The Strange career of African studies: How liberalism distorts thinking and identity in Kenya

Kenya has gained international fame for the Mau Mau resistance and for the concept of decolonizing the mind. Why then, are Kenyan institutions and the public so supportive of imperial and racist agendas? Is the problem lack of identity, as we are often told?

The answer in this video is that the problem is European liberalism, which has proved very versatile and illusive in dislodging from our minds, to the point of duping Kenyans that the European concept of ethnicity is synonymous with African culture and society.

The video is based on a conference presentation made at the Moi University inaugural conference on African studies in November 2023.