practice
if listening changes nothing, why were we there?
The essays and photographs are mine. At Recentred Africa, I work with other people. I won't squeeze their work into a footnote so that mine looks larger.
I'm Story Lead across participatory research, ethical narrative practice, photography, creative and editorial direction, and public-interest reporting. I care less about whether a listening session happened than whether anybody surrendered a bad idea because of it.
Most briefs arrive already convinced they know what the problem is. Research is then invited in to agree.
I would rather it be allowed to cause trouble.
If people give us their time, knowledge, and accounts of their lives, accurate transcription is the floor. Who decides what leaves the room? Where does it travel? What can it set in motion? Would the people at the centre recognise what we made?
We can still take a position. It just has to survive contact with what people actually told us.
one case / Najali
the research changed the public form.
Commissioned by hive / WRTHY, I curated men's focus discussions and episode content, and supported broadcaster and influencer coordination.
Across eight focus discussions in Kibera and Mathare, the listening altered the series' language, themes, settings, casting, conversational architecture, practical prompts, and distribution logic.
A three-part public series followed. A 2022 evaluation documented substantial launch reach and response. It didn't establish causal behaviour change, and reach isn't being dressed up here to perform it.
What we can show is closer to the making: people changed the language, the casting, the structure of the conversation, and the ways others were invited into it.
read the shared case at Recentred Africa - opens an external sitea policy trace
sometimes the story reaches Parliament.
Recentred Africa's reporting on Kenya's Films and Stage Plays Bill became a memorandum submitted to Parliament.
The story wasn't there to make the intervention look interesting. It helped make the intervention possible.
read the public work at Recentred Africa - opens an external siteRecentred Africa is a Nairobi studio and research practice with its own work, people, and authority.
enter Recentred Africa - opens an external site