Dr. Kenda Mutongi

Professor

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Biography

Kenda Mutongi teaches a wide range of courses in African history, world history, and gender history. She is the author of award-winning books including 'Matatu: History of Popular Transportation in Nairobi' (Chicago, 2017) and 'Worries of the Heart: Widows, Family, and Community in Kenya' (Chicago, 2007). Mutongi has published several articles in major African studies journals and is currently writing a book tentatively titled 'Reading Covers,' which focuses on the history of secondary schooling in post-colonial Kenya. She joined MIT in 2019 after teaching at Williams College for 22 years, where she served as chair of the Africana Studies and Africa/Middle Eastern Studies Programs. Mutongi has received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, and the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. She is a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and has been a fellow at both the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard and the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in Amsterdam. Her interests also include cooking, sewing, and painting.

Research Interests

Courses

South Africa Apartheid Modern African History Humanitarianism in Africa: Critical History Urban History in Africa