Awino Okech
Biographic Data
| ID | 388043 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Awino Okech |
| GIVEN NAMES | Awino |
| FAMILY NAME | Okech |
| SIGNATURE | OKECH A |
| AFFILIATIONS | SOAS University of London |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2541-0992 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 52 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2015 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Revisiting feminist advocacy
In 2025, the world celebrated 30 years of the historic United Nations Beijing Conference for Women and its agenda-setting Platform for Action. Underpinning this celebration was a recognition of the
Mutual Aid and Covid-19 in London: Understanding Community Resilience
Chinese Funded Projects and Open Governance in Kenya
This article examines how Kenyan civil society uses open governance to call for government accountability around debt acquisition from China. Through two case studies, I illustrate how strategic litigation has become a framework through which civil society exercises leadership from below in the face of constrained parliamentary scrutiny. Rather than a one-sided conversation about “China in Africa†, these case studies show that open governance ser…
Feminist Protest Action in Kenya: Lessons and Directions
This essay historicizes feminist protests in Kenya over the last decade to examine the changing patterns of protest action and how they illustrate the evolution of both feminist discourses and sites within which these debates are animated. I look beyond the streets and direct action as the epitome of protest action to examine strategic litigation, hashtag activism, and national campaigns as important ways through which feminist protest can be und…
Movement building responses to Covid-19: Lessons from the Jass mobilisation fund
This article draws on the work of Just Associates (JASS), a feminist movement support organisation that strengthens the leadership and organising capacity of community-based women networks in Southern Africa, Southeast Asia, and Mesoamerica, to transform the structures that perpetuate inequality and violence. We analyse qualitative interviews and surveys drawn from recipients of the JASS mobilisation fund (JMF), an innovative financial crisis sup…
Introduction: Feminist protests and politics in a world in crisis
Welcome to Gender & Development’s special double issue on Feminist Protests and Politics in a World in Crisis. This double issue was produced during a global pandemic that has triggered a deep economic crisis and an unprecedented public health emergency worldwide. When we were approached to co-edit this issue, we thought the focus on feminist protest and politics could not be more timely. The multiple and interconnected crises we are living throu…
Global movement for Black lives: A conversation between Awino Okech and Shereen Essof
This conversation reflects on the importance of transnational Black solidarity in a global moment where the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed structural inequalities that sustain Black death and the global movement for Black lives has focussed attention on anti-Blackness. We reflect on the legacies of past and contemporary Black, Indigenous, People of Colour activism and the role that this has played in strengthening transnational efforts to deal wit…
Governing Gender: Violent Extremism in Northern Nigeria
This article draws on a qualitative study piloted in Maiduguri, Northern Nigeria, to unpack the gender logics that shape why women join Boko Haram, their roles, how they are perceived by their communities on their return and how these dynamics inform the ‘deradicalisation’ programmes of the Nigerian government and civil society organisations. The study reveals that the absence of a gender power analysis reproduces the dominant tropes evident in r…
Gender and state-building conversations: The discursive production of gender identity in Kenya and Rwanda
This article advances the conceptualisation of conversations on state-building by examining gendered discourses. By focusing on specific historical moments in Rwanda and Kenya, this article analyses how ‘respectable femininities’ and ‘wayward sexualities’ become the ‘sites’ where national and state politics are ritualised and where tensions resulting from non-hegemonic performances of both gender and sexuality are resolved. I argue that by examin…
Feminist Digital Counterpublics: Challenging Femicide in Kenya and South Africa
What happens when misogyny leads to increasing murders of women, whose lives are considered not worthy because their respectability is under attack? What do feminists do in a global moment when antifeminist backlash emerges with fervor in politics, policy, and social spaces to reverse and challenge feminist progress? Rage happens. This article explores the role of rage in the development of African feminist digital counterpublics on Twitter. Thro…
African feminist epistemic communities and decoloniality
Decolonization as a pathway to transforming higher education institutions in the United Kingdom has led to quick fixes such as ‘diversity’ hires and reviewing syllabi thus sidestepping the fundamental structural deficits that demand these efforts. The Eurocentricism that continues to shape knowledge production and transfer processes sits at the heart of demands for decolonization. Therefore, decolonization projects require an attentiveness to how…
Covid-19 responses and human rights in selected African countries
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the need for states to strike a delicate balance between implementing measures to curb the spread of coronavirus, and respecting the rights and dignity of the populace. Human rights organisations warned that COVID-19 mitigation measures, such as the use of digital surveillance to trace and track population movement and the introduction of emergency laws that extend the government’s power to lock down countries, i…
Gender, Protests and Political Change in Africa
Building Transnational Feminist Alliances: Reflections on the Post-2015 Development Agenda
This article reflects on transnational feminist organising by drawing on the experiences of the African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) during the consultations leading up to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. First, we re-examine some of the debates that have shaped the field of women’s rights, feminist activism and gender justice in Africa, and the enduring legacies of these discourses for policy advocacy. Secon…
Boundary anxieties and infrastructures of violence: Somali identity in post-Westgate Kenya
