Street Art and the Reconfiguration of Civic Advocacy in Nairobi City

Abstract

Over the last two decades, social protests in Kenya have shifted to using art. Social protests involving art, such as the ‘State-Burial-ballot-Revolution’ and ‘Occupy-Parliament Movement,’ among others, have been witnessed in the country in the recent past. These artistic productions interpellate the spaces they interact with – the street, parliament, buildings, perimeter fences and public arenas – to denounce various issues, such as corruption, extra-judicial killings, political greed and other social injustices afflicting the nation. Espousing concepts of the carnivalesque by Mikhail Bakhtin, this article analyzes street art – street theatre and graffiti – utilized in Nairobi’s streets. In examining the literary aesthetics embedded in these innovative creative works, this article shows the significant potential of street art to stake, reclaim and reconfigure civil advocacy and, in the process, spur civic participation in various issues affecting the country today.