Shailja Patel is an Indian-Kenyan

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, theatre artist, and political activist. She is most known for her book ''Migritude'', based on her one-woman show of the same name, which was funded by the Ford Foundation. CNN characterizes Patel as an artist "who exemplifies globalization as a people-centered phenomenon of migration and exchange."UWC Adriatic, 21 November 2009
She divides her time between

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

, Kenya, and

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. She is a founding member of Kenyans For Peace, Truth and Justice, a civil society coalition that works for an equitable democracy in Kenya. Her book, ''Migritude'', was published by Kaya Press in 2010.Kaya Press

Biography

Patel's poetry, performance art, and essays are often centered on the themes of imperialism, migration, globalization,

colonialism Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...

, women, and the African and South Asian

diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...

s. Patel is a founding member of Kenyans For Peace, Truth and Justice, a civil society coalition that works for an equitable democracy in Kenya. Patel noted in an interview with the

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...

: "As an artist I move toward the forms that move me. I’ve been a poet from childhood. When I migrated to the United States and discovered slam, it blew me away, so I immersed myself in it. When I began to write pieces that were too long and complex to slam, theater was the natural space to move into. Now I’ve come full circle to writing again, making work—books, poems, political essays—that migrate freely across continents and languages, independent of my physical body."

''Migritude''

Patel is best known for her book ''Migritude'', based on the 90-minute spoken-word theatre show of the same name. The name of the play is a term Patel coined herself. Derived from the words "migrant," "attitude" and " negritude," it refers to, in Patel's words, "a generation of migrants who don't feel the need to be silent to protect themselves." The show is described on her website as using "her trousseau of

sari A sari (sometimes also saree or shari)The name of the garment in various regional languages include: * as, শাৰী, xārī, translit-std=ISO * bn, শাড়ি, śāṛi, translit-std=ISO * gu, સાડી, sāḍī, translit-std= ...

s, passed down by her mother, to unfold hidden histories of women's lives in the bootprint of

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

, from India to East Africa." The work derives heavily from her own experiences. Migritude explores themes of heritage, war, liberation and migration. The show opened in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

before embarking on a tour of Kenya, funded by the Ford Foundation. It was also presented in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islands ...

, and on the closing night of the World Social Forum in Nairobi, in 2007.

Recognition

Patel has appeared on the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

, NPR and

Al-Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...

. Her work has been translated into 16 languages. Her political articles have appeared in ''The Africa Report'', ''Pambazuka News'', ''Mercury'' (South Africa), and a range of other publications. She guest-edited a special edition of ''Pambazuka News'': "Kenya: One Year On", in February 2009. In 2012, she took part in

Poetry Parnassus The 2012 Cultural Olympiad was a programme of cultural events across the United Kingdom that accompanied the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Paralympics. The Olympic Charter, the set of rules and guidelines for the organization of the Olympi ...

at the London Cultural Olympiad.

Controversy

On 6 August 2019, a Kenyan court exonerated and awarded Tony Mochama 9 million shillings after he sued Patel for defamation. Mochama had been accused of sexual assault by Patel and Professor Wambui Mwangi. Patel and Mwangi chose not to report the assault to police, due to fear that the Kenyan justice system could not be trusted to run an unbiased investigation. They instead made their case over social media. Mochama, who maintained his innocence, said that it was a racially motivated accusation, made with the intent to destroy his reputation. The Kenyan court also ordered the two women to apologise to Mochama through the court within 14 days. Patel was criticised for her response to hostilities between

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and Islamic Jihad militants operating in the Gaza Strip on 14 November 2019, where Patel argued that due to its mandatory conscription laws "every single Israeli, from birth to death, sa de facto and de jure combatant" and therefore a legitimate military target.

Publications

*''Migritude'', Kaya Press, 2010, *''Shilling Love'', Fyrefly Press, 2002 *''Dreaming in Gujurati'', Fyrefly Press, 2000

Anthologies

Print

Kenya's Three Tribes

#KenyaRefuses

Seattlest: Shailja Patel Speaks Truth and Splits Fictions

Review of ''Migritude'' on Smithsonian's Book Dragon

Kenya One Year On

TV and online video

Shailja Patel performs "The Cup Runneth Over"
at the 2014 Split This Rock Poetry Festival. YouTube, 18 April 2014 - uploaded by splitthisrock.
TED@Vancouver: Drum Rider

Migritude Interview
on San Francisco's Bay Sunday TV show
Shailja Patel, Nawal El Sadaawi and Ngugi wa Thiong'o
at Gothenburg Book Fair, 2010
"Eater of Death" performed
at International Bioneers Conference
KQED Spark! documentary on Migritude
(8 minutes)

Radio and podcast

Poetry Parnassus, London Cultural Olympiad (Shailja's interview: 8.50 - 13.30)

Bioneers Radio: "All Love Begins With Seeing"

NPR's ''New America Now'' (Migritude interview begins at 30:10)

KQED "Against The Grain: Migration and Empire"

References

External links

Shailja Patel's Official Site and Blog

Kaya Press

Shailja Patel's Twitter Page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Patel, Shailja Living people Kenyan poets Year of birth missing (living people) Writers from Nairobi Kenyan emigrants to the United States American women poets Kenyan women poets 21st-century American women writers Kenyan people of Indian descent Kenyan people of Gujarati descent American people of Indian descent American people of Gujarati descent