Reimagining Science and Statecraft in Postcolonial Kenya Stories from an African Scientist

This book examines the development of medical sciences in postcolonial Kenya, through the adventures and stories of the controversial Kalenjin scientist Davy Kiprotich Koech. As a collaborative life story project, it privileges African voices and retellings, re-centring the voice of African scientists from the peripheries of storytelling about science, global health research collaborations, national politics, international geopolitical alliances, and medical research. Focusing largely on the development of the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) and its collaborations with the US Centers for Disease Control, the Walter Reed Project, Japan’s International Cooperation Agency, the Wellcome Trust, and other international partners, Denielle Elliott and Davy Koech challenge euro-dominant representations of African science and global health in both the contemporary and historical and offer an unconventional account which aims to destabilize colonial and neo-colonial narratives about African science, scientists, and statecraft. The stories force readers to contend with a series of questions including: How do imperial effects shape contemporary medical research and national sovereignty? In which ways do the colonial ghosts of early medical research infuse the struggles of postcolonial scientists to build national scientific projects? How were postcolonial nation-building projects tied up with the dreams and visions of African scientists? And lastly, how might we reimagine African medicine and biosciences? The monograph will be of interest to students, educators, and scholars working in African Studies, Science and Technology Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Global Health, Cultural Anthropology, and Medical Anthropology.

List of Illustrations Preface The Art of Storytelling / Stories of Science: An introduction Daudi Colonial Administration Soliat Primary School Growing up During Independence Hospitalization Student Life and Education Reforms Kericho Tea Hotel On Becoming a Scientist Siberia HLA tissue-typing and kidney transplants in Kenya Science and Technology Amendment Act Daniel arap Moi National Politics The Kenya Medical Research Institute Japan Division of Vector Borne Diseases Wellcome Trust Walter Reed Project / US Army Research Unit The US Embassy and the CDC The KEMRON Trial Saba Saba and the KEMRON Results Kinshasa and Racial Politics A Son’s Death Collaborative agreements and fiscal irregularities The Accusations Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission The Arrest Corporate executive Faith Epilogue by Davy Kiprotich Koech

Denielle Elliottis an Associate Professor in the Departments of Social Science and Anthropologyat York University in Toronto, Canadawith cross-appointments in the graduate programs ofInternational Development Studies, and Science, Technology and Studies. She is a founder and co-curator of the Centre for Imaginative Ethnography, and writes on questions relating to social suffering, colonialism, morality, and the politics of medicine.