3rd Annual ONGEA East African Music Summit, Feb. 15-18 2018 @ Sarit Centre Expo Hall – Westlands

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Dates: February 15-18, 2018
Venue: Sarit Centre Expo Hall – Westlands
Time: from 12 noon Daily
Entry: Free

About
ONGEA-The Eastern Africa Summit aims to Action the collaborative Development of the Eastern Africa Music Industry, via Trade Exhibition, panel discussions and Artist showcases. Held annually in February, ONGEA! seeks to enlist increased participation from the wider music industry in the region, to market Eastern Africa Music as a trading block.

The third Edition of the annual summit will be held in February (15-18, 2018) in Nairobi, Kenya.

For more information, visit their Facebook event page.

BIEA Annual PhD Conference: Centres and Peripheries – Rethinking binaries in Kenya & East Africa, Oct. 31 2015 @ BIEA

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Date: October 31, 2015
Venue: British Institute in Eastern Africa, Laikipia Road, Kileleshwa
Location: http://www.biea.ac.uk/find-us/
Entrance: Free

About
Scholarship on Africa in the social sciences and humanities has long wrestled with the distinction between centre and periphery, across diverse contexts and historical periods. Whether applied to the broad conceptualisation of the ‘Global South’s’ place in a capitalist world order, or the relationship between African cities and their rural environs, or the significance of what Murray Last and others termed ‘deep rurals’ for a myriad of pre-colonial political orders, trade routes and state systems across the wider region, centre-periphery tensions and confluences have long been a powerful problematic underlying African studies.

Increasing recognition of the historical, social, cultural and political significance of the shifting realities of life across sub-Saharan Africa, the mobility of migrants, and the waxing and waning spread of ideas, religious movements and different forms of political organisation and sociality, has provoked social scientists, historians and archaeologists to look beyond static models of social life in order to understand regional connections, power fluctuations and mutating political thought in Kenya, eastern Africa and beyond. Yet within this broader re-focusing of attention upon ‘trans-regional’ flows, connections and mobilities, ‘centre and periphery’ tensions have shown little sign of going away any time soon. Recent critical theory has framed ‘Africa’ – too often still re-imagined as an undifferentiated whole – as a (peripheral) zone of experimentation for neo-liberal forms of statecraft. In Kenya, in particular, the reality of a new constitution and devolved political structure has revived older discussions of ‘centre and periphery’ in academic and other spaces. Similarly, studies of urban social movements and state power continue to find in notions of ‘centre and periphery’ a model to think through competing forms of protest and governance in Kenya, the region and the wider continent.

If ‘centres and peripheries’ have found new political and social salience in Kenya, and across eastern Africa, through a new politics of constitutionalism and devolution, as well as in activist and protest contexts, they have also had an energising and constraining influence on the process of doing research. What and where is ‘the field’ in which the researcher ‘works’? For what reasons and how are particular ‘sites’ identified and chosen? How does the researcher get there? For whom does the researcher research/write? And to what extent are researchers complicit in the reification of particular boundaries through which specific ‘centres’ and peripheries’ are constantly being reconstituted. These questions are pertinent to anyone who does research in East Africa, concerning as it does, town and country, home and away.

The forthcoming PhD conference will offer emerging research scholars and PhD candidates working in Kenya and East Africa an opportunity to re-consider the legacy, significance and use of notions of ‘centre-periphery’ as they relate to their research. We welcome submissions across a range of disciplines and themes, including, but not limited to: Archaeology, History, Anthropology, Sociology, Political Science, Geography, Literary, linguistic and Cultural studies.

RVI Nairobi Forum: IGAD and Somalia, Oct. 25 2013 @ KICC

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Date: Friday 25 October 2013
Venue: The Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC), Safari Lounge – Ground Floor
Time: 9:30 am – 12pm
Entrance is by prior registration only. Register here

Chair: Jan-Petter Holtendahl, Royal Norwegian Embassy, Nairobi
Panellists: Ambassador Mahboub Maalim – Executive Secretary, IGAD, Ambassador Mohamed Ali – Somalia’s Ambassador to Kenya

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) aims to promote peace, security, prosperity and economic integration in Eastern Africa. Since 2004, it has been active in supporting the re-establishment of a sovereign government in Somalia.

On 25 October 2013, the RVI Nairobi Forum is convening a distinguished panel of speakers to reflect on IGAD’s past and future role in Somalia. Ambassador Mahboub Maalim, the Executive Secretary of IGAD, will be the keynote speaker. He will be joined on the panel by Ambassador Mohamed Ali, Somalia’s Ambassador to Kenya. The meeting will be chaired by Jan-Petter Holtendahl, Counsellor for Somali Affairs for the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Nairobi.

