The aim of this project is to collate and cohesively put together, the voices and works of Kenyan feminists that have either been missing or are currently scattered across the internet, books, articles and so on. Why are we doing this? To fulfill the need of making this important information easily accessible to all and more importantly, to make sure that the voices and works of Kenyan feminists are not lost or erased. This will be a joint effort from anyone who volunteers their time and effort to help us in meeting this objective. Our first goal and main focus will be to create a Wikipedia page with information on Kenyan Feminism and Feminists. Why Wikipedia? Because that’s where most people first go to when they are looking for information. Ergo, we want all the work we collect, edit and write put together on all friendly space. By including the works of Kenyan feminists, we will also be ensuring that people know where to find information. Secondly, all the information collected for this purpose, will be made available on our Atieno website (hosted on Weebly) or we can put up an entirely new website of the same.
The way I have it planned (including your suggestions) is, to let everyone pick an area to work on as per the topics listed below. Alternatively, 2 people can pick 2-4 topics and work on them. This will include: researching, editing and writing up on the said topics .Basically, you do 99% of the work for whatever topic you have chosen. We also agreed that we would ask people on social media to contribute by sharing with/writing to us on who some of their favourite female feminist/heroes are and why. How we will pose these questions on social media will be based on specific topics. Say for example you’re working on “Kenyan Feminism, Legislature and Law” you will need to come up with specific questions /conversation (social media friendly format) that we can use on say Twitter and Facebook to collect information. Once you have done so, you will share the question/conversation on the various platforms and the rest of us will participate and help spread word. However, collection and curation of feedback that will go into the Wikipedia page from the same will entirely be upon you and your teammate (for those working in teams). We can also ask people to contribute articles which we will sort topically and assign to the relevant writers. For this we will provide an email address accessible by all. For your research, you are allowed (encouraged) to work with other feminists not necessarily part of this writing group. You can also cite the works of other feminists but only with their consent to avoid problems in future.
Saturday May 8th has been agreed upon as the date for meeting up to deliberate on how we will go about it. As you will see below, the work is quite extensive and we might need a full day to get it done. That means we have to meet early in the day say 10a.m-11am.The purpose of this meet up is so that we can come up with a timetable of who will do what, set schedules for social media engagement, agree on logistics and also on the date when our final page will go up. One more thing we will do on that day is learn how to write for Wikipedia, how to reference, add links and so forth. I will find someone who’s an expert at this to take us through or if any of you knows how to they can volunteer to teach the rest. As for venue, I am highly inclined to go with Pawa 254 because the work entails a lot of writing meaning laptops and tablets, sockets and so on will be needed. Also, the setting is more amicable in terms of needed silence. I can arrange for someone to provide lunch for a small fee. But if anyone feels they have a better suggestion I’m open. It is important that you guys show up. Also, if you commit to take part in this, please please make sure you follow through. It’s not fair for people to drop out halfway and leave others stranded trying to beat the deadline.
That said; please go through the topics below which are not exhaustive by any means. Suggestions, contributions, additions etc are welcome on the G+ group (will start a thread for this). You can pick the topics you wish to work on but please indicate so, so that others are aware. That will be all for now. I’m excited about this J
TOPICS (In no particular order)
1. Definition of Feminism
a) What does Feminism mean in the Kenyan context or how does Feminism apply to the Kenyan Context
2. The History of Feminism in Kenya
a) Where/How/When did it find it roots in the Kenyan context
b) Were Kenyan traditional societies/women practicing feminism and feminist ideals before the term Feminism was coined? If so, what are some of the ways in which this was happening(Examples)
3. Feminist issues in the Kenyan context
a) What are they?
b) Can the major ones be discussed in detail? Others can be listed (Because of the work involved)
c) What are the issues of contention among Kenyan feminists/Different schools of feminism and is there middle ground?
4. Feminist Organizations in Kenya
a) List them, their history, background etc
b) What are their roles/what functions do they perform/Success Stories
c) What are the challenges they encounter
5. Feminism, Legislation and The Law
a) How is Feminism articulated within the law and relevant legislative bodies
b) Are feminist issues debated and implemented within the National Assembly and at what frequency
c) Do we have legislators representing feminist issues in NA and Senate (Not that they have to necessarily identify as feminist)
d) What are some important pro feminism laws that have been formulated & implemented
e) What is the success rate of such laws
f) Challenges faced by legislators representing feminist issues
6. Feminism in Tertiary Learning Institutions
a) Have universities and colleges adopted feminism in their curricula
b) Examples of any schools that have done this
c) Should schools adopt feminism in their curricula and what are the benefits of this
7. Feminists in Kenya
a) Who are they? What demographic of men and women identify as feminist (How factors such as class, education, religion affect this)
b) Names of famous feminists, their works, achievements etc. Leads to their works i.e. websites, blogs, books, articles, talks, podcasts etc
c) Digital feminism/social media feminism. Is it working? How does it blend into the big picture? Challenges faced on social media platforms
8. Intersectionality within Kenyan Feminism
a) How does Kenyan feminism fit into the bigger African & global picture (Working with others beyond our borders)
9. The way Forward for Kenyan Feminism
a) What have been the biggest challenges for feminists in Kenya
b) How do we position feminist ideals so that more men and women can embrace them?
