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Dr. Njoki Wamai

Assistant Professor of International Relations
nwamai@usiu.ac.ke    |     +254 730 116 631

Area of Interest and Specialization:
International Relations, Transitional Justice, Political Economy of Development, Feminist, Critical and Decolonial Perspectives to Peace, Security and Development.

Profile:
Dr. Njoki Wamai, Bsc, PGD (UoN), Msc (KLC), PhD (Cantab) is an Assistant Professor at the International Relations Department. Previously, she was a post-doctoral research associate at the Centre for Governance and Human Rights (CGHR) at the University of Cambridge Politics and International Studies Department where she attained her PhD as a Gates Cambridge Scholar in 2018. While a Gates scholar she was awarded the Bill Gates Senior Prize for outstanding scholars who embody the leadership, academic excellence and social justice goals of the scholarship.

Her doctoral research focused on understanding the Politics of the International Criminal Court(ICC) intervention in Kenya.

During her post-doctoral associateship, she was a co-convener of a research project on Rethinking Transitional Justice Interventions in Africa along with two Cambridge academics from 2017-2018 and she also co-convened a research seminar on Rethinking African Studies. She also co-founded a research project known as the Black Cantabs Research Project to celebrate Cambridge alumni of African descent. Her research interests include: Critical peace and security studies, Transitional justice and human rights intervention in Africa, African feminisms and politics of knowledge production.

Academic Degrees:

  • 2012 – 2016: PhD in Politics and International Studies (University of Cambridge, Queens’ College, UK)
  • 2010 – 2011: Masters in Conflict, Security and Development (Kings’ College London, UK)
  • 2005 – 2007: Post Graduate Diploma in Gender and Development, (University of Nairobi, Kenya)
  • 2000 – 2004: Bachelor of Science in Food Science and Technology. (University of Nairobi, Kenya)

Journal Articles
Wamai, N., (2014), First contact with the field: experiences of an early career researcher in the context of national and international politics in Kenya in the Oxford Journal of Human Rights Practice, Jul 2014, Vol. 6 Issue 2, p213

Book Chapters

  • Wamai, N., (2019) The ICC, the ‘Coalition of the Accused’ and the International Community: Continuities and Discontinuities in Kenya’s International Relations, in Oxford Handbook on Kenyan Politics edited by Cheeseman, Kanyinga and Lynch due for publication in 2019. (due for publication with Oxford University Press).
  • Wamai, N., (2017) The 2008 Kenyan Mediation Process: Lessons and dilemmas for Conflict Prevention in Africa in The Palgrave Handbook of Peacebuilding in Africa edited by Karbo, Tony, Virk, Kudrat.( London, Palgrave).
  • Wamai, N., (2014) Mediating Kenya’s Post-Election Violence: From a peace-making to a constitutional moment in the Struggle for a New Constitutional Order edited by Murunga, Okello and Sjogren. (London, Zed Books).
  • Wamai.N., (2010), 'Security Council Resolution 1325 Implementation in Liberia: Dilemmas and Challenges in Olonisakin, Barens and Ikpe (eds.), Women's Participation in Women's Peace and Security. Translating Policy into Practice. (London: Routledge).
  • Wamai N., (2013), UN Security Council Resolution 1325 in Kenya: Dilemmas and Opportunities. Working Papers in British-Irish Studies. No. # 2013. (University College Dublin, Dublin).

Teaching:
Research Methods in International Affairs, Politics of Africa, Introduction to Human Rights, Africa in International Relations, Introduction to Peace and Conflict Studies, International Organizations.

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