Kevin Wamalwa (Ph.D.)
Title: Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Personal History
I grew up in rural western Kenya before attending the University of Nairobi to pursue my bachelor’s degree in education (B.Ed.), with a major in linguistics and Swahili studies. Upon graduation, I taught English and Swahili language and literature in High school, worked as a finance officer at a Kenyan microfinance bank, and later moved to the U.S to teach Swahili at Bluefield State University in West Virginia as a Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant (FLTA) in 2010. I earned a joint Ph.D. in Anthropology and African Cultural Studies, an MA in African Languages and Literature, and an MA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before coming to SIUE, I taught Introduction to Anthropology, African Studies, Sociolinguistics, and Swahili as a foreign language. I am an assistant professor in Anthropology and affiliated with the CODES program.
Besides academic stuff, I enjoy walking, bike riding, and writing Swahili poetry and music in my spare time.
My research Interest
I am a cultural anthropologist and scholar of African cultural studies. My research examines post-violence memory, land conflict, local epistemologies of remembering, and practices of reconciliation in East Africa. I am particularly interested in how small-scale conflicts, especially those involving marginalized communities, provide a vantage point for understanding people’s agency in remembering and narrating trauma, as well as in reconciling and healing outside state mediation. My work advances the ideals of engaged scholarship by addressing issues of social and environmental justice, embodied trauma, memory of violence, and victimhood—recognizing not only the resilience of communities but also their ongoing struggles.
Teaching Philosophy
As an anthropologist and interdisciplinary educator, I view education as a practice that cultivates appreciation for diversity across cultural, racial, national, and other human differences. I encourage students to engage creatively in discussions that draw on their diverse social and cultural backgrounds, connecting academic concepts to real-world experiences. I employ a variety of teaching and learning methods while collaborating with students to foster an environment of equitable, practical, and experiential learning. My teaching philosophy is grounded in the belief that learning should be innovative and comparative, enabling both instructors and students to discover and express their authentic selves, consider multiple perspectives, and reach informed conclusions.
Courses taught at SIUE
- ANTH 111b: Human Culture and Communication
- ANTH 490 B: Senior Project mentorship
CODES Program
- CODE 121: Transdisciplinary Communication
- CODES 123: Research Methods and Ethics
Academic Publications
Wamalwa, Kevin. 2021. “The Problem of (Un)Belonging: Memory, Land Conflict, and Environmental Degradation in Mt. Elgon, Kenya.” Ecocene: Cappadocia Journal of Environmental Humanities 2 (1): 57–67. https://doi.org/10.46863/ecocene.22.
Stambach, Amy, and Kevin Wamalwa. 2018. “Students’ Reparticularization of Chinese Language and Culture at the University of Rwanda Confucius Institute.” Signs and Society 6 (2): 332–48. https://doi.org/10.1086/696798.
Swahili Creative works
Wamalwa (2015) Miale ya Ushairi: Shule za Upili na Vyuo. (A study guide on Swahili poetry for high schools and middle-level colleges.). Nairobi. East Africa Educational Publishers
Wamalwa (2011) “Nimerudi Tena” (I have Returned) in Kunani Marekani na Hadithi Nyingine (What is there in America and other stories)? (2015, Iribemwangi, ed.).
