Awino Okech
Kenyan academic
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Awino Okech (born January 1980)[1] is a Kenyan academic, feminist and professor based at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).[2] Her research and teaching intersects gender, sexuality, conflict, and security studies.[2] She is an adjunct educator and a senior visiting fellow of African Leadership Centre, King's College London, and a member of the editorial advisory board of Feminist Africa.[3][4]
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Awino Okech | |
|---|---|
Okech in 2010 | |
| Born | January 1980 (age 46) |
| Citizenship | Kenyan |
| Education | University of Cape Town University of Nairobi |
| Occupation | Academic |
| Employer | SOAS University of London |
| Known for | Feminist Centre for Racial Justice |
| Title | Professor of Feminist and Security Studies |
Early life and education
Awino Okech grew up in Kisumu, Kenya, and her mother was an educator.[5] Okech has a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Nairobi, Kenya, followed by a master's degree and a PhD from the African Gender Institute at the University of Cape Town.[5]
Career
Okech is a Senior Visiting Fellow at the African Leadership Centre at King's College London, where she co-convenes the Gender, Leadership and Society module on the Security, Leadership and Society MSc programme.[3][4]
Okech is based at SOAS, in the Centre for Gender Studies, teaching and researching the nexus between gender, sexuality, conflicts and security studies.[6][2][7]
Okech is the founding Director of the Feminist Centre for Racial Justice at SOAS University of London, which focuses on racial justice and feminist imaginaries rooted in the majority world.[2][8]
She is also a member of the editorial advisory board of Feminist Africa, a peer-reviewed journal from the African Gender Institute, based at the University of Cape Town.[4][9] Okech is also a member of the African Security Sector Network,[10] a pan-African scholars and policy advocates network focused on security sector reform.[4]
In October 2025, Okech was appointed Professor of Feminist and Security Studies at SOAS University of London. She delivered her inaugural lecture titled Feminist worldmaking: On knowledge infrastructures and social transformation on 23 October 2025.[11]
Selected publications
- Awino Okech & Shereen Essof & Laura Carlsen, (2022). Movement building responses to COVID-19: lessons from the JASS mobilisation fund, Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer; Fondazione Edison, vol. 39(1), pages 249–269, April.
- Protest and Power: Gender, State and Society in Africa (Editor): Palgrave Macmillan, 2020 ISBN 9783030463427
- 'Boundary anxieties and infrastructures of violence: Somali identity in post-Westgate Kenya.' Third World Thematics: A TWQ Journal. pp. 1-17 (2018)
- Gendered security: Between ethno-nationalism and constitution making in Kenya (2013)
- Dealing with Asymmetrical Conflict: Lessons from Kenya (2015)
- Women and Security Governance in Africa, ed. Funmi Olonisakin & Awino Okech. Oxford: Pambazuka Press, 2011. ISBN 9781906387891
See also
- Njoki Wamai – Kenyan political scientist and scholar of peace and security in Africa
- Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi – Nigerian feminist activist, writer, and co-founder of the African Women's Development Fund
- Eka Ikpe – Nigerian development economist and Director of the African Leadership Centre at King's College London
- Toyin Ajao – Nigerian scholar and founder of Ìmọ́lẹ̀ of Afrika Centre, focused on restorative healing of intergenerational trauma
- Funmi Olonisakin – Founding Director of the African Leadership Centre and scholar of leadership and peacebuilding in Africa
