)membering in post-conflict Kenya? From their work, it is clear that there is a lot to (re)member in Kenya, and many ways in which to reconfigure project Kenya. (Re)membering is re-thinking and reorganising our ways of doing things. It entails a juggling of priorities; between peace and reconciliation, peace and justice, and seeking justice and reconciliation without undermining peace, all of which are arduous exercises. Reconciling misconceptions about places, issues and people is part of this reconstitution too. New pathways require being embraced, past mistakes (individual and collective) acknowledged and giving earnest meaning to the vow 'never again!' Yet, as observed in this Volume, Kenyans must be vigilant against individuals and groups that have often resisted change. There are also material constraints to the achievement of the various economic activities that come with reconfiguring the Kenyan nation. Worse still there exist certain cultural underpinnings that continue to have a debilitating effect on efforts to forge a sustainable peace after conflict. These aspects require deep reflection and honest work. In part, the contributors to this Volume suggest how it can be done. There is a hint in these chapters that we need to find new organizing spaces and principles on which a 'new' Kenya can move forward. Equally, debating the very meanings of social justice and reconciliation against the background of potential conflict should be a project of this endeavor. Questioning and identifying where impunity begun is key to this process. In doing so, we begin liberating ourselves from Kenyan society's deep-rooted impunity. (Re)membering Kenya, after all, calls for a reconstruction of 'the journey to the conflict' in order to find the right balance between the right of remembrance and the duty of forgetfulness.

One of the critical questions that Kenyans have continuously asked is what went wrong in January and February 2008 with the peace they had hitherto enjoyed. There have not been readily available answers to this fundamental question. The collection of papers presented in this book attempt to provide, as a starting point, possible explanations for the events of early 2008 including key background issues in Kenyan history since pre-independence times. Based on a series of public lectures titled (Re)membering Kenya organized by the volume editors together with Twaweza Communications and sponsored by the Goethe-Institut Kenya, the Institute for International Education and The Ford Foundation the lecture series became a way of trying to get scholars to engage meaningfully with the Kenyan public on critical matters pertaining to their nationhoodeven if this entailed first calling to question the lie about the very ideas and practices upon which that nationhood is assumed to stand. A key lesson drawn from the unfolding discussions at the Goethe-Institut Kenya was that the 2007 elections debacle was merely the cusp of momentous crises to do with among other issues, governance, law and order, Parliaments abdication of its role in ensuring accountability from the Executive, dilemmas of identity and socio-economic marginality. The book is the first of three volumes under the (Re)membering Kenya series whose overall objective is to cast some new light on the various trajectories that informed the happenings of January 2008. The present volume brings together some of the best interpretative writing and suggestions on pertinent questions, past and present, ranging from the architecture of Kenyas ethnicity, Kenyanness, generational competition, socialization and violence, iconic representations of identity to the ongoing debate on the efficacy of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC). It is hoped that the issues debated during the public lectures and documented herein will spur further discussions in other spaces within civil society organizations, among activists and in newspapers where the public might continue to expand their thinking on the complex task of (Re)membering Kenya.

One of the critical questions that Kenyans have continuously asked is what went wrong in January and February 2008 with the "peace" they had hitherto enjoyed. There have not been readily available answers to this fundamental question. The collection of papers presented in this book attempt to provide, as a starting point, possible explanations for the events of early 2008 including key background issues in Kenyan history since pre-independence times. Based on a series of public lectures titled (Re)membering Kenya organized by the volume editors together with Twaweza Communications and sponsored by the Goethe-Institut Kenya, the Institute for International Education and The Ford Foundation the lecture series became a way of trying to get scholars to engage meaningfully with the Kenyan public on critical matters pertaining to their nationhoodóeven if this entailed first calling to question the "lie" about the very ideas and practices upon which that nationhood is assumed to stand. A key lesson drawn from the unfolding discussions at the Goethe-Institut Kenya was that the 2007 elections' debacle was merely the cusp of momentous crises to do with among other issues, governance, law and order, Parliament's abdication of its role in ensuring accountability from the Executive, dilemmas of identity and socio-economic marginality. The book is the first of three volumes under the (Re)membering Kenya series whose overall objective is to cast some new light on the various trajectories that informed the happenings of January 2008. The present volume brings together some of the best interpretative writing and suggestions on pertinent questions, past and present, ranging from the architecture of Kenya's ethnicity, Kenyanness, generational competition, socialization and violence, iconic representations of identity to the ongoing debate on the efficacy of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC). It is hoped that the issues debated during the public lectures and documented herein will spur further discussions in other spaces within civil society organizations, among activists and in newspapers where the public might continue to expand their thinking on the complex task of (Re)membering Kenya.

