Varsity hosted the 20th Triennial Conference: a first since its Establishment
The University of Nairobi was honoured to host the 20th Triennial Conference of the Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (ACLALS), from 1st July to 5th July 2025, the first ever ACLALS conference to be held in Kenya since its establishment in 1964
Supported by the University’s Department of Literature, the conference convened scholars from different parts of the world to deliberate on the theme “Transcultural Englishes in a Multipolar World”. Rich panels and roundtable discussions not only engaged literary critics as they explored aligned themes, but also created an inspiring and impactful experience.
The five-day event was characterized by daily entertainment by the University of Nairobi Travelling Theatre (UNTT) at the grand Chandaria Centre for Performing Arts in the University, captivated the diverse audience with their youthful energy as they danced, performed songs in the spirit of Kenyan Culture and poetry that commemorated literary legacies.
Dr. Kimingichi Wabende of the University of Nairobi was instrumental in conducting the event. He created an enjoyable experience with his humour that lit up the audience.
The conference featured keynote sessions by renowned African literary scholars: Prof. Simon Gikandi of Princeton University, Kenyan Author Yvonne A. Owuor, Prof. Grace Musila, Ugandan novelist, Goretti Kyomuhendo and Writer Mukoma wa Ngugi.
The first day of the conference was marked by a keynote address by Prof. Simon Gikandi, on ‘Decolonising English – An Incomplete Project’. He stated that the first major step in the decolonization of English was initiated at the University of Nairobi in the form of a manifesto – “On the Abolition of the English Department” – written by James Ngugi, Henry Owuor-Anyumba, and Taban Lo Liyong”.
His address posed two questions that in his words, “seem to haunt English across borders”: Why is English, which has been decolonized in creative fiction and media, still a disciplinary formation imprisoned in late colonial thinking? Why does the institution of criticism resist decentering or provincialization?
Day two featured a stirring keynote session with Yvonne Owuor. During her talk, she shared her journey growing up in a trilingual household that spoke Luo, Kiswahili and English.
As she spoke on ‘World by Word’, the renowned Author proposed to use story that in her words “serves as the infrastructure of thought, the undercurrent beneath perception, policy and possibility” - “In this epoch of irresponsible multipolar renewal, this paper reflects on the potential of English, and its assorted Englishes, as raw material for a collective reimagining of the world. It calls for conscious, intense myth-making labours to craft architectures of consciousness that engage a world-in-crisis, addressing the question most pertinent to our age: what does it mean to be human now?”
The following day, Prof. Grace Musila delivered ‘Refusal’. As part of her talk she asserted, “I read these literary portraits of refusal as important counter discourses that keep alive the possibility of confronting the normalisation of neoliberal logics, and imagining alternative forms of worldmaking beyond neoliberal imperatives”.
On day four, Novelist Goretti Kyomuhendo, took the stage to share her journey of writing, activism and literary production. Her presentation expounded on the role of activism as a way of shifting centres of power from the west to the continent; arguing that activism is a necessary undertaking when one operates in a marginalised literary culture.
Later, she launched her new book titled ‘Promises’, joined on stage by the President of ACLALS, Alex Wanjala and keynote speakers Yvonne Owuor and Grace Musila,.
On the final day of the conference, Sharlon Muthoni, former Literature student at the University of Nairobi, was recognized and awarded for being bold enough to submit an undergraduate paper titled “Global Tides and Local Shores: Interconnectedness of the Kenyan Coast with the Outside World” - in Yvonne Owuor’s ‘The Dragonfly Sea’.
The paper was accepted by the ACLALS Executive Committee and became one of the best presentations. The award was presented by Kenyan Author Yvonne Owuor.
ACLALS was founded in 1964 with a conference at the University of Leeds and was officially accredited to the Commonwealth in 2005. The organization has a storied history, and has held numerous regional conferences and more than a dozen international triennial conferences since its founding.
The objectives of ACLALS are to promote and coordinate Commonwealth Literature Studies, organize seminars and workshops, arrange lectures by writers and scholars, publish a newsletter about activities in the field of Commonwealth Literature and hold one conference triennially. The latest conference took place in July 2022 in Toronto, Canada, imediately before the kenyan edition that took place in July 2025.
