Some of his students call him a hard ass. Some say he’s a mushy softie. And he starts the semester in most of his courses with the self-effacing statement: “I don’t know shit.”

 Kareithi has been around, for a guy who claims to know so little.

He was born in Nyeri, Kenya, and grew up on the slopes of Mt. Kenya where he says he spent most of his childhood “chasing goats.”

 It was a life rich with folklore, family and communal love. School was as much an embracement of the traditional culture as it was an exploration of new ideas and practices of other cultures, past and present.  

 Kareithi grew up at a time when Kenyans were waging an armed struggle against British colonialism and learned early, both from home and school, to take strong pride in his identity, think critically and not be afraid to stand up against injustice.

 His chief mentor was his grandmother, Wanjomo, a pioneer feminist who swears like a sailor. “She was willing to pay a high price for independence of expression,” Kareithi says.

 Wanjomo demonstrated strength, courage and drive as a woman in colonial Kenya where women had few rights and no voice. Kareithi believes that her strong will and commitment to struggle for free expression and human dignity made her “the greatest force in my life.”

 Although Wanjomo never read the written book, she mastered “the book of the heart.”  Kareithi tries to emulate her approach in his relationship with his students. “I learn from my students new questions that I want to ask of myself, and of the world,” Kareithi says, “because for me, learning never stops.”

Kareithi, who earned his Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, has practiced journalism and taught media education in Kenya, Britain and United States. He came to Penn State Harrisburg in 2001 as a professor of humanities and communications after teaching at schools like American University in Washington, D.C., and Ithaca College in New York.

 What’s in the future?

“I’m still here. I’m learning,” he says, with a smile.