Seminar: Policing Contemporary Kenya-Trends, Innovations & Projections, Jul. 19 2012 @ BIEA

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Date: July 19, 2012
Venue: British Institute for East Africa (BIEA), Kileleshwa
Time: 8.30am-4pm
Entry: Prior reservation & confirmation [seminars@biea.ac.uk]

Abstract
Discussions on police reforms have been part of the public, official and academic discourses on democratization and change in Kenya for over a decade. Going back to the 1990s, the conduct of the police force has been the subject of numerous policy and academic reviews. Over the years, new actors such as private security agencies have emerged, new subjects of policing have also emerged and ideas on policing of these subjects have also evolved. However, these important changes in policing in Kenya have not received sufficient scholarly attention, leaving practitioners and researchers alike with limited optics with which to view the process of police reforms and security sector reform in general.
The one day workshop will bring together leading researchers on policing and security to share their ongoing research and to take stock of the key theoretical developments in the policing of contemporary Kenya.

The workshop is jointly convened by Mutuma Ruteere – The Centre for Human Rights and Policy Studies, Nairobi and Ambreena Manji – The British Institute in Eastern Africa, Nairobi

Seminar: Mungiki Workshop, Jul. 9 2012 @ BIEA

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Venue: British Institute in Eastern Africa
Location: Laikipia Road, Kileleshwa
Time: 8.30am – 12.15pm
Entry: RSVP with seminars@biea.ac.uk

SYNOPSIS
Even after disbanding itself in 2010, the proscribed Mungiki group seemingly remains an important factor in Kenyan society and politics. With regular appearances in the media, with the ICC trials going ahead and the Kenyan elections close on the horizon, this half-day workshop interrogates the role which the Mungiki plays in contemporary Kenya. Building on earlier and on-going research, the workshop assembles prominent Kenyan and international researchers who work on various aspects of the Mungiki.

The workshop is jointly convened by
The British Institute in Eastern Africa, Nairobi
Mutuma Rutere (The Centre for Human Rights and Policy Studies, Nairobi) and
André Sonnichsen (The Centre of African Studies, University of Copenhagen)

* Cartoon by Gado

Seminar/ Politics as Culture in Eastern Africa: Nation-Building, Neo-Liberalism and Moral Rhetoric, Jun. 14 2012 @ BIEA

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Date: Thursday 14, June 2012
Venue: British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA), Laikipia Road, Kileleshwa
Time: 10.00am – 12.00pm

Politics as Culture in Eastern Africa: Nation-Building, Neo-Liberalism and Moral Rhetoric
This workshop brings together recent studies of the cultural and rhetorical dimensions of contemporary political change in Eastern Africa. The constitution of national identity has long been studied as an inherently cultural exercise. National affiliation is sustained by a range of cultural practices in which citizens actively participate.
While critical studies have concentrated on the developmental state of the post-independence period, less attention has been directed to more recent neo-liberal state formations which have emerged in Africa under pressure from donors and the international financial institutions.

The workshop seeks to explore the dimensions of this new moral culture in the politics of East Africa. It will consider in particular the potential for contest and subversion of the dominant neo-liberal common sense, as well as earlier cultural forms and moral exemplars which are still influential in East African politics.

Papers:
1. Writing ‘Project Kenya’: Public Memory and Popular Histories in Parselelo Kantai’s Writing Grace Musila (University of Stellenbosch)
2. Satire and the Politics of Corruption in Kenya John Harrington and Ambreena Manji (BIEA)
3. Remoralizing Politics in Tanzania: Julius Nyerere as a National Icon Marie-Aude Fouéré (IFRA)

The seminar is free. To RSVP please email – kerry.kyaa@biea.ac.uk Or call 0724 576600 / 0735 260004