Managing Heritage, Building Peace: Museums, memorialisation and the uses of memory in Kenya

This is a three-year AHRC-funded research project, led by PI Dr Lotte Hughes of the Ferguson Centre for African and Asian Studies and History Department, Faculty of Arts, The Open University. The Co-Investigator (Co-I) is Prof Annie Coombes of Birkbeck College, University of London, and the lead consultant is Prof Karega-Munene of United States International University, Nairobi. A UK-Africa partnership element, between Hughes and Munene, is funded by the British Academy.

Working closely with Kenyan citizens, community-based groups and museums, at both state and non-state level, the research involves examining contemporary heritage developments in historical perspective. We are investigating the many different ways in which Kenyans are engaging with heritage, memory and identity. There is also a strong peace and reconciliation theme to the study, which began in October 2008.

For more information go to our website.