Mshaï Mwangola

is an oraturist and performance scholar who uses the lens of culture in her work as an academic, artist and activist. She holds a doctorate in Performance Studies from Northwestern University (USA), a Masters of Creative Arts from the University of Melbourne (Australia) and a Bachelor of Education from Kenyatta University (Kenya). Her intellectual work is characterised by her practice of performance, and in particular indigenous and contemporary traditions of story-telling for the purpose of research, pedagogy and advocacy. An independent researcher, she is affiliated to the African Leadership Centre, Nairobi (adjunct faculty), and is a founder-member of the intellectual platforms The Elephant and The Orature Collective. Her current research project focuses on leso / kanga as one of the quintessential gendered performers of East African identity.