Highlights
The Department of Communication, Media, Film and T: Students at the Department of Communication, Media, Film and Theatre Arts had the opportunity to attend t
Executive Dean Meeting with Chairmen of Department: The new Executive Dean Prof David Minja had a meeting with the Chairmen of departments in the school. Als
The School of Law, Arts, and Social Sciences at Ke: The School of Law, Arts, and Social Sciences at Kenyatta University welcomed its new Executive Dean, Prof
LIDERAFRICA Erasmus+ Call KA171: In the process of promoting joint research and dissemination through various initiatives, we are glad to
THE ALL KENYAN MOOT E-JOURNAL LAUNCH: >>>>>>Click here to download the advert Journal of the All Kenyan Moot Court Competiti
THE 32nd Christ of Heyns AFRICAN HUMAN RIGHTS MOOT: Kenyatta University School of Law participated in this year’s Christof Heyns African Human Rights Moot
THE TOYIN FALOLA AT 70 CONFERENCE: THEME: POST-COLONIAL AFRICA: HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY REALITIES CONFERENCE DATES:  10- 12 MAY 2023
Testdaf and testas examinations: We are pleased to announce that the Kenyatta University Department of Literature, Linguistics and Foreign
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: Chemchemi –International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences ISSN: 1563-1028 Chemchemi-Internati

 

Name: Dr. Gloria Ajami Makokha
Religion: Christian
Designation: Lecturer (Literature), Kenyatta University, Kenya
Address:  P. O. Box 43844 - 00100 Nairobi
Literature, Linguistics and Foreign Languages Department
Kenyatta University

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Publications
Referred Journals

  • Makokha, G. A. (2026). Enabling Visibility of the Jina as an Oral Cultural Form in Kenya’s Coastal Region. British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA) Blog Post: Enabling Visibility of the Jina as an Oral Cultural Form in Kenya’s Coastal Region | British Institute in Eastern Africa
  • Makokha, G. A. (2024). Cannibalising the African immigrant woman: Human trafficking as represented in Amma Darko’s Beyond the Horizon and Chika Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street. Hybrid Journal of Literary and Cultural Studies, 6(1).  https://doi.org/10.58256/k8gas404
  • Makokha, G. A., Muhia, M., & Obura, O. (2022). Beautiful dreams: Deconstructing discourses of redemption in Darko’s Beyond the Horizon (1995), Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street (2009), Adichie’s Americanah (2013) and Mbue’s Behold the Dreamers (2016). Hybrid Journal of Literary and Cultural Studies, 4(3). Retrieved from https:// royalliteglobal.com/hybrid-literary/ article/view/932
  • Makokha, G. A., Muhia, M., & Obura, O. (2022). No longer green:Female characters of African descent as sex workers in Chika Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street (2009) and Amma Darko’s Beyond the Horizon (1995). Research Journal in Advanced Humanities, 3(4). Retrieved from https://royalliteglobal.com/advancedhumanities/article/view/891
  • Makokha, G. A. (2021). Navigating diaspora: An experience of female characters of African descent in selected novels by African female writers. Research Journal in Advanced Humanities, 2(1). Retrieved from https://royalliteglobal.com/advanced-humanities/article/view/554
  • Gloria Ajami Makokha & J.K.S Makokha (2020) Through Toundi’s Lens: First Person Narration and Its Thematic Significance in Ferdinand Oyono’s Houseboy (1966) The Cactus Journal of Theatre and Visual Arts, Vol 3, Issue 1, pp. 1-13, September, 2020
  • Gloria Ajami Makokha & Justus Makokha (2020) Between Globalization and Localization: Aesthetic Manifestation of Globality, Reflexivity and Social Change in Daya Pawar’s Baluta (2015) Hybrid Journal of Literary and Cultural Studies, https://royalliteglobal.com/hybrid-literary/article/view/3/1  Vol 2, Issue 2, pp. 1-13, January, 2020
  • Maurice Simbili Mwichuli & Gloria Ajami Makokha (2020) Struggle for Survival: Female Masculinization as presented in Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye’s Coming to Birth and Victoria and Murder in Majengo Journal of Postcolonial Writing and World Literatures, https://royalliteglobal.com/world-literatures/article/view/49 Vol.1, Issue 1, pp. 4-14, February, 2020
  • Gloria Ajami Makokha (2019) Three Regions, One Message: A Comparative Analysis of Poems From Africa, The United States of America and British Guiana International Journal of Current Research DOI: https://doi.org/10.24941/ijcr.36754.09.2019 Vol. 11, Issue, 09, pp.7400-7403, September, 2019
  • Gloria Ajami Makokha (2015) The African Woman In Coming to Birth: A Critical Analysis of Kenya’s Liberation As Depicted By The Woman’s Liberation In Society Educational Research Journal (ISSN: 2141-5161), DOI: http:/dx.doi.org/10.14303/er.2015.014 Vol. 6(1) pp. 1-12
  • Nyambane Fredrick Monanti1*; Zakayo Amayi2; Ajami Gloria3 & Minyikha Lilian4 (2015) Indigenous Oral Poetry For Biodiversity Conservation and (Inter) National Integration, International Journal of Innovative Social Sciences & Humanities Research (ISSN: 2354:-2926) Vol.3(2) pp60-68
  • Gloria Ajami Makokha (2014) Portrayal of the African Woman in Half of a Yellow Sun Journal Research in Peace, Gender and Development (JRPGD) DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14303/jrpgd.2014.041 Vol. 4(6) pp. 111-120