This article explores infrastructures of violence created by ongoing contestations around insecurity related to violent insurgency in Kenya. It draws on public discourses and policy responses emerging from the September 2013 terror attack at Westgate in Nairobi. In examining security policies developed to cordon off particular geographical sites and therefore construct Kenyan Somalis as the ‘other’, I argue that what is produced is a mobile secur…
The convergence and divergence of three pillars of influence in gender and security
This article explores the convergence between three pillars of influence – feminist security studies, civil society activism and policy decision-making – and its role in the adoption and implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325. It argues that these three pillars, individually and collectively, have made important contributions to the debate and action on the gender and security agenda, but that they remain organi…
Introduction: Feminist protests and politics in a world in crisis
Welcome to Gender & Development’s special double issue on Feminist Protests and Politics in a World in Crisis. This double issue was produced during a global pandemic that has triggered a deep economic crisis and an unprecedented public health emergency worldwide. When we were approached to co-edit this issue, we thought the focus on feminist protest and politics could not be more timely. The multiple and interconnected crises we are living throu…
African feminist epistemic communities and decoloniality
Decolonization as a pathway to transforming higher education institutions in the United Kingdom has led to quick fixes such as ‘diversity’ hires and reviewing syllabi thus sidestepping the fundamental structural deficits that demand these efforts. The Eurocentricism that continues to shape knowledge production and transfer processes sits at the heart of demands for decolonization. Therefore, decolonization projects require an attentiveness to how…
Covid-19 responses and human rights in selected African countries
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the need for states to strike a delicate balance between implementing measures to curb the spread of coronavirus, and respecting the rights and dignity of the populace. Human rights organisations warned that COVID-19 mitigation measures, such as the use of digital surveillance to trace and track population movement and the introduction of emergency laws that extend the government’s power to lock down countries, i…
Gender, Protests and Political Change in Africa
The convergence and divergence of three pillars of influence in gender and security
This article explores the convergence between three pillars of influence – feminist security studies, civil society activism and policy decision-making – and its role in the adoption and implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325. It argues that these three pillars, individually and collectively, have made important contributions to the debate and action on the gender and security agenda, but that they remain organi…
Gender and state-building conversations: The discursive production of gender identity in Kenya and Rwanda
This article advances the conceptualisation of conversations on state-building by examining gendered discourses. By focusing on specific historical moments in Rwanda and Kenya, this article analyses how ‘respectable femininities’ and ‘wayward sexualities’ become the ‘sites’ where national and state politics are ritualised and where tensions resulting from non-hegemonic performances of both gender and sexuality are resolved. I argue that by examin…
Feminist Digital Counterpublics: Challenging Femicide in Kenya and South Africa
What happens when misogyny leads to increasing murders of women, whose lives are considered not worthy because their respectability is under attack? What do feminists do in a global moment when antifeminist backlash emerges with fervor in politics, policy, and social spaces to reverse and challenge feminist progress? Rage happens. This article explores the role of rage in the development of African feminist digital counterpublics on Twitter. Thro…
Global movement for Black lives: A conversation between Awino Okech and Shereen Essof
This conversation reflects on the importance of transnational Black solidarity in a global moment where the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed structural inequalities that sustain Black death and the global movement for Black lives has focussed attention on anti-Blackness. We reflect on the legacies of past and contemporary Black, Indigenous, People of Colour activism and the role that this has played in strengthening transnational efforts to deal wit…
Boundary anxieties and infrastructures of violence: Somali identity in post-Westgate Kenya
This article explores infrastructures of violence created by ongoing contestations around insecurity related to violent insurgency in Kenya. It draws on public discourses and policy responses emerging from the September 2013 terror attack at Westgate in Nairobi. In examining security policies developed to cordon off particular geographical sites and therefore construct Kenyan Somalis as the ‘other’, I argue that what is produced is a mobile secur…
Governing Gender: Violent Extremism in Northern Nigeria
This article draws on a qualitative study piloted in Maiduguri, Northern Nigeria, to unpack the gender logics that shape why women join Boko Haram, their roles, how they are perceived by their communities on their return and how these dynamics inform the ‘deradicalisation’ programmes of the Nigerian government and civil society organisations. The study reveals that the absence of a gender power analysis reproduces the dominant tropes evident in r…
The convergence and divergence of three pillars of influence in gender and security
This article explores the convergence between three pillars of influence – feminist security studies, civil society activism and policy decision-making – and its role in the adoption and implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325. It argues that these three pillars, individually and collectively, have made important contributions to the debate and action on the gender and security agenda, but that they remain organi…
Boundary anxieties and infrastructures of violence: Somali identity in post-Westgate Kenya
This article explores infrastructures of violence created by ongoing contestations around insecurity related to violent insurgency in Kenya. It draws on public discourses and policy responses emerging from the September 2013 terror attack at Westgate in Nairobi. In examining security policies developed to cordon off particular geographical sites and therefore construct Kenyan Somalis as the ‘other’, I argue that what is produced is a mobile secur…
