Youth Knowledge, Informality and the Politics of Everyday Violence

Free Entry In-person Event

While today public debate in Kenya has intensified around youth politics and police violence since the 2024 Finance Bill Protests, what remains under-examined is the foundational role that youth in informal settlements have played in sustaining resistance against police violence for over a decade. Drawing from findings of research carried out as part of a PhD research in Mathare, between 2018 and 2022, the research traces that history, centring Mathare and Mathare youth (in Mlango Kubwa and Mradi) not as marginal [actors] but as political agents whose knowledge, histories, and everyday practices ground debates on police violence in Kenya. This talk will also explore the intergenerational tension and intergenerational solidarity in these two wards to understand youth experiences and adaptation to years of compounded police violence in the community. It will also reflect on the speaker’s dissemination experiences as an insider outsider.

About the Speaker

Rachel Sittoni is an independent researcher with a PhD in Politics and International Studies from the University of Cambridge. Her work focuses on the intersections of youth politics, informality, livelihoods, and violence, with a regional interest in Africa. She explores how informal systems and structural inequalities shape youth everyday survival strategies and how these dynamics interact with broader patterns of conflict and peacebuilding. She has worked extensively in peacebuilding and development research and practice including with Peace Direct and the African Leadership Centre. She is a recipient of the BIEA’s 2025/2026 Dissemination Award, supporting her current project on community-led engagement with research findings in Mathare.