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Course: Technology and Social Change by Nick Martin, Sept. 11 2013 @ Frankie’s at the Green House

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What is cooking in the Technology and Social Change sectors?
TechChange and Amani Institute are excited to co-host a happy hour to welcome TechChange founder and President Nick Martin to Nairobi where he will be teaching a short course on Technology and Social Change as part of the Amani Social Innovation Management curriculum. Since this is a small world, we are curious to see how many degrees of separation are between our networks and how we can continue weaving a tapestry of change!
Hope you can join us on Wednesday Sept 11th at 7 – 9 pm

facebook page of the event

Conference: Sheng Language in Kenya – Structure, Uses & Pedagogy, Jul. 16 2013 @ IFRA

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Date: July 16, 2013
Venue: IFRA-Nairobi
Time: 10am-1pm
Entry: Prior RSVP at seminars@ifra-nairobi.net

Sheng emerged in the 1960s in the multicultural environment of Nairobi. It is an urban language which combines mainly Kiswahili and English but also other Kenyan languages such as Kikuyu, Luyha, Dholuo and Kikamba. Sheng is characterized by an important linguistic flexibility. It does not have an official status even if it is widely spoken, especially by the youth. Originally used as a vehicular language between people from different regions, it is increasingly becoming a vernacular language, some people born in the 1980s or later speaking Sheng as their first language.

Studies on Sheng describe the codes functions as falling somewhere between secret uses, in its extreme registers, and a general lingua franca purpose. This use as a lingua franca is perceived to neutralize the formality of standard Swahili – regarded as difficult – while at the same time countering the parochial aspects of using ethnic languages. However, current research appears to indicate that Sheng has overrun its original domains and registers: it now permeates the entire sociolinguistic landscape of Kenya.

The conference will be chaired by Prof. Fredrick K. Iraki (United States International University, Nairobi) and facilitated by Claude Frey (Université de Paris 3, French Embassy in Nairobi).

“Linguistic and sociolinguistic description of Sheng” by Aurelia Ferrari (French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, France). This presentation focuses on phonological, morphological, syntactical and lexical characteristics of Sheng and languages practices/representations in Nairobi. It will also include a brief discussion on artistic uses of Sheng (in hip hop music, literature, mchongwano since Sheng is part of popular culture in Nairobi.

“The rise and rise of Sheng: language and identity in modern Kenya” by Prof. Chege Githiora (Kenyatta University, and School of Oriental and African Studies, UK). Based on recent and ongoing research, this presentation explores the implications of the Sheng phenomenon for school curricula, language use, national identity, and language policy and implementation in Kenya.

“Sheng and Language Pedagogy” by Prof. Peter Githinji (Ohio University, Athens USA). This presentation discusses the issue of language pedagogy and exam performance, exploring the challenges posed by Sheng in teaching Swahili in foreign institutions; it asserts that dealing with language pedagogy issues should involve collaborative efforts between teachers of Swahili in Kenya and abroad.

Naipolitans v8: Experiencing Nairobi across 12 Neighborhoods, Mar. 8 2013 @ Alliance Francaise

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Date: March 8, 2013,
Venue: 3rd Floor, Alliance Française, Utalii Lane
Time: 6-8 pm (event starts 6.30pm sharp)

What makes Nairobi, Nairobi?
This question will be the focus of this month’s conversation as Joy Mboya and Judy Ogana of the GoDown Arts Centre tell us about the Centre’s Nairobi Project which takes the question of identity and belonging in the city to the neighbourhood level.

The Project will support the 12 neighbourhood zones of Nairobi explore questions such as:

+ Who are we at a neighbourhood level?
+ What do we care about?
+ And what elements make my neighbourhood feel like a community?
Collectively, these neighbourhoods will be responding to the question “Nai ni Who?”

Come hear more about this project and take part in a conversation that delves into the question of what makes up Nairobi’s identity and how best to showcase these elements.

In what zone is your neighbourhood?
Zone 1: Central Business District
Zone 2: GoDown, Railway, Nairobi West, South B/C, Mukuru
Zone 3: Kamkunji, Shauri Moyo, Kaloleni, Ofafa Jericho
Zone 4: Buruburu, Kariobangi South, Umoja, Tena, Doonholm
Zone 5: Pumwani, Eastleigh, Pangani, Kariakor, Ziwani, Starehe
Zone 6: Mathare, Koch, Dandora, Kariobangi North, Babadogo
Zone 7: Muthaiga, Karura Forest, Gigiri
Zone 8: Ngara, Parklands
Zone 9: Lavington, Kileleshwa, Spring Valley, Kawangware-Kangemi, Dago-Junction
Zone 10: Kilimani, Upper Hill, Ngumo, Golf Course
Zone 11: Kibera, Ngei, Kenyatta Market, Dam
Zone 12: Karen, Lang’ata, Nairobi National Park

Find more info here

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Business Conversation with Henry Njoroge: ICT as an enabling pillar for investment in Africa, Feb 6 2013 @ Business Lounge, Junction Mall

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The Business Conversation is a monthly forum created by the Business Lounge where young entrepreneurs and business people can interact with various personalities who have had a track record of exceptional leadership, management and entrepreneurial experiences.

