4 -  The Academy and its Disengagement from Popular Struggles in Kenya

Godwin R. Murunga

doi:10.57054/jhea.v8i2.1583

Abstract

This is a study of the academy and its disengagement from popular struggles in Kenya. Focusing attention on the role of faculty unions and student associations, the study identifies and describes the trajectory of engagement and concludes that the current conjuncture tends more towards disengagement from popular struggles by unions and associations, many of which are consumed by daily struggles for staff and student welfare and nothing else. Thus the pattern has moved from active participation in popular struggles against authoritarian one-party rule to the current phase in which the terrain of higher education is at a crossroads. Academics and students remain disengaged from everyday political struggles in society and the possibilities of a re-composition of the student movement and faculty union are many. The study explains why the potential for greater involvement of universities as change agents in the diverse struggles for social justice remain under-utilised.

The Academy and its Disengagement from Popular Struggles in Kenya

Cet article traite de l’université et de son désengagement des luttes populaires qu’elle menait dans le passé au Kenya. En mettant l’accent sur la situation des professeurs et des associations estudiantines, l’auteur identifie et décrit la trajectoire des luttes syndicales et sociales. Il conclut que la conjoncture actuelle tend davantage vers le désengagement de luttes populaires, tant beaucoup de syndicats et d’associations se sont épuisés dans des luttes ordinaires au quotidien. Ainsi, le modèle a évolué d’une participation active dans la lutte contre les régimes autoritaires du Parti Unique vers une période durant laquelle l’enseignement supérieur se retrouve au carrefour de l’incertitude. Des universitaires et des étudiants restent éloignés des luttes politiques quotidiennes même si les possibilités d’une recomposition du mouvement estudiantin et syndical existent. L’étude explique pourquoi la mobilisation des universités, en tant qu’agents de changement, demeure faible dans les diverses luttes sociales.

Keywords

Academy Disengagement Kenya

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Author Biography

Godwin R. Murunga, Kenyatta University and African Leadership Center, Nairobi.

Le Dr Godwin R. Murunga est le 7e Secrétaire exécutif du Conseil pour le développement de la recherche en sciences sociales en Afrique (CODESRIA). Il est également chercheur principal à l’Institute for Development Studies de l’Université de Nairobi et travaille au CODESRIA en détachement. Il est l’ancien directeur de l’African Leadership Centre (ALC) à Nairobi, un centre lancé en 2010 en tant qu’initiative conjointe du King’s College London et de l’Université de Nairobi. Le Dr Murunga a travaillé à l’ALC de 2010 à 2016, d’abord en tant que directeur adjoint, puis en tant qu’administrateur de l’ALC Trust. Il a été professeur invité au Global Institutes du King’s College de Londres de 2013 à 2016. Auparavant, de 2006 à 2011, le Dr Murunga a été membre du comité exécutif du CODESRIA. Il est titulaire d’une licence et d’une maîtrise de l’Université Kenyatta, Nairobi, ainsi que d’une maîtrise et d’un doctorat en histoire de l’Université Northwestern à Evanston, Illinois, États-Unis.

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