To learn more about YORK’S COVID-19 response, visit our Coronavirus Updates page.

Skip to Main Content
Githuku, Nicholas
 

Githuku, Nicholas

Curriculum Vitae

Assistant Professor
History, Philosophy and Anthropology

Phone: 718-2622579
Office Location: AC-3E18
NGithuku@york.cuny.edu
http://africanperspectives.co.ke/

Education

Degree Institution Field Dates
PhD  West Virginia University  African History/East Africa & British National and Imperial History  August 2009-June 2014 
non-degree  Mid-Level Professional Development Studies, Rotary International Certificate in Development and Peace & Conflict Studies, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok –Thailand  Conflict and Peace Studies  June-September 2008 
MA  University of Nairobi  Armed Conflict and Peace Studies (History)  2002-2005 
BA  First Class Honors, University of Nairobi  Political Science & Public Administration and History  1997-2001 
Dr. Githuku's first publication is a study of the social and cultural history of the mentalité of struggle in Kenya, which reached a high water mark during the Mau Mau war of the 1950s, but which continues to resonate in Kenya today in the ongoing demand for a decent standard of living and social justice for all. This work catalyzes intellectual debate in various disciplines regarding not just the evolution of the Kenyan state, but also, the state in Africa. It not only engages historians of colonial and postcolonial economic and political history, but also sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists, and those who study personality and social branches of psychology, postcolonialism and postmodernity, social movements, armed conflict specialists, and conflict resolution analysts.

Areas of Expertise

Cross-cutting themes in the making and evolution of the postcolonial African state: race, ethnicity [contemporary politics & political economy], gender & women history, class, labor, social movements
The inner workings of power and authority
Social & environmental justice, social movements, state (il)legitimacy and the rule of law
Region of specialty: East Africa (and contemporary Kenyan politics in particular)
Kenya
Other regions: Sub-Saharan Africa & Central and Eastern Europe [with specific interest in the origin and development of states and the state-system or state-formation); the relationship between the state and capitalism; and military history and memorialization]
Political and social theory

Books in Field Of Expertise

Nicholas K. Githuku. Book, Mau Mau Crucible of War: Statehood, National Identity and Politics in Postcolonial Kenya. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, October 15, 2015. 574.

Chapters in Field Of Expertise

Nicholas K. Githuku. "The Unfolding of Britain and Kenya’s Complex Tango: An Uneasy Return to a Critical Past and its Implications." . Dedan Kimathi on Trial: Colonial Justice and Popular Memory in Kenya’s Mau Mau Rebellion November 2017: 17.

Nicholas Githuku. "From Moral Ethnicity to Moral Anarchy: The Colonial Ideology of Order and Political Disorder in Postcolonial Kenya." . in The Omnipresent Past. Historical Anthropology of Africa and African Diaspora (ed.) Dmitri Bondarenko and Marina L. Butovskaya (Moscow: LRC Publishing House, July 2019) : 25.

Presented Papers, Lectures, and Exhibitions and Performances

" The Indivisible Global African Experience: A Reflection on an Inter-Permeating Intellectual History " February 25 2019: Guest Lecture at the Center for African Studies, Harvard University.

" The Power/Knowledge Nexus and Resistance: Discursive Consciousness and Technologies of the Self—the Case of Jomo Kenyatta, " September 11th to 13th 2018: at the ASA-UK Conference, University of Birmingham, England.

" Redeeming Our Tainted Soul: A Call to Armed Moral Reason, Moral Rearmament and Critical Conscience, " 1st to 4th August 2018: at the 8th African Association for the Study of Religions (AASR), Lusaka—Zambia.

" The Power/Knowledge Nexus and Resistance: Discursive Consciousness and Technologies of the Self—the Case of Jomo Kenyatta, " 1st to 5th July 2018: the 8th Toying Falola Conference (TOFAC) at the United States International University (USIU), Nairobi—Kenya.

" Unfolding of Britain’s and Kenya’s Complex Tango: An Uneasy Revisit to a Critical Past and its Implications " December 1st to 3rd, 2016: at the 59th Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association.

" The Long Kenyan Century: A People’s Elusive Quest for the ‘Good Life’" " 9th & 10th September 2016: The 9th Kenya Scholars and Studies Association Conference (KESSA).

" Formal Book Launch of Mau Mau Crucible of War: Statehood, National Identity and Politics of Postcolonial Kenya " 23rd June 2016: Goethe Institut, Nairobi-Kenya.

" Mau Mau Crucible of War: " 22nd October 2014: Professional Presentation at the Institute of African Studies, Columbia University.

" White Man’s Land: Colonial Foundations and Legal Architecture of the Kenyan State and its Discontents " 21st-24th November 2013: The 56th Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association (ASA), Baltimore, MD.

" White Man’s Land: Colonial Foundations and Legal Architecture of the Kenyan State and its Discontents " 8th September 2012: Presented at the African Studies Association (ASA-United Kingdom).

