Project Team (Kenya)

Professor Samuel Nyanchoga (Coordinator at the Catholic University of East Africa)

Samuel A Nyanchoga (1961) is a professor of history and the current Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. A Fulbright Scholar, Boston College, USA. He is currently a researcher in AFRAB (AFRICAN ABOLITIONISM); SLAMRANET project member: Slavery, Memory and Race in the Colonial and Post-Colonial Worlds funded by CNRS (Centre national de la recherché scientifique) and Project researcher in Slavery in Africa Network (SLAFNET). He has published books, book chapters and journal articles on a wide range of subjects including slavery studies.

For the AFRAB Project, Professor Nyanchoga oversees research on slavery and abolitionism in coastal East Africa. His own research focuses specifically on the so-called "Bombay Africans" and on slavery, resistance and abolition in Takaungu, Ghasi Shimoni and Simba hills. He works as full-time associate researcher in the period August 2021-February 2022, and is a permanent member of the Project's Scientific Advisory Board.

Velma N. Moraa

Miss Velma N. Moraa holds Masters degree in built environment from the University of Nairobi. She is currently pursuing PhD studies in Urban Heritage in Coastal Kenya. She has served as research assistant on Charismatic Movement in Sub Saharan Africa funded by the Templeton Foundation USA. The Programme was a collaborative effort between The Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Notre Dame University USA and Spiritan Mission Enugu, Nigeria. Velma undertakes research on the Bombay Africans in archives in Nairobi and Mombasa for Project AFRAB.

Ian Nyanchoga

Ian is an Advocate of High Court of Kenya and a Commissioner of Oaths. He has a Bachelor of Laws (LLB - Hons) from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa and Post Graduate Diploma (PG.D) from the Kenya School of Law. Ian is also a trained litigator before all subordinate and superior Courts in Kenya as well as a member of the Association of Young Arbitrators.

Through his practice, Ian has developed extensive research experience and expertise in local and cross border contractual laws, including the study of treaties and decrees. He brings in a legal opinion in the interpretation of historical treaties and decrees associated with slavery in the African Swahili coast.