2nd International Conference

Moi University African Multiple Research Centre Directorate's Leadership

The Moi University African Multiple Research Centre (Moi–AMRC) leadership is made up of Prof. Peter Tirop Simatei, a Professor of Comparative Literature (Director), and Prof. Tom M. Mboya, a Professor of African Literatures and Cultures (Academic Coordinator).

Peter Tirop Simatei is a Professor of Comparative Literature. He teaches African literature, Diaspora studies, literary theory and African Cinema in the Department of Literature, Theatre & Film. He has a BA (Hons) from the University of Nairobi, M.Phil from Moi University and a PhD from the University of Bayreuth, Germany. Prof. Simatei is a Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung. He has been a German Research Council (DFG) Post-doctoral Fellow (Postcolonial Studies Program) at the University of Munich (LMU) and a fellow of the Five College African Scholars program at the University of Massachusetts, USA.

Peter Simatei works in the broad fields of Postcolonial studies, Anglophone literatures, and Diaspora studies (all of which intersect). His focus is on negotiations of diaspora, migration, and gender and popular culture. His research enjoys international standing in postcolonial literary and cultural studies with specialization in the areas of East African, African and Indian diaspora literature and popular culture. His work aims to understand the ways in which diaspora and diasporic identities work within, against, and/or around national identities. Published in reputable journals Simatei’s work makes an important intervention in theories of diaspora that sometimes all too easily discount the centrality of the nation-state to diasporic consciousness. His future emphasis will be on the visions of the future that have been generated in Africa and its diasporas.

Tom Michael Mboya, is a Moi University-trained (BA, MPhil, DPhil) Professor of African Literatures and Cultures. He mainly researches the culture of the Luo of Kenya, focusing on popular music which he uses as a lens through which to perceive the complex social and political movements and relationships in the African postcolony from below. An important second area of Mboya’s research is East African Literature in English. 

Mboya is, also, a published poet and an award–winning short story writer. In addition, he publishes extensively in the Kenyan mass media. From June to September 2013 he had a weekly column, Snapshots, which ran in the Sunday Standard – a newspaper that has a nationwide circulation in Kenya. Mboya is a former Director of Academics at the Moi University Odera Akang’o Campus College. Before that he was Head of Department, Department of Literature, Theatre and Film Studies of Moi University. He has held Visiting Faculty positions at The University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa and University of Bayreuth, Germany.

Directorate leadership

2nd International Conference

Moi University African Multiple Research Centre Directorate's Leadership

The Moi University African Multiple Research Centre (Moi–AMRC) leadership is made up of Prof. Peter Tirop Simatei, a Professor of Comparative Literature (Director), and Prof. Tom M. Mboya, a Professor of African Literatures and Cultures (Academic Coordinator).

Peter Tirop Simatei is a Professor of Comparative Literature. He teaches African literature, Diaspora studies, literary theory and African Cinema in the Department of Literature, Theatre & Film. He has a BA (Hons) from the University of Nairobi, M.Phil from Moi University and a PhD from the University of Bayreuth, Germany. Prof. Simatei is a Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung. He has been a German Research Council (DFG) Post-doctoral Fellow (Postcolonial Studies Program) at the University of Munich (LMU) and a fellow of the Five College African Scholars program at the University of Massachusetts, USA.

Peter Simatei works in the broad fields of Postcolonial studies, Anglophone literatures, and Diaspora studies (all of which intersect). His focus is on negotiations of diaspora, migration, and gender and popular culture. His research enjoys international standing in postcolonial literary and cultural studies with specialization in the areas of East African, African and Indian diaspora literature and popular culture. His work aims to understand the ways in which diaspora and diasporic identities work within, against, and/or around national identities. Published in reputable journals Simatei’s work makes an important intervention in theories of diaspora that sometimes all too easily discount the centrality of the nation-state to diasporic consciousness. His future emphasis will be on the visions of the future that have been generated in Africa and its diasporas.

Tom Michael Mboya, is a Moi University-trained (BA, MPhil, DPhil) Professor of African Literatures and Cultures. He mainly researches the culture of the Luo of Kenya, focusing on popular music which he uses as a lens through which to perceive the complex social and political movements and relationships in the African postcolony from below. An important second area of Mboya’s research is East African Literature in English. 

Mboya is, also, a published poet and an award–winning short story writer. In addition, he publishes extensively in the Kenyan mass media. From June to September 2013 he had a weekly column, Snapshots, which ran in the Sunday Standard – a newspaper that has a nationwide circulation in Kenya. Mboya is a former Director of Academics at the Moi University Odera Akang’o Campus College. Before that he was Head of Department, Department of Literature, Theatre and Film Studies of Moi University. He has held Visiting Faculty positions at The University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa and University of Bayreuth, Germany.