Akinyi Obama-Manners

Akinyi Obama-Manners is a British-Kenyan artist, cultural worker, and archivist. She has lived in the UK, Germany, Kenya, and now Ghana. Her work centers on reclaiming and reimagining indigenous knowledge systems that focus on epistemologies rooted in cultural sovereignty, intergenerational wisdom, and collective liberation. 

She studied Art & Design at the University for the Creative Arts in Canterbury before moving to Berlin, where she worked with Cameroonian designer Arrey Kono at ARREY Berlin. While there, she pursued her own creative work, which led to her briefly studying Communication Design at the University of Applied Sciences Europe. 

Since 2019, Akinyi has worked with the Sauti Kuu Foundation in Kenya, where she helped develop arts-based programs that support children’s empowerment through critical thinking and self-expression. 

Currently, she is studying Education and Sociology at the University of Ghana. 

Akinyi is also the founder of The Dala Network, a think tank focused on radical education reform through culture and heritage. “Dala” means home in Luo, representing a return to cultural grounding and collective identity. The Dala Network challenges the dominant narratives of formal Eurocentric education and reclaims learning through oral traditions, embodiment, and ancestral knowledge systems. The network advocates for the full humanity and cultural realities of indigenous peoples. 

She has spoken internationally on youth, education, and equity. In February 2020, Akinyi was a panelist at the PyeongChang Peace Forum in South Korea, where she challenged the tokenistic inclusion of youth in global forums and called for meaningful participation. 

In May 2020, she was a guest speaker at the Youth Fusion – Abolition 2000 Youth Network, where she delivered a presentation on Kenya’s exam-driven education system, censorship of literature, the suppression of mother tongues, and the erasure of critical thought. She emphasized the need to center African languages and cultural heritage in education. 

Akinyi’s work in education and culture is deeply rooted in her belief in social justice. The struggle for equitable education is part of a broader fight against the systems of oppression. Through The Dala Network, she hopes to create space for young people to reconnect with their stories, histories, and identities. Her work is informed by decolonial thinking, grounded in the understanding that meaningful change begins with reclaiming ways of knowing and being that have long been dismissed or silenced.