ABSTRACT
This essay revisits a monograph that chapter author H. Leslie Steeves published in 1997 to explore questions of memory, media, and gender violence. In 1991, male students at the St. Kizito Mixed Secondary School in Kenya attacked a dormitory housing their female classmates; 19 schoolgirls died, and at least 71 were raped. The press coverage was abysmal for the most part, revealing rape myths, and exposing victims while protecting assailants, officials and others who failed to assist the girls. Steeves expected that Kenyan scholars, journalists, and activists would keep the memory of St. Kizito alive. To her knowledge, however, no subsequent studies have been done, and St. Kizito has been almost entirely forgotten. Yet gender-based violence (GBV) in Kenya, including GBV in schools, has continued unabated. There also has been immense growth in feminist anti-gender violence activism and policymaking. This chapter uses St. Kizito as a case study to explore: Why is collective memory significant and how do media forms contribute? How may gender violence be remembered? What might be done three decades later? Steeves reviews incidents of school GBV since St. Kizito and consider the possible risks, challenges, and benefits of future research and actions to memorialize the victims.