Building Transnational Feminist Alliances: Reflections on the Post-2015 Development Agenda
This article reflects on transnational feminist organising by drawing on the experiences of the African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) during the consultations leading up to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. First, we re-examine some of the debates that have shaped the field of women’s rights, feminist activism and gender justice in Africa, and the enduring legacies of these discourses for policy advocacy. Secon…
African feminist epistemic communities and decoloniality
Decolonization as a pathway to transforming higher education institutions in the United Kingdom has led to quick fixes such as ‘diversity’ hires and reviewing syllabi thus sidestepping the fundamental structural deficits that demand these efforts. The Eurocentricism that continues to shape knowledge production and transfer processes sits at the heart of demands for decolonization. Therefore, decolonization projects require an attentiveness to how…
Covid-19 responses and human rights in selected African countries
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the need for states to strike a delicate balance between implementing measures to curb the spread of coronavirus, and respecting the rights and dignity of the populace. Human rights organisations warned that COVID-19 mitigation measures, such as the use of digital surveillance to trace and track population movement and the introduction of emergency laws that extend the government’s power to lock down countries, i…
Gender, Protests and Political Change in Africa
Movement building responses to Covid-19: Lessons from the Jass mobilisation fund
This article draws on the work of Just Associates (JASS), a feminist movement support organisation that strengthens the leadership and organising capacity of community-based women networks in Southern Africa, Southeast Asia, and Mesoamerica, to transform the structures that perpetuate inequality and violence. We analyse qualitative interviews and surveys drawn from recipients of the JASS mobilisation fund (JMF), an innovative financial crisis sup…
Introduction: Feminist protests and politics in a world in crisis
Welcome to Gender & Development’s special double issue on Feminist Protests and Politics in a World in Crisis. This double issue was produced during a global pandemic that has triggered a deep economic crisis and an unprecedented public health emergency worldwide. When we were approached to co-edit this issue, we thought the focus on feminist protest and politics could not be more timely. The multiple and interconnected crises we are living throu…
Global movement for Black lives: A conversation between Awino Okech and Shereen Essof
This conversation reflects on the importance of transnational Black solidarity in a global moment where the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed structural inequalities that sustain Black death and the global movement for Black lives has focussed attention on anti-Blackness. We reflect on the legacies of past and contemporary Black, Indigenous, People of Colour activism and the role that this has played in strengthening transnational efforts to deal wit…
Governing Gender: Violent Extremism in Northern Nigeria
This article draws on a qualitative study piloted in Maiduguri, Northern Nigeria, to unpack the gender logics that shape why women join Boko Haram, their roles, how they are perceived by their communities on their return and how these dynamics inform the ‘deradicalisation’ programmes of the Nigerian government and civil society organisations. The study reveals that the absence of a gender power analysis reproduces the dominant tropes evident in r…
Gender and state-building conversations: The discursive production of gender identity in Kenya and Rwanda
This article advances the conceptualisation of conversations on state-building by examining gendered discourses. By focusing on specific historical moments in Rwanda and Kenya, this article analyses how ‘respectable femininities’ and ‘wayward sexualities’ become the ‘sites’ where national and state politics are ritualised and where tensions resulting from non-hegemonic performances of both gender and sexuality are resolved. I argue that by examin…
Feminist Digital Counterpublics: Challenging Femicide in Kenya and South Africa
What happens when misogyny leads to increasing murders of women, whose lives are considered not worthy because their respectability is under attack? What do feminists do in a global moment when antifeminist backlash emerges with fervor in politics, policy, and social spaces to reverse and challenge feminist progress? Rage happens. This article explores the role of rage in the development of African feminist digital counterpublics on Twitter. Thro…
Chinese Funded Projects and Open Governance in Kenya
This article examines how Kenyan civil society uses open governance to call for government accountability around debt acquisition from China. Through two case studies, I illustrate how strategic litigation has become a framework through which civil society exercises leadership from below in the face of constrained parliamentary scrutiny. Rather than a one-sided conversation about “China in Africa†, these case studies show that open governance ser…
Feminist Protest Action in Kenya: Lessons and Directions
This essay historicizes feminist protests in Kenya over the last decade to examine the changing patterns of protest action and how they illustrate the evolution of both feminist discourses and sites within which these debates are animated. I look beyond the streets and direct action as the epitome of protest action to examine strategic litigation, hashtag activism, and national campaigns as important ways through which feminist protest can be und…
Mutual Aid and Covid-19 in London: Understanding Community Resilience
Revisiting feminist advocacy
In 2025, the world celebrated 30 years of the historic United Nations Beijing Conference for Women and its agenda-setting Platform for Action. Underpinning this celebration was a recognition of the
Political science (14 works) · Law (13 works) · Politics (13 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Gender Studies (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Gender, Security, and Conflict (7 works) · Gender Politics and Representation (6 works) · Gender Studies (6 works) · Political economy (5 works)