" Mau Mau Crucible of War: Statehood, National Identity and Politics in Postcolonial Kenya " 5th-6th September 2013: at the 5th Kenya Scholars & Studies Association Conference, Bowling Green State University.

" Mau Mau Crucible of War: Statehood, National Identity and Politics in Postcolonial Kenya " 6th August 2013: Africa Research Forum, Department of History, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

" Mau Mau Crucible of War: Statehood, National Identity and Politics in Postcolonial Kenya " 29th November to 1st December 2012: at the 55th Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association (ASA), Philadelphia, PA.

" Kenyan ‘Procreatocracy?’ Ethnic politics and Tyranny of Numbers " 12th October 2013: the “African History Conference –Beyond the boundaries: Toyin Falola and African Historiography,” University of North Carolina Wilmington.

" Mchezo wa Siasa: A Critical Overview of the Politics of Soccer and Soccer in Kenyan Politics " 7th & 8th September, 2012: Kenya Scholars and Studies Association Conference (KESSA).

" Forgiving is the Easy Part: Settling Historical Injustices in Post-Conflict Contexts –The Case of Kenya and South Africa " 4th-6th March 2010: at the Public Forgiveness in Post-Conflict contexts Conference, Radboud University Nijmegen Center for Ethics, Nijmegen –The Netherlands.

" The application of Media for Peace Education: University Leadership " 28th -30th October, 2009: The 2nd UNESCO Global Forum on the Power of Peace, held in Bangkok, Thailand.

" The DNA of (Good) Leadership: Can we Decipher It? " 24th-28th June 2007: at the Human Rights and Creative Leadership Conference, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany.

" Crime and Punishment in Kenya " November 2005: Presented at the 3rd Strathmore University Conference on Politics and the Common Good.

" Capitalizing on Cultural Sensitivities: A Cultural Approach to Conflict Prevention, Resolution and Harmonious Co-existence " 22nd –26th June 2003: Presented at the SYLFF Conference on Multicuturalism: Capitalizing on the Wealth of Diversity, at the American University in Cairo, Cairo-Egypt.

" " : .

" " : .

Professional Honors, Prizes, Fellowships

The Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship: 17th May to 15th August 2018.

Faculty Fellowship Publication Program, CUNY-wide: Spring 2018.

The Robert and Wynona Wilkins Scholarship, WVU: 2013/2014.

The British Institute in Eastern Africa Research Grant, December: December 2012-February 2013.

The Rebecca D. and Henry E. Thornburg Doctoral Award, WVU: 2012-2013.

Department of History, Dissertation Fellowship Award: 2012.

WVU Chancellor’s Scholars Fellowship: 2011.

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Doctoral Student Research Fund, West Virginia University: Summer 2010.

Rotary International World Peace Fellow: 2008.

Joint Initiatives Project Fund, The Tokyo Foundation/The Nippon Foundation: 2006.

Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund (SYLFF): 2002-2005.

: Spring 2018.

Grants-In-Aid

The Full Cycle 48 PSC-CUNY Research Foundation Grant, Jomo Kenyatta, a Man for All Seasons: Radical Rebel, Arbiter, Detainee and Conservative Statesman?. Spring/Summer 2017: $6,000.

WVU, Department of History, Dissertation Fellowship Award, Mau Mau Crucible of War: Statehood, National Identity and Politics of Postcolonial Kenya. Summer 2013: $3,500.00.

British Institute in Eastern Africa Research Grant (BIEA), Mau Mau Crucible of War: Statehood, National Identity and Politics of Postcolonial Kenya. December 2012-February 2013: $2,600.00.

WVU, Department of History, Dissertation Fellowship Award, Mau Mau Crucible of War: Statehood, National Identity and Politics of Postcolonial Kenya. Summer 2012: $6,000.00.

Joint Initiatives Project Fund, The Tokyo Foundation/The Nippon Foundation, RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN PROTECTED AREAS AND ITS IMPACT ON HUMAN DEVELOPMENT: A Comparative Sustainable Development Research [The Mau Forest Complex (Kenya) and The Serra Da Estrela Natural Park (Portugal)]”. 2005/6: $6,000.00.

, . : .

Other Professional Activities and Public Service

Member of the African Association for the Study of Religions (AASR): Summer 2018-Present.

Blind peer-reviewer, South African Journal of Philosophy: Spring 2017-Present.

Blind Peer-reviewer, KESSA Review Journal: Fall 2017-Present.

Member of the African Studies Association: 2012-Present.

Member of the African Studies Association (UK): 2012-Present.

Member of the Kenya Scholars & Studies Association (KESSA): 2009-Present.

Member of the British Institute in Eastern Africa: 2012-Present.

Rotary International World Peace Fellow: 2008-Present.

Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellow: 2002-Present.

: .

: .

: .