Mshai Mwangola

Mshai Mwangola
Mwangola in Abuja 2025 at the ECOWAS 50th Anniversary
CitizenshipKenyan
EducationPhD
Alma materKenyatta University, University of Melbourne, Northwestern University
OccupationsAcademic, performance studies scholar, and activist
SpouseJohn Githongo

Mshai Mwangola (also written Mshaï Mwangola) is a Kenyan oraturist, performance scholar, actor, director, and activist who leverages culture and storytelling for academic research, pedagogy, and social advocacy.[1][2][3]

Early Life and education

Mwangola holds several degrees from universities across three continents. She earned a Bachelor of Education from Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya.[4] She obtained a Masters of Creative Arts from the University of Melbourne in Melbourne, Australia.[5] She earned a Doctorate degree in Performance studies from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, US.[4][5] Her doctoral thesis, titled Performing Our Stories, Performing OurSelves, focused on Kenya's "Uhuru Generation" and the idea of a generational historical mission.[2]

Career and academic work

Mwangola is a founding member of think tanks such as The Elephant and The Orature Collective.[6] She is affiliated with the African Leadership Centre in Nairobi as an adjunct faculty member and with the Council of the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) as an Executive Committee member.[1][2]

Mwangola served as the Research and Communication Officer for the African Peacebuilding Hub (APN-Hub), a joint programme of the African Leadership Centre (Nairobi) and the African Peacebuilding Network (SSRC, New York City). In this role, she coordinated APN-Hub programmes, including a working group on Leadership and Peacebuilding.[7]

In 2012, she delivered a TEDxNairobi talk titled "Reconnecting our past with the future."[8]

Leadership and public engagement

Mwangola is an Executive ccommittee member of the CODESRIA.[1] She is also the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees for Uraia Trust.[9] Her public service engagement extends to the Society for International Development (SID) where she serves as the Vice President of the Transitional Council,[1] and the Governing Council of the Kenya Cultural Centre where she currently serves as Chairperson.[10]

Kenya Heroes classify Mwangola as an extraordinary performer who "blends creativity, advocacy, and research to inspire change.[11]

Personal life

Mshai Mwangola is married to John Githongo, a prominent Kenyan anti-corruption activist and public figure.[12]

Selected publications

  • Bury my bones but keep my words (Chapter in Unlocking Sound and Image Heritage: Selected Readings from the 2015 SOIMA Conference, ICCROM, 2017).[13]
  • Nurturing the Fourth Generation: Defining the Historical Mission for Our Generation (Africa Development, 2008).[14]
  • Leaders of Tomorrow? The Youth and Democratisation in Kenya (Book Chapter in Kenya: The Struggle for Democracy, 2007).[15]
  • The Quilt: Towards a twenty-first-century black feminist ethnography (Performance Research, 2007, co-authored).[16]
  • Justice Be Our Shield and Defender': An Intellectual Property Rights Regime for Africa (Africa Development, 2007).[17]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d CODESRIA (2022). "Mshaï Mwangola". Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa. Retrieved 8 November 2025.
  2. ^ a b c "Mshai Mwangola". African Leadership Centre. Retrieved 8 November 2025.
  3. ^ Bukenya, Austin. "Oraturist Mshai Mwangola calls for moving Kenya’s cultural centre." *Nation Africa*, 26 February 2022. https://nation.africa/kenya/life-and-style/weekend/oraturist-mshai-mwangola-calls-for-moving-kenya-s-cultural-centre-3729504.
  4. ^ a b "Dr. Mshai Mwangola". Uraia Trust. Retrieved 8 November 2025.
  5. ^ a b "Mshaï Mwangola". Goethe-Institut. Retrieved 8 November 2025.
  6. ^ "Mshaï Mwangola – Performance scholar," Goethe‑Institut, https://www.goethe.de/prj/zei/en/exp/21813961.html. Accessed 8 November 2025.
  7. ^ "Victims, African leadership & the (international) justice system – Mshaï Mwangola". Thinking Africa. Retrieved 8 November 2025.
  8. ^ Mwangola, Mshai (13 September 2012). Reconnecting our past with the future: Mshai Mwangola at TEDxNairobi. TEDx Talks. Retrieved 8 November 2025.
  9. ^ "Dr. Mshai Mwangola". Uraia Trust. Retrieved 8 November 2025.
  10. ^ "Governing Council". Kenya Cultural Centre. Retrieved 8 November 2025.
  11. ^ "Dr. Mshai Mwangola". Kenyan Heroes. Retrieved 8 November 2025.
  12. ^ Stanford University Haas Center for Public Service (2015). The Commons (PDF). p. 7. Retrieved 8 November 2025. Rejuvenating because it has provided us with a space to withdraw from the pressure of the everyday and reflect, take stock, and plan ahead for our own continuing engagement with the work that Mshai Mwangola, and me.
  13. ^ Mwangola, Mshai S. (2017). "Bury my bones but keep my words". Unlocking Sound and Image Heritage: Selected Readings from the 2015 SOIMA Conference (PDF). ICCROM & KIK-IRPA. p. 7. ISBN 978-92-9077-264-4. Retrieved 8 November 2025.
  14. ^ Mwangola, Mshaï S. (2008). "Nurturing the Fourth Generation: Defining the Historical Mission for Our Generation". Africa Development. 33 (3): 129–134. Retrieved 8 November 2025.
  15. ^ Mwangola, Mshai S. (2007). Murunga, Godwin; Nasong'o, Shadrack (ed.). Leaders of Tomorrow? The Youth and Democratisation in Kenya. Zed Books; CODESRIA. pp. 129–163. Retrieved 8 November 2025.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
  16. ^ Mwangola, Mshaï S. (2007). "The Quilt: Towards a twenty-first-century black feminist ethnography". Performance Research. 12 (3): 55–73. Retrieved 8 November 2025.
  17. ^ Mwangola, Mshai S. (2007). "'Justice Be Our Shield and Defender': An Intellectual Property Rights Regime for Africa". Africa Development. 32 (1). Retrieved 8 November 2025.
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