Conference/Workshops/Seminar Papers
Conference Papers

  • 24/06/2026 to 25/06/2026: Silences, Stories, Scripts: Transcultural Perspectives on Mothers and Daughters in Literature Virtual Conference Organized by CENTRE FOR COMPARATIVE LITERATURE at the Institute for Languages, Cultures and Societies, School of Advanced Study, University of London

  • 09/06/2026 to 12/06/2026: CAPHE Krakow Communities of Perception International Conference at JAGIELLONIAN UNIVERSITY, KRAKOW, POLAND Titles of paper presented: Khanga as Interface: Majina, hybrid sociality, and embodied self-observation in Coastal East Africa 

  • 28/05/2026 to 30/05/2026: African Literature Association (ALA) 51 st Annual Conference at the UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE, KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE, USA Titles of papers presented: Adaptation of Khanga's Majina: Dynamics of Cultural, Contextual and Performative Transformation. and WOCALA Roundtable: African Writers and Political Ideoscapes: Wangari Maathai’s Unbowed One Woman’s Story (2006)

  •     26/03/2026: Locating Film in the Multiple Geographies of the Audiovisual Archive: A Symposium on Film and Archival Practices at Lecture Hall XI, Universitethuset, Biskopsgatan 3, UPPSALA UNIVERSITY, SWEDEN Panel Chair: Session 1
  • 2/03/2026: Materialities of Oral Cultures in East Africa: An Online Workshop Hosted by the African Literary Metadata Project at UPPSALA UNIVERSITY, SWEDEN Organiser and Host
  • 20/02/2026: International Mother Tongue Day 2026, Symposium at KENYATTA UNIVERSITY, NAIROBI, KENYA (Virtual Presentation)Title of paper presented: HERUFI KUBWA, SAUTI KUBWA: Khanga/Leso, The Cloth That “Speaks” in Capital Letters
  • 19/09/2025: Forum for African Studies Seminar at UPPSALA UNIVERSITY, SWEDEN. Title of paper presented: Digitizing Jina: Providing Visibility to the Khanga’s Oral Literary Messages. Friday seminar 2: 19th September 2025 – Uppsala University
  • 27/08/2025 to 29/08/2025: ArtFest Conference held at Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya on (Presented Virtually).Title of paper presented: Reshaping Supervision: A Note to Professor Oluoch Obura
  • 09/07/2025 to 12/07/2025: International Society for the Oral Literatures of Africa (ISOLA) Conference at the UNIVERSITY OF ABUJA, ABUJA, NIGERIATitle of paper presented: Digitizing Jina: Providing Visibility to the Khanga’s Oral Literary Messages
  • 01/07/2025 to 05/07/2025: Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (ACLALS) Conference at the UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI, NAIROBI, KENYA Title of paper presented: Traversing Borders: Migration, Identity, and Economic Displacement in Chika Unigwe’s On Black Sisters´ Street Within the Context of Global South-North Mobility
  • 25/06/2025 to 28/06/2025: African Literature Association (ALA) 50th Annual Conference at the UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI, NAIROBI, KENYA Titles of papers presented: Reclaiming Nature: Ecological Spaces and Resistance in Wangari Maathai's Unbowed and Ecological Explorations in African Literature and Culture: Reading Unbowed and Vanishing Herds
  • 20/06/2025:   Celebrating the Life and Works of Prof. Ngugi wa Thiong'o at TAIFA HALL,UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI, KENYA
  • 04/03/2025 to 07/03/2025: Pedagogical Skills Training held virtually by the Centre for Teacher Professional Development and Excellence (TPDEX)at KENYATTA UNIVERSITY,KENYA
  • 26/11/2024 to 27/11/2024: Workshop on West African Literary and Cultural Metadata at UPPSALA UNIVERSITY, SWEDEN.Title of paper presented: Digitizing Jina: Providing Visibility to the Khanga’s Oral Literary Messages
  • 04/09/2024:Workshop on Street Preaching as Performance: Aesthetics, Form, and Genre, jointly hosted by the African Literary Metadata project (ALMEDA) at Uppsala University and the Centre of African Studies at Copenhagen University, at UPPSALA UNIVERSITY, SWEDEN
  • 10/07/2024 to 13/07/2024: Planetary Fiction: African Literature and Climate Change’ Seminar at THE UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA Title of paper presented:Narratives of Environmental Contestation: Intersections of Tradition, Modernity and Activism in Henry Ole Kulet’s Vanishing Herds and Wangari Maathai’s Unbowed
  • 23/05/2024 to 25/05/2024: African Literature Association (ALA) 49th Annual Conference at the UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE, KY, USA Title of Paper Presented: Cannibalising the African Immigrant Woman: Human Trafficking as Represented in Selected Texts by Chika Unigwe and Amma Darko
