The first draft of history
As a doctoral student, there are few things more invigorating than escaping your pile of books, shaking off the abstract theorizing, and venturing into the real world. Which is why, when I found out I had secured a research internship in Kenya last summer, I was ecstatic. Having survived my first year of course work, I was eager to dive into something different — something that would allow me tangibly to engage the world that I had been reading about. Thanks to a grant from the Harvard Committee on African Studies, this is exactly the experience I had. My principal role in Kenya over the summer was to help create a public history exhibit centered on the themes of resistance and nationalism during the colonial era. Through a partnership between the Kenya Oral History Centre and the National Museums of Kenya, the exhibit is to open next summer at the National Museum...