Kenyan Cinema provides one of the most striking case studies in the growth and development of film in Eastern Africa. The film industry has grown tremendously at the turn of the 21st century. Notably, there has been a significant increase in the number of domestic film productions, film screenings, film audiences and film festivals in the country. Indeed, Kenya has become one of Africa’s major film markets. Kenyan actors, actresses and films are increasingly entering and featuring in global films and markets, and are connecting with international audiences in commercial cinemas and at major international film festivals. Adding to this impressive success is an upsurge in the number of tertiary institutions training in film and a corresponding surge in the number of students pursuing film studies in and outside the country currently. In the academic circles, interest in Kenyan Cinema as a serious scholarly subject has grown exponentially. The evolution of Kenyan Cinema scholarship is also noteworthy. Therefore, Reimagining Kenyan Cinema seeks to situate current scholarship on Kenyan Cinema within the ongoing debates in national and contemporary global film studies. It thus advocates for diverse methodologies, critical tools and theoretical perspectives in interrogating Kenyan film. This approach is premised on the realization that critical discussions on film should lead out of the films themselves towards matters of aesthetics, culture, history and society. The cumulative effect of this approach is that it allows for the presentation of a simultaneously synchronic and diachronic approach to the study of Kenyan cinema. While individual chapters will provide in-depth analyses of particular films, historical moments in Kenyan and key film texts, the chapters as a whole will cohere into a well-grounded and deeply informative collection of original contributions on the practice of Cinema in Kenya.

Studies on the aesthetic representations of atrocity the world over have taken different discursive dimensions from history, sociology, political to human rights. These perspectives are usually geared towards understanding the manifestations, extent, political and economic implications of atrocities. In all these cases, representation has been the singular concern. Cultural Archives of Atrocity: Essays on the Protest Tradition in Kenyan Literature, Culture and Society brings together generic ways of interrogating artistic representations of atrocity in Kenya. Couched on interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and cross-disciplinary approaches, essays in this volume investigate representations of Atrocity in Kenyan Literature, Film, Popular Music and other mediated cultural art forms. Contributors to this volume not only bring on board multiple and competing perspectives on studying atrocity and how they are archived but provide refreshing and valuable insights in examining the artistic and cultural interpellations of atrocity within the socio-political imaginaries of the Kenyan nation. This volume forms part of the growing critical resources for scholars undertaking studies on atrocity within the fields of ethnic studies, cultural studies, postcolonial studies, peace and conflict, criminology, psychology, political economy and history in Kenya.

Studies on the aesthetic representations of atrocity the world over have taken different discursive dimensions from history, sociology, political to human rights. These perspectives are usually geared towards understanding the manifestations, extent, political and economic implications of atrocities. In all these cases, representation has been the singular concern. Cultural Archives of Atrocity: Essays on the Protest Tradition in Kenyan Literature, Culture and Society brings together generic ways of interrogating artistic representations of atrocity in Kenya. Couched on interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and cross-disciplinary approaches, essays in this volume investigate representations of Atrocity in Kenyan Literature, Film, Popular Music and other mediated cultural art forms. Contributors to this volume not only bring on board multiple and competing perspectives on studying atrocity and how they are archived but provide refreshing and valuable insights in examining the artistic and cultural interpellations of atrocity within the socio-political imaginaries of the Kenyan nation. This volume forms part of the growing critical resources for scholars undertaking studies on atrocity within the fields of ethnic studies, cultural studies, postcolonial studies, peace and conflict, criminology, psychology, political economy and history in Kenya.