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Censorship or self-control? Hate speech, the state and the voter in the Kenyan election of 2013*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

Warigia M. Bowman  and
J. David Bowman
Warigia M. Bowman*
Affiliation:
University of Arkansas, Clinton School of Public Service, 1200 President Clinton Avenue, Little Rock, AR 72201, USA
J. David Bowman*
Affiliation:
Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, USA
*
Email: wbowman@clintonschool.uasys.edu
Email: bowmanjd@ornl.gov
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Abstract

In 2013, the Kenyan government adopted a hybrid censorship strategy that relied on regulation, the presence of a strong security state, and the willingness of Kenyans to self-censor. The goal of this censorship strategy was to ensure a peaceful election. This study examines two issues. First, it investigates steps taken by the Kenyan government to minimise hate speech. Second, it explores how efforts to minimise hate speech affected citizen communications over SMS during the 2013 election. An initial round of qualitative data was gathered (n = 101) through a structured exit interview administered election week. A statistically significant, representative sample of quantitative data was gathered by a reputable Kenyan polling firm (n ≥ 2000). Both sets of empirical data indicate that Kenyan citizens cooperated in large part with efforts to limit political speech. Yet speech was not always completely “peaceful’. Rather, voters used electronic media to insult, offend, and express contentious political views as well as express peace speech. This study argues that the empirical evidence suggests hate speech over text messages during the Kenyan election declined between 2008 and 2013.”

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 54 , Issue 3 , September 2016 , pp. 495 - 531
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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Footnotes

*

We wish to express our deepest gratitude for the work of our colleagues on the Kenya Information Communications Technology List (‘Kictanet’). Specifically, we would like to thank our colleagues Michael Kipsang Bullut, Grace Githaiga, Wambui Ngugi, Brian Munyao Longwe, Mwendwa Kivuva, Abraham Mulwo, Muchiri Nyaggah, and Norbert Wildermuth for helping to collect the data that form the foundation of this paper. Thank you also to the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service for funding part of the research upon which this paper is based. We would also like to thank participants of the Kenya Elections Workshop held in June 2013 for their comments, which helped improve this paper. We are particularly grateful to Tom Wolf of IPSOS Synovate. We would also like to thank Dorina Bekoe, Fodei Batty, Paola Cavallari and Florence Muema as well as two anonymous reviewers from JMAS for their valuable insights. Finally, my thanks go to Kimani Njogu of Twaweza Publishing, for his elegant Kiswahili translations.

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