c) What are the challenges in doing so
10. A.O.B
The way I have it planned (including your suggestions) is, to let everyone pick an area to work on as per the topics listed below. Alternatively, 2 people can pick 2-4 topics and work on them. This will include: researching, editing and writing up on the said topics .Basically, you do 99% of the work for whatever topic you have chosen. We also agreed that we would ask people on social media to contribute by sharing with/writing to us on who some of their favourite female feminist/heroes are and why. How we will pose these questions on social media will be based on specific topics. Say for example you’re working on “Kenyan Feminism, Legislature and Law” you will need to come up with specific questions /conversation (social media friendly format) that we can use on say Twitter and Facebook to collect information. Once you have done so, you will share the question/conversation on the various platforms and the rest of us will participate and help spread word. However, collection and curation of feedback that will go into the Wikipedia page from the same will entirely be upon you and your teammate (for those working in teams). We can also ask people to contribute articles which we will sort topically and assign to the relevant writers. For this we will provide an email address accessible by all. For your research, you are allowed (encouraged) to work with other feminists not necessarily part of this writing group. You can also cite the works of other feminists but only with their consent to avoid problems in future.
Saturday May 8th has been agreed upon as the date for meeting up to deliberate on how we will go about it. As you will see below, the work is quite extensive and we might need a full day to get it done. That means we have to meet early in the day say 10a.m-11am.The purpose of this meet up is so that we can come up with a timetable of who will do what, set schedules for social media engagement, agree on logistics and also on the date when our final page will go up. One more thing we will do on that day is learn how to write for Wikipedia, how to reference, add links and so forth. I will find someone who’s an expert at this to take us through or if any of you knows how to they can volunteer to teach the rest. As for venue, I am highly inclined to go with Pawa 254 because the work entails a lot of writing meaning laptops and tablets, sockets and so on will be needed. Also, the setting is more amicable in terms of needed silence. I can arrange for someone to provide lunch for a small fee. But if anyone feels they have a better suggestion I’m open. It is important that you guys show up. Also, if you commit to take part in this, please please make sure you follow through. It’s not fair for people to drop out halfway and leave others stranded trying to beat the deadline.
That said; please go through the topics below which are not exhaustive by any means. Suggestions, contributions, additions etc are welcome on the G+ group (will start a thread for this). You can pick the topics you wish to work on but please indicate so, so that others are aware. That will be all for now. I’m excited about this J
TOPICS (In no particular order)
1. Definition of Feminism
a) What does Feminism mean in the Kenyan context or how does Feminism apply to the Kenyan Context
2. The History of Feminism in Kenya
a) Where/How/When did it find it roots in the Kenyan context
b) Were Kenyan traditional societies/women practicing feminism and feminist ideals before the term Feminism was coined? If so, what are some of the ways in which this was happening(Examples)
3. Feminist issues in the Kenyan context
a) What are they?
b) Can the major ones be discussed in detail? Others can be listed (Because of the work involved)
c) What are the issues of contention among Kenyan feminists/Different schools of feminism and is there middle ground?
4. Feminist Organizations in Kenya
a) List them, their history, background etc
b) What are their roles/what functions do they perform/Success Stories
c) What are the challenges they encounter
5. Feminism, Legislation and The Law
a) How is Feminism articulated within the law and relevant legislative bodies
b) Are feminist issues debated and implemented within the National Assembly and at what frequency
c) Do we have legislators representing feminist issues in NA and Senate (Not that they have to necessarily identify as feminist)
d) What are some important pro feminism laws that have been formulated & implemented
e) What is the success rate of such laws
f) Challenges faced by legislators representing feminist issues
6. Feminism in Tertiary Learning Institutions
a) Have universities and colleges adopted feminism in their curricula
b) Examples of any schools that have done this
c) Should schools adopt feminism in their curricula and what are the benefits of this
7. Feminists in Kenya
a) Who are they? What demographic of men and women identify as feminist (How factors such as class, education, religion affect this)
b) Names of famous feminists, their works, achievements etc. Leads to their works i.e. websites, blogs, books, articles, talks, podcasts etc
c) Digital feminism/social media feminism. Is it working? How does it blend into the big picture? Challenges faced on social media platforms
8. Intersectionality within Kenyan Feminism
a) How does Kenyan feminism fit into the bigger African & global picture (Working with others beyond our borders)
9. The way Forward for Kenyan Feminism
a) What have been the biggest challenges for feminists in Kenya
b) How do we position feminist ideals so that more men and women can embrace them?
c) What are the challenges in doing so
10. A.O.B