David R. Walker

Archive for June 12th, 2025

The Shadow Scholars

Director: Eloise King

Cast: Patricia Kingori

Running Time: 1 hour 37 minutes

Film Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Festival: Encounters Documentary Film Festival, Tribeca, Thessalonki Documentary Film Festival, London Film Festival

Please note this film is a documentary

With Oscar nominated director Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave) as an executive producer, documentary film maker Eloise King creates a fascinating documentary called Shadow Scholars and poses a very interesting question. What if all the academic writing at colleges and prestigious universities like Harvard and Oxford, was not done by the research scholars but by a group of shadow scholars not based in England or America but in Nairobi, Kenya?

Shadow Scholars follows the fascinating story of the first black female professor at Oxford, Professor of sociology Patricia Kingori, a Kenyan born academic now living in the UK.

Professor Patricia Kingori explores the power dynamic made possible by increasing technological advancements that allowed undergraduates and graduates in British and American universities to use the services of thousands of unemployed yet educated young Kenyans living in Nairobi who write the essays for these graduates and then the European or American graduates take the academic credit for work that isn’t even there. This is known as the Kenyan essay mill which allows a system of contract cheating to exist at universities in which undergraduates at institutions like the University of San Diego, Harvard and others to employ the services of Kenyan ghost writers who would work tirelessly to get academic papers submitted in time for essay deadlines.

Obviously the credibility of these universities is at stake but what makes this documentary so interesting is that Professor Kingori travels to Nairobi to interview these essay writers who are making good money by posting fake European profiles online advertising ghost writing.

Many of these ghost writers, mostly young cannot find jobs in an over-educated yet unemployed Kenyan population so this becomes their livelihood in which not only do they make money but also as a means to support their families.

While documentary film maker Eloise King does veer off the main narrative focusing on British colonialism, post-colonial Kenya including an interview with recently deceased writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o and looks at the history of slavery in the American deep South, her film Shadow Scholars highlights an academic flaw in a global industry in which technology has allowed these scholars to flourish and serve the wishes of first world academia.

Then artificial intelligence also starts threatening the livelihood of these Kenyan essay writers along with countries like Australia and America trying to ban ghost writing completely. The University of San Diego even had an international day of action against contract cheating.

Ghost writing as a topic for a documentary feature becomes a three dimensional issue in which Professor Kingori explores the ethical and economic implications of Western university students employing the services of African ghost writers and Kenya allowing this system to flourish without proper interventions. It’s not so much the Kenyan government’s fault as it is more the loopholes of an intricate global digital world in which 24 hour online work can benefit people in several countries simultaneously.

Shadow Scholars is primarily aimed at the academic world and despite its tangential storyline does pose some interesting ethical considerations. From Nairobi to London to San Diego, Shadow Scholars is an important documentary which should be seen. Shadow Scholars gets a film rating of 7.5 out of 10 and is highly recommended viewing.

References: Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o – Famous Kenyan Post-Colonial Writer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ng%C5%A9g%C4%A9_wa_Thiong%27o