Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy

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Architecture of Denial: Imperial Violence, the Construction of Law and Historical Knowledge during the Mau Mau Uprising, 1952–1960
(African Journal of Legal Studies, 2022) Appiah, J.; Yeboah, R.M.; Asah-Asante, A.
In 2013, the UK government settled a class action suit, which alleged that the British. The Colonial Government had subjected Kenyans to detainment, ill-treatment, and torture during the 1952–1960 ‘Kenya Emergency’. During the trial proceedings, the efforts of three expert historical witnesses for the prosecution – Caroline Elkins, David Anderson and Huw Bennett – led to the discovery of a cache of over 8,000 his torical files from 36 former British colonies. The material contained within these documents suggested not only that Britain was aware of pervasive human rights abuses occurring throughout Kenya during the Emergency, but the use of such violence was endorsed and systematically regulated at the highest levels of the colonial administration. Drawing on Foucault’s conception of historical archives as ‘systems of discursivity’, and making use of the testimonies of the three experts, this article explores how the British Colonial Administration was able to dominate the discursive space surrounding Kenyan law and Mau Mau identity, allowing both to justify the implementation of systemic violence throughout the Emergency, and to evade legal responsibility for these abuses at the time, and for decades afterward.
Media Representation of Women Parliamentary Candidates in Africa A Study of the Daily Graphic Newspaper and Ghana’s 2016 Election
(2021) Coffie, A.; Medie, P.A.
Women’s movements, sometimes with the support of international organizations and aided by a favorable political opportunity structure, have placed women’s political representation on the agenda in many African countries (Bauer 2014; Bauer et al. 2017; Kang 2015). This has resulted in countries’ adoption of gender quotas and has also led to the implementation of programs aimed at encouraging women’s political participation. In Ghana and elsewhere, some of these efforts to increase women’s political representation have targeted the media; civil society organizations (CSOs) have trained the media on how to cover women candidates. As the Media Foundation for West Africa (2019: 11) writes, these efforts have occurred in Ghana where, “Undoubtedly several media houses and journalists have participated and received training by organizations such as UNESCO, CSOs and other development organizations on gender-sensitive reportage.” In turn, they have used “their platforms to increase women’s voices and participation in governance.” For example, “the Daily Graphic—has consistently provided a column in its newspaper to address gender and related issues while providing the platform for women’s increased participation in governance processes.” Given the media’s central role in elections (Temin and Smith 2002), such media training, including on how to cover women politicians, is essential.