As a social worker, I recognize and affirm the spectrum of human diversity. I believe that diversity, inclusion, and equity cannot be realized without due acknowledgment of how power, exploitation, and the unrelenting competition of resources affect tribal, ethnic, and cultural minorities. Informed by my rich formative social work education at the University of Nairobi, I unapologetically espouse the profession’s obligation to agitate and challenge institutions that act as resource gatekeepers in society. I affirm the right of all citizens to participate in selecting the representatives and governments that steward these resources and to demand that those who capture public resources for private gain be held to account.
My scholarship focuses on institutions and people’s well-being and corroborates past studies that have found that institutions and governance have a very real impact on well-being, regardless of people’s income and geography. My scholarship, which spans three continents, uses a transformative lens recognizing participant-researcher power differentials and centering community voices to further the pursuit of social justice. As educators, the rapidly evolving co-occurring global crises have laid bare the need to critically re-imagine social work education—who matriculates into our programs, what we teach, and how content is delivered. As I grapple with how best to prepare future social workers to face this complex reality, I am committed to supporting an inclusive learning environment where students see themselves represented in the material and find relevance in the content presented in my classroom.
My work as a scholar and educator is anchored in a social justice paradigm. I continue to draw inspiration from a community of scholars, my students, and my personal networks to challenge and grow my social work practice.