AO: This quote underlines the historical context of the Bretton Woods' Structural Adjustment Policies which heavily influenced the situation of libraries and educational institutions today....Read more
AO: This excerpt from the interview outlines how the library is governed and who the most frequent users are.
The library is run by a steering committee of
...Read more
From book jacket: “We will never be silent until we get land to cultivate and freedom in this country of ours” …so sang Mau Mau activists. The struggle for independence in Kenya was waged at many levels. Never be Silent explores how this struggle was reflected in the...Read more
AO: This excerpt from the interview describes why Ukombozi Library was seen to be needed -- especially highlighting the perceived gap in progressive content in publically accessible libraries and...Read more
AO: This quote from the interview highlights the consequences of explicitly deciding not to be part of the dominant corporate scholarly publishing infrastructure despite the financial pressures...Read more
AO: This excerpt from the interview situates the establishment of PALIAct Ukombozi library as a initiative to counter a mindset that reading is only for school and instead to promote and...Read more
AO: This excerpt describes some of the projects (more detailed in the full interview) that give a sense of what Progressive Librarianship might look like.
A project-
...Read more
AO: This excerpt from the interview highlights the thinking by Ukombozi library leadership about form, format and language choice in scholarly publications in order to engage with a working class...Read more
AO: This excerpt from the interview raises the argument that of the work that is published and distributed, there is little content of relevance to working class Kenyans....Read more
AO: This excerpt from the interview highlights the importance to the leadership of Ukombozi library of rooting it within the working class struggles in Kenya and the importance of...Read more
AO: This interview with Shiraz Durrani and Kimani Waweru by Stephanie Kitchen was conducted in 2017 and published in Read African Books. Waweru manages the Ukombozi Library on a day-to-day basis and Durrani is the founder of Vita Books, one of the collaborating founders of the library.Read more