Political Protest in Contemporary Kenya

Jacob Mwathi Mati is a senior lecturer in sociology at Sol Plaatje University, South Africa and an associate research fellow at the Society, Work & Politics (SWOP) Institute at The University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.

‘This is a critical study on African social movements reflecting on political opportunities, framing and mobilisation structures with respect to the Kenyan Ufungamano Initiative. The book also considers the limits of "disruptive power" of movements once absorbed into mainstream political processes.’ – Shauna Mottiar, Director, Centre for Civil Society, University of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa‘Mati’s new book on political protests in recent Kenya is outstanding in several ways. Most theoretical analyses of political protests in Africa, of which there have been many in recent decades, seldom give sufficient accounts of African contexts due to their overreliance on models derived from Europe and elsewhere, not from Africa. Mati, however, roots his analysis in African and especially Kenyan history, carefully taking account of "struggles of multiple competing classes, ethnicities, religious groups, generations and gender". Mati shows how an inter-faith-based Ufungamano Initiative, as a uniquely Kenyan "movement of movements", played a central long-term role in fostering popular citizen participation in positive constitutional change, in spite of many complexities and internal changes in the movement. I would highly recommend it to readers interested in political protest periods and theories, especially in Africa; it is vital to understanding recent Kenyan history and politics.’ – David Horton Smith, Research and Emeritus Professor, Department of Sociology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA

• 1. The Seeds of Contemporary Kenyan Constitutional Reform Struggles: An Introduction 2. Crystallisation of the Constitutional Change Movement 3. The Ufungamano Initiative: A Movement of Movements 4. Leadership, Framing, and Mobilisation Strategies 5. Success and its Paradoxes 6. A Dream Deferred 7. Uncivil Energy Begets Civil Ends 8. A Turning Point When History Failed to Turn? 9. Conclusion