AFIAfrican Feminist Initiative

Zimbabwe and Kenya: Feminist Perspectives on Violence

Zimbabwe and Kenya: Feminist Perspectives on Violence

Original Date: February 27, 2019

This Dialogue explored the recent violence in Kenya and Zimbabwe. We sought to use our collective feminist energies to better understand and/or historicize state and non-state violence in these two countries, as well as think about ways that we might push for social change.

About Dr. Shailja Patel

Shailja Patel

Dr. Shailja Patel is the bestselling author of Migritude, taught in over 100 colleges and universities worldwide. Patel’s poems have been translated into 17 languages and been featured in the Smithsonian. The Nobel Women’s Initiative honored her with a Global Feminist Spotlight. Patel is a founding member of Kenyans for Peace, Truth, and Justice, a civil society coalition that works for equitable democracy in Kenya. The African Women’s Development Fund named her as one of Fifty Inspirational African Feminists. She is currently a Research Associate at Five College Women’s Studies Research Center in Massachusetts. She tweets at @shailjapatel.

About Dr. Chipo Dendere

Dr. Chipo Dendere is a Zimbabwean born scholar of political science. She studies factors that influence party survival and democratization in the developing world. Her research draws from interviews with migrants in four countries shows that emigration plays an important role in shaping the politics of poor countries. When people emigrate their exit often bolsters undemocratic regimes. New work on social media shows a complex relationship between online behavior and support for democracy.