Doris Kakuru, PhD is a professor of Child and Youth Care at the University of Victoria. She is Canadian scholar of African descent, born and raised in Uganda. She holds a PhD in Social Sciences (Wageningen University, the Netherlands), a Master of Philosophy in Social Anthropology (University of Bergen, Norway), and a Bachelors (Hons) in Sociology (Makerere University, Uganda). Her research program falls in the broad area of children’s geographies. She is a renowned scholar in the field of critical African girlhood studies. Her scholar-activist work aims to dismantle discriminatory and oppressive child and youth policies and practices in global contexts and critiques Eurowestern ways of knowledge creation and mobilization. Her research takes on social justice, anti-oppressive, and decolonial perspectives and sheds light on how ongoing struggles for equity are rooted in how racial and colonial legacies intersect with contemporary structures. She predominantly conducts qualitative research and utilizes the life history method. She teaches research literacy to undergraduate students and Decolonial, critical, and justice-oriented theories related to child and youth care to graduate students. In 2023, Kakuru received Canada’s highest academic honour as a member of the Royal Society of Canada. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Child Youth and Family Studies. She is also an adjunct research professor at Carleton University’s Institute of African Studies and a member of the Canadian Association of African Studies. The book will offer valuable insights into using the life history method to explore Black and people of African descent.
