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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:University Crisis, Student Activism, and the Contemporary Struggle for Democracy in Kenya
Authors:Klopp, Jacqueline M.
Orina, Janai R.ISNI
Year:2002
Periodical:African Studies Review
Volume:45
Issue:1
Period:April
Pages:43-76
Language:English
Geographic term:Kenya
Subjects:political repression
student movements
universities
Education and Oral Traditions
Politics and Government
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/1515007
Abstract:In many parts of Africa, university systems are in crisis; squalid conditions, student strife, and increasing State violence have turned many campuses into battlegrounds. Through an in-depth look at the Kenyan case, this paper examines some of the deep political dynamics of the current desperate situation. It demonstrates how in Kenya, State-university links involve attempts by higher-level government officials to control campuses through patronage, surveillance, and violence and how institutional configurations facilitate this. As the burden of repression falls on student activists who challenge current power configurations, the paper examines the current crisis through a student lens. By presenting and analysing the historical narrative of student activism on campus, the paper shows the inadequacy of overly structural, economic approaches to the crisis favoured by the World Bank and some of its critics. Furthermore, the paper demonstrates how the university crisis is organically linked to wider political processes, including local struggle over democratization of the State and economy. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French. (Journal abstract)
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