Chepchirchir Tirop

Chepchirchir Tirop is a historian of Kenya, East Africa, and the Indian Ocean world. She is primarily interested in questions of post-independence nationalism. Specifically, she seeks to understand how different understandings of Kenyan identity and Kenyanness have been articulated through culture. Her previous work has looked at how Indian diaspora in Kenya uses different cultural forms and sites such as museum exhibits, music and literary forms to craft and claim Kenyan identity. Her current work explores the role of athletics in nation building in Kenyan history. In addition to histories of sports and nationalism, this work is in conversation with labor histories and histories of the body to think through athletes' work and performance on local and global stages. Her work has appeared in publications such as Africa is a Country, Eastern African Literary and Cultural Studies, and The Journal of African History. She is currently an assistant professor of African History at Boston University.