Mshai Mwangola
Mshai Mwangola is a Kenyan oraturist, performance scholar, actor, director, and activist who leverages culture and storytelling for academic research, pedagogy, and social advocacy.
Early Life and education
Mwangola holds several degrees from universities across three continents. She earned a Bachelor of Education from Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya. She obtained a Masters of Creative Arts from the University of Melbourne in Melbourne, Australia. She earned a Doctorate degree in Performance studies from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, US. Her doctoral thesis, titled Performing Our Stories, Performing OurSelves, focused on Kenya's "Uhuru Generation" and the idea of a generational historical mission.Career and academic work
Mwangola is a founding member of think tanks such as The Elephant and The Orature Collective. She is affiliated with the African Leadership Centre in Nairobi as an adjunct faculty member and with the Council of the Development of Social Science Research in Africa as an Executive Committee member.Mwangola served as the Research and Communication Officer for the African Peacebuilding Hub, a joint programme of the African Leadership Centre and the African Peacebuilding Network. In this role, she coordinated APN-Hub programmes, including a working group on Leadership and Peacebuilding.
In 2012, she delivered a TEDxNairobi talk titled "Reconnecting our past with the future."
Leadership and public engagement
Mwangola is an Executive ccommittee member of the CODESRIA. She is also the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees for Uraia Trust. Her public service engagement extends to the Society for International Development where she serves as the Vice President of the Transitional Council, and the Governing Council of the Kenya Cultural Centre where she currently serves as Chairperson.Kenya Heroes classify Mwangola as an extraordinary performer who "blends creativity, advocacy, and research to inspire change.