Faculty

Ndirangu Wachanga, Ph. D

Name: Ndirangu Wachanga, Ph. D

Area of specialization: Documentarist/Archivis, Documentary Filmmaking, Memory and Ethics

Email: dwachanga@usiu.ac.ke

Telephone: 0716-422-857

Biography

Wachanga is Professor of Media Studies and Information Science at the university of Wisconsin. He is the authorized documentary biographer of Professors Ali A. Mazrui, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Micere Mugo, Wole Soyinka (with Prof. Tejumola Olaniyan), Dr. Willy Mutunga, and Dr. Henry Chakava.

His documentary, Ali Mazrui: A Walking Triple Heritage, won the 2015 New York African Studies Book Award.

Wachanga’s academic work has appeared in peer reviewed journals such as the Journal of Mass media ethics, Journal of African media studies, South African journal for communication theory and research, and African communication research. Wachanga has written for media in different continents. His journalistic work has appeared in the Daily Nation, East African Standard, Business Daily, North Texas Daily, British Broadcasting Corporation and Voice of America.

Wachanga served was a Carnegie African Diaspora Fellow in 2018. He has given talks at Harvard, Princeton, Yale, SOAS, London School of Economics, among other institutions globally

Academic Degree

Ph. D - Information science - U. of North Texas Major – Media Studies and film – U of North Texas

BA – Literature, language and linguistics – Egerton University

Publications / Books

(In Press- 2019) Micere Mugo: Making Life Sing in Pursuit of Utu. Michigan State University Press.

(2018) Ngugi: Reflections on his life of writing (co-edited with Simon Gikandi). James Currey: Oxford: United Kingdom

(2017). Growing up in a Shrinking World: How politics, culture and the nuclear age defined the biography of Ali A. Mazrui. Africa World Press. Trenton, New Jersey

Peer reviewed article

Wachanga, D.N. (2018) Ngugi: Reflections on his life of writing. African Griot, Boydell and Brewer, United Kingdom https://bit.ly/2AqyEfC

Wachanga, D.N. (2015). Ethnic differences vs. nationhood in times of national crises: The role of social media and communication strategies, Journal of African Media Studies, 7:3, pp. 281- 299, doi: 10.1336/jams.7.3.281_1

Wachanga, D.N. (2012). Participatory culture in an emerging information ecosystem: Lessons from Ushahidi, Communication: South African Journal for Communication Theory and Research, 38:2. 195-212 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02500167.2012.717348

Wachanga, D. N. (2012). Vernacular FM radio stations: The small world of media ethics and media economics. Language in African performing and visual arts. Yale University pp. 30- 36

Teaching

Documentary Filmmaking

Media Ethics

Media and Society

Culture, Community and Documentary film

Documentary films

Ali A. Mazrui: A Walking Triple Heritage

Ngg wa Thiong’o: The River between African and European Languages

Mcere Gthae Mgo: Making Life Sing in Pursuit of Utu