Mr. Henry Njoroge, the founder and CEO of Xtranet is the guest speaker for the next forum scheduled for 6th/Feb/2013 whose theme is: ICT as an enabling pillar for investment in Africa.

Mr. Henry Njoroge works to expand the information technology sector of Kenya and currently runs Xtranet Communications, which aims to capture the growing opportunities in value added services arising out of the rapid growth of mobile telephony penetration and the coming of the fiber optic cable of East Africa Coast this year. He hopes to provide employment to hundreds of jobless youth in Kenya through initiatives such as call centers, outsourcing and business process engineering.

He is also a trustee of the Kenya Youth Business Trust, a non-profit organization affiliated to Youth Business International, whose aim is to empower the poorest of the poor through entrepreneurship by giving microloans. Mr. Njoroge was previously CEO of Openview Business Systems and has also established and expanded several other IT companies in Kenya, Angola, Zambia and Uganda. With each company, he has worked to redefine ICT, the Internet, and telecommunications in Africa, making technology more widely accessible.

Date: February  6, 2013
Venue: Business Lounge, Junction Mall, 4th Floor, Ngong Road
Time: 6:00pm -9:00pm
Tickets: Advance Kshs 1,500 & Gate Kshs 2000
Reservation: 0705 980520
xtranet_poster_design_3Contacts: Email info@businesslounge.co.ke

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Kwani? Litfest, Dec. 9-16 2012 @ National Museum

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Kwani? Litfest full program

2012 Kwani? Litfest: Conversations with Writers and Artists from The Horn

The fourth edition of our biennial gathering of writers, poets, literary academics and theorists from the continent kicks off between 9th – 16th December, 2012. Titled Conversations With The Horn: Writers, Artists In Exchange, this year’s festival will host Somali poet Hadraawi, Sudanese-English novelist Jamal Mahjoub & Eritrean writer and historian Alemsegad Tefsayi to share their work with writers from other parts of the continent. These include Egyptian writer and activist Nawal El Sadaawi & Nigerian and Ghanaian novelists, Helon Habila and Kojo Laing. They will also be joined by writers from Mozambique, Namibia, and Cameroon.

Following different themes over the years at the Kwani? Litfest, this is the first time that we have invited a combination of different writers from the Horn to be part of a celebration of literature and its role in our lives. Recent developments in the region have created points of convergence that warrant intra-continental literary, artistic and intellectual conversations. To begin with, new writing has emerged in places where little writing at least in Anglophone Africa had been seen in the mainstream and hence Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa are not the only players in a global republic of letters. Some of the most recent exciting contemporary African Literature has come from the so-called countries of the Horn by writers such as Meaza Mengiste, Dinaw Mengestu, Nadifa Mohamed, Abraham Verghese, Abdulrahman Waberi & Sulaiman Addonia. These follow in the rich literary traditions set by Nuruddin Farah, Tayeb Salih and many others.

With Southern Sudan as Africa’s latest nation, the emergence of Ethiopia as a new African economic force, the gradual stabilization of Somalia and the emergence of its resulting Diasporas, new expressions and narratives can challenge the ubiquitous narrative of political crisis. Such narratives, usually driven by outsiders, have been given prominence that mask numerous other layered realities otherwise taking place in the same areas. Writers and cultural commentators from these regions are increasingly becoming prominent in producing new narratives and ideas about their homelands. We hope that this edition of the Litfest provides a platform for the sharing of ideas through lectures, panel discussions and readings. That it can be a site of debate and discussion by writers, academics and literary enthusiasts on how literature, art and culture is related to the layered realities in the countries of the Horn now and in a glorious past.

The very fact that thousands of Sudanese, Ethiopians, Eritreans, and citizens of Somalia through migration and spill-over from conflict in these regions have seeped into Kenya’s national and especially urban psyches tells us that societal relationships have emerged that are complex and fluid. That, in truth, Kenya is as much part of the East African Community as what is known as The Horn of Africa. We recognize the differences, commonalities, and imaginaries between our societies and those of the Horn. We feel that these need to be discussed through the lens of art, literature and culture, and welcome you to the 2012 edition of the Kwani? Litfest.