Samson K. Ndanyi is a historian of eastern Africa who studies the region鈥檚 histories of expressive cultures, especially cinema in colonial and postcolonial eras. His first book, (Lexington Books, 2022) explores the socio-political history of instructional cinema in colonial Kenya. He is at work on another book entitled Cinema, Homosexuality, and Power in Kenya, which examines the politics of cinema production, especially the constitutionality of free speech in cinema production and the right of representation. His other published works include:
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
鈥,鈥 Southern Journal for Contemporary Africa 46: 2 (2021):4-23
鈥.鈥 Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies 42:2 (2021)
鈥.鈥 Kenya Studies Review Journal (KSR) Volume 8 Issue 2 (2020).
鈥.鈥 Africa Zamani, No. 27 (2019): 111-136.
鈥楳au Mau鈥: Visualizing Mau Mau War in Colonial Kenya, 1953-60.鈥 Journal of Black Culture and International Understanding 3 no. 1&2 (2017 漏 2019): 5-28.
鈥溾業mmoral in Dress鈥: Children, Clothes, and Cinema in Colonial Kenya,鈥 Journal of African Interdisciplinary Studies 1, no. 3, (Dec. 2017): 24-40.
鈥淩ead Africans, Decenter Scholarship.鈥 Africa Today 63, no. 2 (winter 2016): 112-116.
鈥溾楪od Was With Us:鈥 Child Labor in Colonial Kenya, 1922鈥1950s.鈥 3, no. 1 (2016): 1-20.
Peer-Reviewed Book Chapters
鈥淎 Film is Banned if the Ladies Say So鈥: Women and Film Censorship in Colonial Kenya, 1912 -1963.鈥 In Transformations in Africana Studies: History, Theory, and Epistemology. Edited by Adebayo Oyebade (New York: Routledge, 2023).
鈥淭his is Our Problem鈥: Gender in Kenya鈥檚 Cinema Industry. In Gender and Sustainable Development in Africa. Edited by Maurice Amutabi and Elinami Veraeli Swai (Nairobi, Kenya: Centre for Democracy, Research and Development. CEDRED, 2020).
鈥淩eassessing Jomo Kenyatta鈥檚 Crackdown on Theatre for Education and Development.鈥 In Kenya After 50: Reconfiguring Education, Gender, and Policy. Edited by Mickie Mwanzia Koster, Michael Mwenda Kithinji, and Jerono P. Rotich. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 2016.
Book Reviews
Thomas, W. Michael. Popular Ethiopian Cinema: Love and Other Genres. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2023. African Studies Review (2023)
Switzer, D. Heather. When the Light is Fire: Maasai Schoolgirls in Contemporary Kenya. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2018. African Studies Review 1-3 (2020). doi:10.1017/asr.2020.82
Fair, Laura. Reel Pleasures: Cinema Audience and Entrepreneurs in Twentieth-Century Urban Tanzania. Urban Tanzania. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 2018. Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies 42:1 (2020).
Spiers, Edward. . Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 2013. Journal of Retracing Africa 2, no.1 (2015).
Online Scholarly Platforms
鈥淜enya Slides Back into Authoritarianism.鈥 The African Exponent. April 18, 2023.
鈥.鈥 The Conversation. February 21, 2019.
鈥.鈥 Africa is a Country, April 6, 2018.
鈥.鈥 Africa is a Country, September 12, 2017
鈥淜enya鈥檚 Supreme Court Justices Willing to Pay the Ultimate Price for Kenya and 础蹿谤颈肠补.鈥 Africa Cradle, October 21, 2017
Courses Taught
At 星空无限传媒, he teaches courses in African history, Africana Studies, and World history.
- Traditional Africa (before 1800. Survey)
- Modern Africa (1800-present. Survey)
- Ganja: A Global History of Marijuana (World history Survey).
- Ocean Pirates and Piracy: A Global History (World history Survey).
- Diseases and Healing in Africa
- Black Cinema
- Black Protests (upper level)
- United States-Africa Relations
- Political Conflicts in Africa
- Sex and Death in African films
Africana Studies Program
- Introduction to Africana Studies
- Black Diaspora
- Cinema in Africa