​My PhD project looks at the dynamics of popular history- and memory- making of the Mau Mau War in post-independence Kenya. I am particularly interested in understanding what popular memories of Mau Mau looked like in the years of political 'forgetting' between 1964 and 2004. The project, therefore, will examine the ways that individuals and local communities sought to remember Mau Mau, and where these memories were stored. Connected to this, I am interested in questions of land justice and how this has been a key contingency in the way that histories of the Mau Mau War have been imagined by veterans, by communities, and by the Kenyan nation as a whole.

The study hopes to go beyond the existing historiography by taking Mau Mau veterans' memories themselves as a subject of study, and by looking specifically at the ways that these memories were negotiated in the years before they became of interest to researchers and activists. As such, it will explore what history-making looked like 'from below' in post-independence Kenya.

My research centres around oral histories with Mau Mau veterans and their descendants, as well as a critical exploration of the archival fragments of the War in both the UK and Kenya. My methodology is influenced by feminist theories on participatory research interviews, and seeks to view oral histories not as static collection of data, but as dynamic parts of the history-making process themselves.

Research Interests

Kenyan history; legacies of empire and violence; public history; memory studies; history of emotions; post-colonial studies; land justice

Education

2021-2025, PhD African History, University of Warwick
2019-2021, MA Race and Resistance, University of Leeds (with Distinction)
2013-2019, BA Spanish and Portuguese, University College London (First Class Honours with Distinction)

Publications

‘Whose History? Mau Mau, Oral Histories and Decolonial Archival Futures in Kenya’, Interventions. International Journal of Postcolonial Studies, forthcoming

‘We Kept Them to Remember: Gender, personal archives and the emotional history of the Mau Mau war’, History Workshop Journal, September 2023, https://academic.oup.com/hwj/advance-article/doi/10.1093/hwj/dbad010/7259627

‘Colonial Afterlives: Land and the Emotional History of the Mau Mau War’, The Funambulist, 40, March 2022

‘Imagining Kenyan Futures through Kenyan PastsLink opens in a new window’, The Elephant, December 2021

Public Lectures, Conferences, Workshops and Seminars

‘Holding the Past in Our Hands: Personal Archives, Family Memories and African Historical Futures’, European Conference on African Studies, June 2023

‘We Can Never Go Back’: Homecoming, Loss and Claim-Making in post-Mau Mau Kenya’, Homecoming after War Conference, May 2023

Whose History? Mau Mau, Oral Histories and Decolonial Archival Futures in Kenya, Warwick Postgraduate Conference, May 2023

‘When there is no archives: decolonial archiving and oral records in Mau Mau history’, Antiracism & Decolonization in Archives & Records Management Open Classroom Series, March 2023

‘Mau Mau as History of Emotions’, University of Nairobi History and Archaeology Departmental Seminar, March 2023

Soil Sovereignty: Land and the Making of Mau Mau Histories in Post-Independence Kenya, Activisms in Africa Conference, January 2023

‘​Show and Tell: Personal archives, oral sources, and the production of history in Kenya’, From Archival Pasts Towards Archival Futures’ Workshop, November 2022

‘Crisis and Contingency: A Family History of the Mau Mau War’, History Lab Conference, July 2022

‘Mau Mau's Afterlives: Memories of War in the Post-Colonial Kenyan Landscape’, Fotomuseum Antwerp, February 2022

‘Gender, Personal Archives and the Emotional History of the Mau Mau War’, Cambridge History of Memory and Emotions Workshop, February 2022

Public Engagement, Broadcasts and Podcasts

I recently featured on the Book Bunk podcast, A Palace for the PeopleLink opens in a new window, discussing Mau Mau and memory and history.

I have been working with the Belgian photographer Max Pinckers on a long-term public project in collaboration with Mau Mau veterans. The project, which is ongoing, has been presented at the Fotomuseum of Antwerp. We recently produced an art film entitled Tall Tales, which exhibited at the Hamburg Photography Triennial in May 2022.

I recently featured on the Imperial War Museum podcast, Conflict of InterestLink opens in a new window, discussing the Mau Mau War alongside John Lonsdale, Nikita Gil and Niels Boender.

Honours and Awards

Midlands4Cities Open Doctoral Award, 2021-2025
University of Leeds Marion Sharples Prize for Best History MA Dissertation, 2021
University of Leeds History Masters Scholarship, 2019
UCL Dean's List, 2018