African Women and Intellectual Leadership Life Stories from Western Kenya

1. Kenyan women in the gendered educational arena: the case of Professor Julia Auma Ojiambo      

Marciana Nafula Were

2. Defining education, delimiting gender: Lessons from the life-story of Salome Nolega David

Fibian Kavulani Lukalo

3. Professor Miriam Khamadi Were: Pioneer Medical Educator and Health Researcher

Humphrey J. Ojwang

4. Professor Christine Mango: Pioneer Educationist, Environmentalist and Politician

Anne Nang’unda Kukali

5. Lady Justice Effie Owuor: Kenya’s First Female State Counsel, Magistrate, High Court Judge, and Court of Appeal Judge

Maurice N. Amutabi and Amanda Majisu

6. Professor Norah Khadzini Olembo - Pioneer Biotechnologist, Leading Academic and Researcher in Africa

Beatrice N. Manyasi

7. Dr. Mary Okelo: The Daughter of Canon Awori and Pioneer Founder of Private School

David Wafula Yenjela

8. Leading the Leaders: Professor Florida Amakobe Karani

Emily Achieng’ Akuno

9. Professor Mary Clasina Lutta-Mukhebi: Pioneer Educationist, Leading Linguist and University Administrator

Linnet Hamasi and Michael Lutta-Mukhebi

10. Dr. Jane Awinja Nandwa: The making of Kenya’s Founder of Oral Literature

Jane Bwonya

11. Reverend Sister Rita Itebete: the Making of a Great Teacher, School Administrator, Mentor and Role Model 

Genevieve Mwayuli

12. Priscilla Were: Pioneer Educationist and Longest Serving Principal of Bunyore Girls High School

Grace Atemi Ondieki

13. Professor Hellen Aswani Mwanzi: Lessons in Academic Excellence and Mentoring

Linnet Hamasi and Maurice N. Amutabi

14. Professor Shanyisa Anota Khasiani: Pioneer Scholar and Researcher in Population Studies         

Maurice N. Amutabi

15. Professor Teresa Akenga: The Petite Dark Girl who grew up to become a top Notch Administrator

Egara Kabaji

16. Professor Judy Wangalwa Wakhungu: Diplomat, Environmentalist, Academician

Lucy Ann Achieng

17. Professor Dame Magdalene Odundo AM (RCA): A Life in Clay

Joy Akoth Mboya and Garnette Oluoch-Olunya

18. Dr. Rachael Masake: The First Female Veterinary Surgeon in Kenya

Linnet Hamasi

19. Professor Joyce Muhenge Olenja: Spreading the Wings Abroad

Emmy Kageha Igonya and Fredrick Atoh

20. Alice Barasa Nabwera: The Making of a Successful Pioneer School Administrator

Maurice Nyamanga Amutabi

21. Professor Gladys Opinya: Kenya’s First Female Dental Surgeon

Linnet Henry Hamasi and Maurice Nyamanga Amutabi

22. The Life-Story of a great Nutrition Scholar: Professor Mary Khakoni Walingo

Maurice Nyamanga Amutabi

23. Professor Mabel Imbuga: Pioneer Educationist, Leading Researcher and Highly Successful University Administrator

Maurice N Amutabi and Linnet Hamasi

24. Honourable Professor Ruth Khasaya Barwa Oniang'o: The making of an Academic and Political Icon

Pamela Akinyi Wadende and Linnet Hamasi

Biography

Maurice Nyamanga Amutabi is Professor and Director of the Centre for Science and Technology Studies at the Technical University of Kenya (TUK), Nairobi, Kenya. He holds a PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA, as major in history and minor in political science and comparative gender. He is the author of more than 70 books and manuscripts, among them The NGO Factor in Africa: The Case of Arrested Development in Kenya (New York: Routledge, 2006) and Regime Change and Succession Politics in Africa: Five Decades of Misrule (by Maurice N. Amutabi and Shadrack Wanjala Nasongo, New York: Routledge, 2015), and more than 100 articles in refereed journals and edited books. Professor Amutabi has previously served as DVC (Academics, Research, and Student Affairs) at Kisii University and Vice Chancellor at Lukenya University, Kenya.

Emily Achieng' Akuno is Vice Chancellor of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology. A professor of music, she trained as a performer-educator at Kenyatta University in Kenya, Northwestern State University of Louisiana in the United States, and Kingston University in the United Kingdom. Her research interests veer towards cultural relevance in music education. She is the editor and contributing author of the 2019 publication Music Education in Africa: Concept, Process and Practice as well as articles tackling issues around music and teacher education in cultural contexts. She is a former president of the International Music Council (IMC) and the International Society for Music Education (ISME), as well as the founding chair of the Music Education Research Group – Kenya (MERG-Kenya).

Humphrey Jeremiah Ojwang holds a PhD Degree in Gender and Women’s Studies from the University of Nairobi, Kenya specializing in African Feminist Epistemology. He is currently Senior Research Associate in Linguistics and Paleoethnobotany at the Department of Earth Sciences, National Museums of Kenya; Founder Chair of Ethnoconservation Committee of Nature Kenya (East Africa Natural History Society); Member of Nature Tanzania; Founder of Education for Social Responsibility-Africa; Member of the Kenya Museum Society, Nairobi, Kenya; and Honorary Professor in Ethnobotany at the Traditional Medicine Institute, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. He holds a Bachelor of Education (BEd) Honours Degree in Linguistics and English Language from the University of Nairobi; a Master of Science (MSc) Degree in Applied Linguistics and the Teaching of English for Specific Purposes from the University Aston in Birmingham, England. He is a Former Senior Research Fellow and Thematic Unit Head of Language, Culture, and Society (Linguistic Anthropology) at the Institute of African Studies, University of Nairobi, Kenya and continues to be involved in research and postgraduate supervision at the same University on African Women’s Studies Programme. He is also engaged with Creative and Performing Artists in Mental Health Awareness Programmes within the East African Community. His teaching and research interest is in gender and women’s studies.

Dannica Fleuss is Research Fellow at the Institute of Future Media, Democracy and Society at Dublin City University (Ireland) and Research Associate at the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance (University of Canberra, Australia). She has been a research fellow and senior lecturer in political theory, empirical political science, and political philosophy at Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg, and Heidelberg University. She is a co-convenor of the PSA’s Participatory and Deliberative Democracy Specialist Group, a co-convenor of the German DVPW’s Teaching and Learning Specialist Group, and an associate editor of the interdisciplinary journal Democratic Theory. She was a visiting research fellow and lecturer at the University of Canberra (Australia), Westminster University (London, UK), the University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), the University of Nairobi, and the Technical University of Kenya (Kenya). Dannica holds an MA in philosophy and political science and a PhD in political science. Her published research, for example, in Political Studies, Policy & Internet, Political Studies or Political Geography, and in her monograph Radical Proceduralism, focuses on theories of democratic legitimacy, deliberative democracy, environmental politics and attempts at decolonizing democratic theory.