Nairobi Distributed: Co-Producing Narratives of Belonging in Nairobi's Eastlands

 
Nairobi Distributed is an artist book which draws upon a number of collaborative video projects in Nairobi's Eastlands (Slum TV (2007-ongoing), A Life in the Day (2013), The Bike Gang (2015-17)) to counter a dominant, politically-instrumentalised narrative that in Kenya identity and ethnicity are synonymous. Instead, this book proposes that identities in Nairobi's Eastlands, are in constant flux, and always being negotiated and shaped within the fundamentally decentralised networks of Nairobi. Sam Hopkins situates this rich experience of collaborative art projects in Nairobi within current scholarship on the history and politics of Kenya. Self-critical, reflective, and often personal this carefully evidenced argument is a timely contribution to discussions of collaborative practice and Kenyan identity. 
 
Published in cooperation with Twaweza books, designed by La Villa Hermosa. 
A book which is co-produced by many people and written up by Sam Hopkins