War-Making as Worldmaking: Kenya, the United States, and the War on Terror

This talk explores the entanglement of militarism, imperialism, and liberal-democratic governance in Kenya today, asking what a view from East Africa can tell us about the shifting configurations and lived realities of post 9/11 imperial warfare. Informed by ethnographic research in the cities of Nairobi and Mombasa. Dr. Samar Al-Bulushi will explore how Kenvan Muslim activists contend with the deaths and disappearances of their fellow citizens at the hands of U.S.-trained Kenvan police. If the Kenyan state and its security partners collect information to anticipate risk and guide decision-making, so too must the subjects of surveillance and policing gather knowledge and make calculations about their own safety as they grapple with what it means to remake a world unmade by imperial warfare.

Dr. Samar Al-Bulushi is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine. Her book, War-Making as Worldmaking: Kenva. the United States, and the War on Terror, was published by Stanford University Press in November 2024. She is a non-resident fellow at the Ouincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and previously served as a contributing editor for Africa is a Country. She has published in a variety of public outlets on topics ranging from the International Criminal Court to the militarization of U.S. policv in Africa.

When: Friday, March 7, 2025
Time: 3 – 5 PM
Where: Jackman Humanities Building, Room 100A (170 St. George Street, Toronto)

RSVP Today:  https://forms.office.com/r/hCnic5SPtk