Education is considered key for societies to achieve greater social cohesion and equality. Yet, schools, as the main providers of formal education, have increasingly come into question concerning their role in manifesting and perpetuating social categorisations, inequalities and discrimination instead of decreasing existing fragmentations and challenging power relations and hierarchies. As a diverse society, Kenya is faced with power struggles and rivalries between different groups - for instance, along ethnic lines, often constructed deep in colonial history. This affects teaching and learning in school and the result is that Kenya is faced with vast disparities in terms of educational access and success - rendering some social groups marginalised and others favoured. Positioning Diversity at Kenyan Schools explores the ways in which teachers in Kenyan primary and secondary schools experience and deal with social categorisations and diversity in terms of ethnicity, gender, wealth, culture, religion, etc. in their professional practice and in the current education system. Using critical pedagogy and diversity theory as a lens for positioning diversity in Kenyan schools, the questions that this book sets out to answer are: In what ways do the teachers' and schools' practices lead to transformation in terms of more social equality and less discrimination? In what ways do the practices manifest existing group categorisations, hierarchies and discrimination? How can schools and teaching practices in postcolonial Kenya become more inclusive and foster social cohesion and equality?

Disability in Africa has received significant attention as a dimension of global development and humanitarian initiatives. Little international attention is given, however, to the ways in which disability is discussed and addressed in specific countries in Africa. Little is known also about the ways in which persons with disabilities have advocated for themselves over the past one hundred years and how their needs were or were not met in locations across the continent. Kenya has been on the forefront of disability activism and disability rights since the middle of the twentieth century. The country was among the first African states to create a legal framework addressing the rights of persons with disabilities, namely the Persons with Disabilities Act of 2003. Kenya, however, has a much longer history of institutions and organizations that are dedicated to addressing the specific needs of persons with disabilities, and substantial developments have occurred since the introduction of the legal framework in 2003. Disability and Social Justice in Kenya: Scholars, Policymakers, and Activists in Conversation is the first interdisciplinary and multivocal study of its kind to review achievements and challenges related to the situation of persons with disabilities in Kenya today, in light of the country’s longer history of disability and the wide range of local practices and institutions. It brings together scholars, activists, and policymakers who comment on topics including education, the role of activism, the legal framework, culture, the impact of the media, and the importance of families and the community.

The book offers a critical analysis of legitimacy in peacebuilding, with a focus on peace negotiations and civil society participation in particular. The aim of this book is to unpack the meaning of legitimacy for the population in peacebuilding processes and the relationship this has with civil society involvement. There is a growing consensus for addressing local concerns in peacebuilding, with the aim of ensuring local ownership. Moreover, scholars have noted a relationship between civil society inclusion in peace negotiations and legitimacy. Yet, the very idea of legitimacy remains a black box. Using data from original empirical fieldwork – including over 100 semi-structured interviews and 12 focus group discussions – the book focuses on two case studies of negotiations that, respectively, ended a long civil war in Liberia in 2003 and ended the post-election violence in Kenya in 2008. It argues that civil society involvement is conceptually insufficient to show a multidimensional understanding of legitimacy. Instead, the book shows a complex picture of legitimate peace negotiations, based on outcome and participation-based characteristics with the involvement of both ‘guarantors’ of legitimacy and a more general civic agency which includes the general population. Through forms of participative communication, the passive audience become active stakeholders in the construction of legitimacy. This has repercussions for how we think about civil society and peacebuilding more generally. This book will be of much interest to students of peacebuilding, conflict resolution, security studies and IR in general.

Zarina Patel is a writer, artist, human rights and race relations activist, environmentalist and campaigner for social justice. She is a leading authority on Kenyan South Asian history, and editor of the journal Awaaz, which focuses on South Asian history and culture in the national context. The book chronicles Zarina's multi-dimensional life. Although she was born and raised in an upper middle class family, she rejected opulence and sought personal liberty and fullfillment by identifying with multi-ethnic and multi racial groups that were struggling for human rights and freedom from exploitation and domination in Kenya. Additionally, her multi-dimensional life bears witness to the harsh realities that women in African and Asian communities face: the lack of independence to choose whom to marry, whether to have children, adherence to a particular religion, to name a few. Her dissent liberated her from the shackles of patriarchal Asian society, but also drew her to Kenyans of similar character and thinking. Zarina's biography echoes the lives of many women around the world playing a multitude of roles - as wives, mothers and professional women - who have struggled and have had to give up part of their dreams in order to succeed in each of these roles.

The media plays an intricate role in the political economy of developing nations as it conveys the social issues and impacts of a government’s legislation and policy. However, information is often miscommunicated or biased in emergent economies as media owners often tailor news and advertisements to promote their own agendas rather than meet the needs of citizens. Political Influence of the Media in Developing Countries analyzes the use and structure of media in political forums in developing nations. Featuring research on the effects of the media on news consumption and the professional and ethical difficulties journalists and editors face in the dissemination of political messages, this publication is an essential reference source for policy makers, academicians, politicians, students, and researchers interested in the adoption of various media formats used to promote the political environment and civic engagement within developing countries.