Samantha Balaton-Chrimes

Dr Samantha Balaton-Chrimes is a Senior Lecturer in International Studies at Deakin University in Australia. Her research is concerned with enduring political questions about how difference and identity are negotiated in contexts of power asymmetries, particularly asymmetries that emerged from and are structure by colonialism and coloniality. Her primary research is in Kenya, where she has worked since 2009. She is currently conducting research on ways in which the Kenyan state recognizes, classifies and categorises its citizens, and the implications of these practices for citizenship, belonging and – crucially – distribution of resources. Her work has been published in international academic journals including The Journal of Eastern African Studies, Journal of Modern African Studies, Ethnopolitics and Citizenship Studies. She is author of Ethnicity, Democracy and Citizenship in Africa: Marginalization of Kenya's Nubians. (Ashgate, 2015). This research was funded by the Australian Research Council.