21
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: not found

      #weareone: blood donation, terrorism and dreams of inclusion in Kenya

      Africa
      Cambridge University Press (CUP)

      Read this article at

      ScienceOpenPublisher
      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          This article examines responses to the terrorist attack on the Westgate Shopping Centre in Nairobi in September 2013 in order to investigate the role played by blood donation, as an expression of national dreams, in the political imaginary of contemporary Kenya. It considers the symbolic effectiveness of calls for blood donation made by political figures in the aftermath of the attacks. Such calls drew on a tradition of donation drives begun in the early years of independence, which emphasized the modernizing imperative of the new state and the importance of unity, hard work and self-sacrifice in building the nation. However, the reaction to Westgate, including calls for blood donation, also needs to be understood with reference to the response of American and other leaders to equivalent terrorist attacks in more recent years. These elite dreams found resonance among ordinary citizens and blood donation recruiters. But they were also subjected to trenchant critiques that sought to expose the reality of the transfusion system, as well as the inequality and injustice that mark the general healthcare system and Kenyan society as a whole. These shortcomings were also highlighted by mobilization drives organized by Kenya's Somali and Asian communities both before and during the Westgate crisis. The latter are presented by their organizers as a means of overcoming historic exclusion and discrimination.

          Résumé

          Cet article examine des réponses à l'attaque terroriste qui a visé le centre commercial Westgate de Nairobi en septembre 2013 afin d'examiner le rôle joué par le don de sang, en tant qu'expression de rêves nationaux, dans l'imaginaire politique du Kenya contemporain. Il étudie l'efficacité symbolique des appels aux dons de sang lancés par des figures politiques à la suite de l'attaque. Ces appels s'inspiraient d'une tradition de campagnes de don qui ont débuté dans les années qui suivirent l'indépendance, qui mettaient l'accent sur l'impératif de modernisation du nouvel État et sur l'importance de l'unité, de l'effort et de l'abnégation dans la construction de la nation. Cependant, il convient également de comprendre la réaction à l'attaque de Westgate, y compris les appels aux dons de sang, en référence à la réponse des dirigeants américains et autres à des attaques terroristes équivalentes plus récentes. Ces rêves d’élites ont trouvé une résonance chez les citoyens ordinaires et les recruteurs de dons de sang. Mais ils ont aussi fait l'objet de critiques incisives visant à exposer la réalité du système de transfusion, ainsi que l'inégalité et l'injustice qui marquent le système général de santé et la société kényane dans son ensemble. Ces carences ont également été soulignées par des campagnes de mobilisation organisées par les communautés somaliennes et asiatiques du Kenya avant et durant la crise du Westgate. Ces campagnes sont présentées par leurs organisateurs comme un moyen de surmonter l'exclusion et la discrimination historiques.

          Related collections

          Most cited references43

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: not found
          • Book: not found

          On the Postcolony

            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: found
            • Article: found
            Is Open Access

            Twitter in the Cross Fire—The Use of Social Media in the Westgate Mall Terror Attack in Kenya

            On September 2013 an attack on the Westgate mall in Kenya led to a four day siege, resulting in 67 fatalities and 175 wounded. During the crisis, Twitter became a crucial channel of communication between the government, emergency responders and the public, facilitating the emergency management of the event. The objectives of this paper are to present the main activities, use patterns and lessons learned from the use of the social media in the crisis. Using TwitterMate, a system developed to collect, store and analyze tweets, the main hashtags generated by the crowd and specific Twitter accounts of individuals, emergency responders and NGOs, were followed throughout the four day siege. A total of 67,849 tweets were collected and analyzed. Four main categories of hashtags were identified: geographical locations, terror attack, social support and organizations. The abundance of Twitter accounts providing official information made it difficult to synchronize and follow the flow of information. Many organizations posted simultaneously, by their manager and by the organization itself. Creating situational awareness was facilitated by information tweeted by the public. Threat assessment was updated through the information posted on social media. Security breaches led to the relay of sensitive data. At times, misinformation was only corrected after two days. Social media offer an accessible, widely available means for a bi-directional flow of information between the public and the authorities. In the crisis, all emergency responders used and leveraged social media networks for communicating both with the public and among themselves. A standard operating procedure should be developed to enable multiple responders to monitor, synchronize and integrate their social media feeds during emergencies. This will lead to better utilization and optimization of social media resources during crises, providing clear guidelines for communications and a hierarchy for dispersing information to the public and among responding organizations.
              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: not found
              • Article: not found

              Democracy and its discontents: understanding Kenya's 2013 elections

                Bookmark

                Author and article information

                Journal
                Africa
                Africa
                Cambridge University Press (CUP)
                0001-9720
                1750-0184
                January 2020
                March 11 2020
                January 2020
                : 90
                : 1
                : 112-131
                Article
                10.1017/S0001972019000962
                7450e5e1-b8c9-4634-87e7-ab49f39a1559
                © 2020

                https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms

                History

                Comments

                Comment on this article