<i>KENYA: TWENDAPI?</i>: RE-READING ABDILATIF ABDALLA'S PAMPHLET FIFTY YEARS AFTER INDEPENDENCE

Kresse, Kai

doi:10.1017/s0001972015000996

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…What was once essentially an "external problem", radicalisation has been domesticated as a consequence of the security sector (Goldsmith 2018). As argued by Kresse (2016), the work of Chabal and Daloz (1999) on the instrumental use of disorder is relevant in this case. The Kenyan government exploits the "terrorist" problem in order to cover up its security interventions and undermine provisions in the constitution, such as freedom of speech (Kresse 2016).…”

Section: Islam and Social Networkmentioning

confidence: 96%

Countering or contributing to radicalisation and violent extremism in Kenya? A critical case study

Breidlid

2021

Critical Studies on Terrorism

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In this article, I argue that the "theological and social-psychological radicalisation model", which has been primarily used in a Western context, has influenced the strategies used by the Kenyan government to explain and combat radicalisation and terrorism. The model predominantly focuses on religion and social networks as crucial to the radicalisation process. My research in Kenya demonstrates how the underlying principles of the model are used in a non-Western context. I claim that the Kenyan government is increasingly using the model to delegate surveillance, especially to the security sector but also to some civil society actors. As illustrated in my findings, Kenya has, through specific definitions, reports and statements, contributed to the institutionalisation of the term radicalisation and its link to Islam. My argument is substantiated by an analysis of official policy documents, official statements and interviews. Paradoxically, the hard approach taken by the security sector in Kenya towards the Muslim population seems to have further fuelled radicalisation in the country. KEYWORDSTheological and socialpsychological radicalisation model; suspect communities; aarhus model; critical terrorism studies; orientalism; indicators of terrorist risk CONTACT Torhild Breidlid trhldb@oslomet.no This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

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Section: Islam and Social Networkmentioning

confidence: 96%

Countering or contributing to radicalisation and violent extremism in Kenya? A critical case study

Breidlid

2021

Critical Studies on Terrorism

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“…The Mombasan poet Abdilatif Abdalla was Kenya's earliest political prisoner, arrested and charged with sedition in 1969 for publishing a pamphlet that challenged the state's intolerance of critique (Kresse 2016). His writings, like those of fellow political prisoner Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, inspired generations of activists who dared to ask questions of their leaders.…”

Section: Histories and Ideologies Of Law And Ordermentioning

confidence: 99%

Citizen‐Suspect: Navigating Surveillance and Policing in Urban Kenya

Al-Bulushi

2021

American Anthropologist

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This article privileges the grounded geographies of the war on terror, focusing on those who grapple with its everyday policing powers. Informed by ethnographic research in the cities of Nairobi and Mombasa, I explore how Kenyan Muslim activists experience and make sense of the networked assemblages of police power that transform urban spaces into “gray zones” that fall within the ambiguous spectrum between war and peace. As US‐trained Kenyan police employ military tactics of tracking and targeting potential terror suspects in quotidian urban spaces, they rely on “pop‐up” interventions such as abductions, house raids, and makeshift checkpoints—flexible maneuvers designed to match the amorphousness of the so‐called enemy. I introduce the term citizen‐suspect to shed light on actually existing citizenship in the urban gray zone. Citizen‐suspects contend not simply with the fear and paranoia that come with subjection to surveillance and suspicion but with the knowledge that is needed to navigate the shape‐shifting geographies of transnational policing.

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“…‘Everybody came … There were endless discussions,’ he remembers 9 . Unable to go back to Kenya after three years in solitary confinement for a political pamphlet in 1972, Mombasa-born poet and activist Abdilatif Abdalla joined the Institute of Kiswahili Research at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), where he spent seven years (see Kresse 2016). He met Bgoya through his Nairobi-based brother Abdilahi Nassir, then Swahili editor of Oxford University Press (OUP) in East Africa, which had a branch in Dar es Salaam (on OUP in East Africa, see Davis 2011).…”

Section: Tph: the Golden Period Of Tanzanian Publishingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Abdilatif Abdalla, ‘one of the most renowned living Swahili poets’ (Kresse 2016: 6), has advised Bgoya on several Swahili manuscripts since the 1970s, has edited an anthology on two poets from Pemba for MnN (Abdalla 2011), and plans to release some of his own poems with MnN: We consider each other as brothers … We share socialist-inclined, anti-imperialist and Pan-Africanist beliefs … Walter is very much interested in ideas, in disseminating knowledge; publishing is a privileged [way of achieving that] … Those who experienced colonialism and later became [politically] active tend to do something which will continue the struggle. Walter is partly driven by that.…”

Section: Poor Reading Culture Versus Strong Personal Engagementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dreams and constraints of an African publisher: Walter Bgoya, Tanzania Publishing House and Mkuki na Nyota, 1972–2020

Suriano¹

2021

Africa

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This article explores the history of two Tanzanian publishing houses and the remarkable life and career of Walter Bgoya, former general manager of Tanzania Publishing House (1972–90) and managing director of Mkuki na Nyota, which he founded in 1991. Using the lens of microhistory, and drawing from extensive interviews with Bgoya and conversations with two colleagues and three authors, the article first chronicles his early life and ideological formation and what influenced his career in book publishing. It then examines the key achievements and challenges faced by these publishing houses in different times of austerity (e.g. Structural Adjustment Programmes, foreign investment with conditionalities, declining state support and high printing costs), along with the complex ways in which Bgoya has navigated the shifting, often uncertain, political, financial and legislative landscapes, while retaining his intellectual freedom and core Pan-Africanist beliefs. Constraints have not hampered Bgoya's pursuit of ambitious projects or his commitment to publishing relevant and progressive books, either written by African authors or on African matters. I suggest that reducing the scale and identifying how specific conditions of austerity have affected the choices made by a publisher over time can yield insights into the ways in which cultural institutions have contributed to knowledge production and dissemination in postcolonial Africa.

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KENYA: TWENDAPI?: RE-READING ABDILATIF ABDALLA'S PAMPHLET FIFTY YEARS AFTER INDEPENDENCE

Cited by 7 publications

References 15 publications

Countering or contributing to radicalisation and violent extremism in Kenya? A critical case study

Countering or contributing to radicalisation and violent extremism in Kenya? A critical case study

Citizen‐Suspect: Navigating Surveillance and Policing in Urban Kenya

Dreams and constraints of an African publisher: Walter Bgoya, Tanzania Publishing House and Mkuki na Nyota, 1972–2020

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