Kamau Wairuri
- Name
- Kamau Wairuri
- Title
- Organisation
- African Studies School of Social and Political Science University of Edinburgh
- Address
- Edinburgh United Kingdom
- Telephone
- kamau.wairuri@ed.ac.uk
- Research Interests
- African security, identity politics, Political violence, Police, Police reform, Police Accoutability, Access to justice, Political Sociology, African studies, Security, African Politics, Kenyan Politics, Urban margins, urban poor, Law and Social Order
- URL
- http://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/gradschool/community_and_representation/research_student_profiles/african_studies/kamau_wairuri
PhD Title
Politics of Police Accountability in Kenya
My research examines the pursuit of police accountability for violent encounters between the state police and citizens at Kenya's urban margins. The study aims to problematize the current approaches by the state and human rights organisations that presume that citizens have equal access to justice and accountability mechanisms and have therefore focussed on prosecution and career-based sanctions as remedies for police brutality.
The study is situated in informal settlements in the three major Kenyan cities of Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu exploring the pursuit of police accountability by individuals who are targeted by the police because of where they live, the work they do, their sexual and gender identity or how they express themselves politically.
Qualifications
2017 – To Date: PhD (African Studies), University of Edinburgh
2014 – 2015: MSc African Studies, University of Oxford
2006 – 2009: Bachelor of Arts, University of Nairobi [Kenya]
Supervisors
Teaching Experience:
"The Politics of Policy Making in Kenya." Strathmore Institute of Public Policy and Governance (SIPPG). Strathmore University, Kenya.
Publications
Wairuri, Kamau (2018). ‘Operation Sanitize Eastleigh’: Police Practice and citizenship in the age of terror. Nairobi: Centre for Human Rights and Policy Studies.
Wairuri, Kamau (2017). Riding the crest of the wave? The 2017 election and stagnation of Kenya’s democratization process. Note analyse. L’Observatoire de l’Afrique de l’Est & SciencesPo, Centre for International Research.
Conference Presentations
'Re-Centering the Encounter: Rethinking the search for explanations for police violence in Nairobi' at the CHRIPS, IFRA & Mathare Social Justice Centre Conference on Police Violence, State Transformation and Mobilisations Comparative Perspectives from Kenya & France Conference, 23/24 Jan 2018, Nairobi.
'Elite alliances: The 2017 election in Kenya's democratisation process’ at the Centre for Governance & Human Rights Seminar titled 'What's next for Kenya?', 8 November 2017, University of Cambridge.
'The making of a democracy: Elite fragmentation, electoral fraud and electoral violence in Kenya 2017s elections', Afrique De L’est: Surprenantes Élections Dans Un Environnement Troublé Conference,19th October 2017, SciencesPo.
Grants & Awards
2019: Security at the Margins Project, University of Edinburgh & University of Witwatersrand [South Africa], Pilot project funding
2017: Leverhulme Trust, University of Edinburgh, Perfect Storms Scholarship: Full doctoral research grant.
2015: Antonian Fund Grant, St.Antony’s College, University of Oxford for MSc Research Fieldwork
2015: IFRA Fieldwork Research Grant, for MSc Research Fieldwork
2014: Waverley/ OCSK Scholarship for full MSc study at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford
Memberships
British Insititute of Eastern Africa