January 2010: Open lecture by Rick B. Duque

Based upon 100 hours of video documentation and extensive interviews (conducted in 2008 and 2009) with Kenyan research professionals, university administrators, religious leaders, journalists, shopkeepers, college students, and internally displaced refugees, our international research team investigated the unique role played by universities and research institutes during a violent political episode following the most recent presidential elections.

How Kenya descended into political violence and eventually reconciled long standing regional and tribal feuds is intimately intertwined with (1) the nation's colonial and post colonial history, (2) the institutionalization of its higher education and research sector, (3) the social construction of new media, information and communication technologies and to a certain extent (4) the global influence of newly elected US president, Barrack Obama, whose own family roots trace back to a pivotal tribal region within Kenya.