New Film Release
Making Life Sing
Making Life Sing is an intimate reflection on the life and legacy of Micere Githae Mugo, a Kenyan American legendary storyteller, fearless activist, and devoted educator. In this film, Micere Mugo leads other scholars and political and cultural activists on a powerful exploration of Kenya’s herstory, pursuit of justice, freedom, and equality, exile, and the human condition. This is a riveting story of a woman who emphasized the interconnectedness of individuals, communities, and the world, challenging us to contribute to the collective well of wellness.
Forthcoming Publications
Translation: The Trial of Dedan Kimathi
This commissioned project by East African Educational publishers will produce a Gīkūyū translation of the English version of The Trial of Dedan Kīmathi by Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Micere Githae Mugo (1976). The Gikuyu title, Igerio rīa Dedan Kīmathi will be published by East African Educational Publishers in 2021.
Micere Githae Mugo
Although we often hear of her tireless commitment to political and cultural activism, Micere Githae Mugo has played a critical role in the recovery of the voices of African subalterns. Her foundational contributions to the expressive culture and orature is a rejection of the authorized mandate to speak for the privileged and embraced the despised voices of Kenyan subalterns as her own.
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o
Although he is known primarily as a novelist and playwright, Ngugi has spent most of his career as a university professor, teaching in universities in Africa, Europe, and the United States. In this context, he has been a key participant in debates on questions of African identity, the role of culture in politics, the crisis of postcolonial society, language, and the nature and meaning of historical memory.
The Memory Project
This project seeks to examine how memory both informs and troubles debates about the nature of the postcolonial state in Africa, the practice of politics, historical recollection, and imaginative being.
Ali A. Mazrui
An author of several dozen books and hundreds of journal articles and book chapters, Ali Mazrui was one of the leading African intellectuals whose charisma and eloquence made Kenya and Africa visible on the highest echelons of intellectual. I documented his life for ten years and traveled with him in three continents.
Wole Soyinka
Very few have intervened on national, continental and global matters while faced with so much danger. Yet, Wole Soyinka has spoken truth to power at home and abroad: Sani Abacha condemned him to death in absentia. When Donald Trump became the 45th president of the United States, Soyinka denounced his American legal status and returned to the immigration his green card. His creative and theoretical works have defined literary scholarship globally.