African KnowledgeMartin Luther King Jr. said, "The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people". Professor Gakuru devoted his career to breaking that silence — creating spaces where African knowledge could be studied, shared and renewed on its own terms.
His scholarship examined how world systems position regions, religions and peoples within hierarchies of power — and how African societies have historically valued nature, community and knowledge in ways that remain essential to understanding our shared humanity.
Drawing on the African worldview in which each person bears a unique gift valuable to community and world, and on Ubuntu philosophy's emphasis on collective responsibility, he envisioned Power From Below as an intellectual home — a knowledge network inviting scholars and communities to forge new ways of thinking together.
Like the interconnected roots of a sycamore tree, his vision connected indigenous knowledge to alternative ways of living, from the global North to the South, in pursuit of ecologically and socially equitable futures — scholarship in service of historical consciousness and renewal.
Professor Gakuru founded the Criminology Department at the University of Nairobi and inspired the creation of Power From Below in 2019. His legacy continues to guide this knowledge hub. Read his University of Nairobi profile.