GRIEF AND REST “Rest? Grief? I don’t have time for that” she said to me. Collectively we are in awakened deep generational pain. Awakening to the ways colonialism never truly ended. Awakening to the thieving of the colonial State both past and present. Awakening to the ways in which we are made disposable. Awakening to the places where trust and community are broken and need to be rebuilt. Even for…
my afrikanness is embodied and alive
When did you realise you were Afrikan? What does it mean to you? If you’re like me and grew up in an Afrikan country, you may not have realised your Afrikanness early on – you may not have had a reason to. Growing up in my small town outside of Nairobi, Afrika did not have as much salience as my neighbourhood and town. In honesty, even Nairobi was an excessively…
the seed thief resources + study list – afrikan reads book review
I have begun doing Youtube book reviews in a new series titled “Afrikan Reads”. Check out the first video on my Youtube channel, a review of the book “The Seed Thief” by Jacqui L’Ange. Let me know how you like it, subscribe for more, and here is an accompanying resource and reading list on many things seed. on seed – a resource and study list Wangũi wa Kamonji, Indigenous women…
the memory of seeds and indigenous resurgence in tharaka, kenya
“In the global North, it has become more common to declare that indigenous peoples hold the solutions to the climate crisis. Such rhetoric risks being only lip-service if solutions don’t recognise and resource indigenous-led work to repair damage to indigenous cultures, commit to indigenous resurgence and integrate the wisdom of indigenous values. After decades of shame, suppression and devaluation, much indigenous knowledge held by groups like the Tharaka has been…
why we should study afrikan history
“Tracing African pasts through the interlinked lenses of agency, possibility and imagination allows us to counter narratives of Africa as a blank slate, to challenge the privileging of whiteness and Europeanness, and to debunk myths about Africans as people who are destructive or unchanging. It allows us to illuminate diverse possibilities of human living to build on, against the hegemony of a present moment that unsees and devalues us. For…
on development (reclaiming naming worlds)
Development is a word and a world, A word from a certain kind of world Building. In an ecosystem of other words (progress, growth, sustainable development, adjustment, reforms, good governance, democracy) That makes a certain kind of world, Built for certain kinds of people Possible. What world? A world of scarcity, Of not enough Lower – on a ladder Behind – in a queue, Slow – in movement, Least –…