  • 29/01/2024: QMS Refresher Training at the Graduate School Building, Seminar Hall Two, KENYATTA UNIVERSITY, KENYA
  •  23/05/2024 to 25/05/2024: African Literature Association (ALA) 49th Annual Conference at the UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE, KY, USA: Title of Paper Presented: Cannibalising the African Immigrant Woman: Human Trafficking as Represented in Selected Texts by Chika Unigwe and Amma Darko
  • 24/05/2023 to 27/05/2023: African Literature Association (ALA) 48th Annual Conference at the UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE-KNOXVILLE.Title of Paper Presented:Homing and Un-Homing: A Gendered Experience of African Women in the Diaspora in Americanah; Behold the Dreamers; Beyond the Horizon and On Black Sisters’ Street.A panellist in the Women’s Caucus of the African Literature Association (WOCALA) Roundtable discussion entitled:  Women in Self-Publishing: New Frontiers in African Writing
  • 02/12/2022:The 44th Kenyatta University Postgraduate Seminar at KENYATTA UNIVERSITY, A Presentation of PhD Research Thesis Findings Entitled:Emigration in Selected Transnational Fiction by African Women Writers: A Study of Female Characters of African Descent
  • 10/11/2022 to 13 /11/ 2022: National Women’s Studies Association Annual Conference, at THE HILTON MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA U.S.A.Title of Paper Presented:Yvonne Vera’s The Stone Virgins: A Representation of Women’s Presence in Zimbabwean Politics
  • 18/05/2022 to 21/05/2022: African Literature Association (ALA) 47th Annual Conference Online.Title of Paper Presented:WOCALA Roundtable: Emigration and the Diaspora
  • 26/05/2021 to 29/05/2021: African Literature Association (ALA) 46th Annual Conference Online Title of Paper Presented: Self-Censorship: Yvonne Vera and the Politics of Zimbabwe
  • 19/02/2021: International Mother Language Day Conference at THE CENTRE FOR INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE AND CULTURE, KENYATTA UNIVERSITY, NAIROBI. Title of Paper Presented: Mother languages and Other Languages: Navigating Covid 19 through East African Poetrimusical Craftsmanship
  • 13/09/2019:International Conference on Advanced Research in Humanities and Social Sciences at THE KENYA NATIONAL LIBRARY SERVICES, NAIROBI. Title of Paper Presented:Struggle for Survival: Female Masculinisation as presented in Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye’s Coming to Birth and Victoria and Murder in Majengo
  • 23/05/2018 to 26/05/2018: African Literature Association (ALA) Annual Conference at THE MARIOTT, WARDMAN PARK, WASHINGTON DC, USA.Title of Paper Presented:Through Ecofeminist Eyes: JM Coetzee’s ‘Disgrace’.
  • 14/06/2017 to 17/06/2017: African Literature Association (ALA) Annual Conference at YALE UNIVERSITY, USA.Title of Paper Presented:Mothers, Daughters and Gendered Violence during the Biafran War in Nigeria and the Post-Election Violence in Kenya
  • 24/06/2015 to 26/06/2015: Kenya Oral Literature Assosiation (KOLA) Annual Conference at KIBABII UNIVERSITY, KENYA .Title of Paper Presented: Indigenous Oral Poetry for Biodiversity Preservation and National Integration
  • 27/07/2015 to 28/07/2015: Pedagogical Skills and Training Workshop at KIBABII UNIVERSITY, KENYA

 

Community Service and Other Engagements

  • Clothes Donation at V-Joy Childrens Center, Kahawa West on 7th December, 2023

  • Clothes Donation at The Community Pope John XXIII, located in Kamuthi (Kahawa West)- August 2021

Affiliation of Professional Bodies

  • National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA)
  • African Literature Association (ALA)
  • Kenya Oral Literature Association (KOLA)
  • Kenya Institute of Management (KIM)

National and International awards and Recognitions

  •  Full Funding by The University of Johannesburg to attend the ‘Planetary Fiction: African Literature and Climate Change’ Seminar, in Johannesburg, 10th - 13th July 2024

  • Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the African Literary Metadata Research Project in the Department of English, Uppsala University, Sweden, 2024-2026

  • The African Literature Association (ALA) Travel Grant Award, 2023

  • M.A Full Scholarship at Aarhus University, Denmark under the Platform for Stability,      Democracy and Rights: 2012-2014

 Other administrative positions Held

  • Head of Subject, English at Cardinal Otunga Girls’ High School, Bungoma
Details

Chairperson

Dr. Kenneth Kamuri Ngure

Dr. Mark Mutali Chetambe
Chairperson
Department of Literature, Linguistics, and Foreign Languages

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