Chao Tayiana Maina

Chao Tayiana Maina
Born1993 Edit this on Wikidata
EducationJomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Glasgow School of Art Edit this on Wikidata
OccupationHistorian Edit this on Wikidata
Awards
Websiteheadstronghistorian.com Edit this on Wikidata

Chao Tayiana Maina (born 1993[1]) is a Kenyan historian and digital heritage specialist.[2][3][4]

Early life and education

Tayiana spent her childhood in Ngong, which is a town located in Kajiado County within the Rift Valley region of Kenya.[2] She was raised in an inter-generational homestead by her mother and maternal grandparents, she credits this setting for fostering in her a keen awareness and love for history.[5][6] She attended the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in math and computer science. She continued her education at Glasgow School of Art in Scotland where she acquired a master's degree in international heritage visualization.[7]

Career

During her schooling days at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, she started a volunteer project "Save The Railway" which documented the history and memories associated with the 19th century Uganda Railway. Prompted by the demolition of old stations to pave way for the construction of the new Standard Gauge Railway, Tayiana became interested in moving beyond romanticized tales of Tsavo Man Eaters to understand what the decline of the railway meant for everyday Kenyans who were dependent on it for over a century.[8][9] Between 2012 - 2016 she travelled from Mombasa to Kisumu, documenting more than 50 stations and creating one of the largest photographic archives of contemporary railway history in Kenya.[2]

In 2018, she co-founded the Museum of British Colonialism, an online volunteer collective elevating underrepresented histories of the British colonial empire. As part of the collective she coordinated efforts to find and document present day remains of several former detention camps set up by the British during the State of Emergency. In response to destruction of archives, difficulty in accessing visual imagery on the Mau Mau rebellion and political suppression of this history in post-independence Kenya, Tayiana and team created a digital archive containing photographs, videos and 3D reconstructions of former detention camps.[10] Critically showing how sites of detention in present day Kenya have today become schools and prisons and how logics of incarceration still continue to govern everyday spaces today.[11][12]

Recognizing the need to invest in and support digital initiatives within African museums, Tayiana founded African Digital Heritage, a non-profit organisation based in Nairobi in 2019.[13] The organization which has worked with museums in several African countries focuses on digitization, innovation, research, and capacity building, with a commitment to preserving and promoting African histories.[14] She sees digital platforms as transformative tools for making historical archives more accessible, driven by a growing demand among younger generations for readily available historical information. This vision has shaped her work in developing platforms that bring archives and stories closer to the public.[13]

In 2020, Tayiana started a passion project Open Restitution Africa (ORA)[15] along with her co-founder Molemo Moiloa .[16] The project gathers data on current restitution processes and provides case studies compiled along with scholars to reframe narratives around the repatriation of historical cultural objects from museums and private collections.[17]

Fellowships and Awards

Publications

  • Locating Kenya's emergency detention camps: place, memory, and the afterlives of colonial violence[22]

References

  1. ↑ Houreld, Katharine (2020-07-10). "Kenyan museum, Mau Mau fighter shed light on British colonial abuses". Reuters. Retrieved 2025-01-30.
  2. 1 2 3 "How a 'headstrong historian' is rewriting Kenya's colonial history". Christian Science Monitor. ISSN 0882-7729. Archived from the original on 2023-11-20. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  3. ↑ "Chao Tayiana Maina". Dan David Prize. 2023-02-28. Archived from the original on 2023-11-21. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  4. ↑ "Tayiana Maina, Chao | Institute of Advanced Studies | Loughborough University". www.lboro.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 2023-11-21. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  5. ↑ "How a 'headstrong historian' is rewriting Kenya's colonial history". Christian Science Monitor. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved 2026-04-08.
  6. ↑ "Imagining African Digital Futures". Agnes Etherington Art Centre. Retrieved 2026-04-08.
  7. ↑ "ABOUT – HEADSTRONG HISTORIAN". 2021-02-05. Retrieved 2023-11-21.
  8. ↑ Jalada (2021-02-14). ""Documenting the history and memory of the Kenya – Uganda railway" by Chao Maina". Jalada Africa. Retrieved 2026-04-08.
  9. ↑ Kimeu, Caroline (2023-07-03). "Meet the 'headstrong historian' bringing Africa's past to life – for Africans". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-04-08.
  10. ↑ Kimeu, Caroline (2023-07-03). "Meet the 'headstrong historian' bringing Africa's past to life – for Africans". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-02-07.
  11. ↑ "Anti-Blackness and Colonial Detention". MBC. 2023-08-31. Retrieved 2026-04-08.
  12. ↑ "The Kenyan school that was once a British detention camp". BBC News. 2019-08-27. Retrieved 2026-04-08.
  13. 1 2 "Situating Digital Heritage in Africa: An Interview with the DH Specialist and 2023 Dan David Prize Winner, Chao Tayiana Maina (Part 2)". The Digital Orientalist. 2023-12-05. Retrieved 2025-02-13.
  14. ↑ Adwetewa-Badu, Ama Bemma (2024-04-29). "Review: African Digital Heritage". Reviews in Digital Humanities. V (4). ISSN 2766-9297.
  15. ↑ Somda, Dominique (2024-04-29). "Review: Open Restitution Africa". Reviews in Digital Humanities. V (4). doi:10.21428/3e88f64f.c79d3856. ISSN 2766-9297.
  16. ↑ "Open Restitution Africa Project". Open Restitution Africa. 2020-09-24. Retrieved 2025-01-30.
  17. ↑ Taylor Michael (May 12, 2025). "This African-Led Research Organization Aims to Change the Conversation Around Restitution". ART News.
  18. ↑ "IPCH Embarks on Groundbreaking Initiative with Museums and Cultural Institutions in Africa | Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage". ipch.yale.edu. 2023-10-02. Retrieved 2026-04-08.
  19. ↑ "Welcome to Chao Tayiana, Public Historian in Residence". C2DH EN. Retrieved 2026-04-08.
  20. ↑ Kamau, Winnie (2023-12-29). "New African Magazine reveals the 100 Most Influential Africans of 2023". Talk Africa. Retrieved 2026-04-08.
  21. ↑ "Dan David Prize, World's largest history prize announces 2023 winner". The Jerusalem Post. 2023-02-28. Archived from the original on 2025-01-18. Retrieved 2025-01-30.
  22. ↑ Maina, Chao Tayiana (13 January 2026). "Locating Kenya's emergency detention camps: place, memory, and the afterlives of colonial violence". www.tandfonline.com. doi:10.1080/17531055.2026.2613196#abstract. Retrieved 2026-04-08.
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