Nerds, beer, and intellectual debates: How drunken lectures are shaping Nairobi's social scene

It’s around 5.30pm on Monday, and tens of young Kenyan men and women are walking into a drunken lecture meeting in a Nairobi café. Here young people are discussing an uncommon topic – the economy during the President Daniel arap Moi era, the late 70s to early 2000.

It is a drunken lecture, meaning that some of the young people are sipping whatever they love most while talking, but not bar banter.

I must say that I am sober, and my discussions are over my cup of dawa. My group, which was mostly young men aged between 24 years and a few 30-year-olds, was asked to discuss the real estate development during Moi’s regime.

Lynn Wairimu, a 23-year-old advocate trainee, is among the attendees.

“I saw the drunken lectures on TikTok last week. I was excited. It seemed like an interesting experience to have,” she says.

Lynn admits that this was a new experience for her as she is introverted and avoids rowdy after-work activities.

“It’s definitely a new idea, especially in Nairobi. And bringing people to interact in an educative way yet still allowing experience for fun. So, yeah, that’s definitely why I’m here today. I’m introverted, so I’m not outside a lot. So I'm actually excited to give this a try,” she says.

The drunken lectures are a concept of Mathias Mwangi (known by his friends as Mwas). 

“I came across this idea on Instagram around December last year, from a similar concept in the US called Lectures on Tap,” he says.

There is a similar concept in Chicago of Drunken Ted Talks, which spilled to New York’s Brooklyn area and Lectures on Tap as well.

“The biggest thing that we’re trying to do is... bring people together, people who, on Mondays, essentially don’t have a lot to do. Or they’re tired. The week has just begun. You’ve had a beautiful weekend. You’re like, wow. It’s Monday all over again,” says Mathias.

“Have you watched Garfield?” he asks.

So, for those who haven’t watched it…nothing really went Garfield’s way on Mondays. Mondays were Garfield literal hell. A single moment of bad luck inspired Garfield to say the iconic words, ‘I hate Mondays’ and by doing so, it seems Garfield somehow invoked the wrath of some ‘Monday God’, because he did not have an easy start to a standard work week ever since. Drunken Lectures was here to solve that. Drunken lectures are all about conversations and community.

So what do these young people talk about?

“We’re not fixed to one conversation. For our first session, it was on the political basis of the Moi era. One of our mantras is trying to shape society through civic education ranging from local to international to politics, from history. For instance, next month the lecture is going to be about the war in Rwanda,” he says.

Part of the reason for the organising the lectures is to help the Gen Zs make friends who have similar goals. Mathias says he has noticed how the young generation is no longer communal. He hopes to bring the young people together, and in particular the nerds.

“The concept of community is something that’s a bit bleak…there’s a research that was done, stating that this generation of individuals are among the loneliest people on earth,” says the 24-year-old.

“People have challenges making friends when they’re older. So, I’m trying to grow a community for people to be able to just make friends, and have fun,” he says, “the other is the aspect of people learning something new.”

Mathias recalls pitching the idea to Mutinda Kilonzo, his co-founder. Initially, he was not really sold on it. But after research, he came on board.

“I’m a brand and events manager so when I’m organising all these events I meet so many different people and one of the people I met was Mathias Mwangi, my co-founder,” says Mutinda.

“When Mathias first pitched to me the idea, he asked if we could have a forum for guys to come and talk about something they’re into or something they have in-depth knowledge about but in social events. At first I was like, I don’t think anybody who is going to a social event wants to listen to somebody talk about intellectual stuff.”

Mutinda says after seeing a similar concept on TikTok he was sold.

“I saw a similar concept of people in New York talking about how they normally have lectures in different bars and I was like, wait, this is what this guy was trying to bring to life and I was like, there's no way it's a coincidence,” says Mutinda.

How the talks are structured

Drunken lecture is structured such that it allows people to mingle and interact through conversation for the first 30 minutes and argue out the topic of the day.

Tables or groups are numbered and discuss a different issue within the main topic, for example, whether to bring back Nyayo torture chambers because what better way to have that conversation than over a pint of beer or how to make craft beer at home.

Afterwards, each group makes their presentation and the lecture starts as the audience engages in questions to the lecturer of the day.

“For instance the Nyayo torture chamber talk, the points that are raised are very clear why it should not be in existence and why even the fact that it existed was wrong,” says Mutinda.

Consistently having people come in to discuss various topics and keep them engaged throughout the discussion is not a mean fete as Mathias expresses.

“Soon we are also looking at exclusivity and a ticketing method, not everyone can come in because the more people are coming in, the more difficult it is to maintain the numbers.”

Mathias and Mutinda had discussions about the location of the lecture and after a couple of meetings with restaurant owners, they settled on Café Amka in Nairobi.

“So Café Amka came up, because of the vibe, the environment, the aesthetics, the ambience, and since they were in the experimental stage, they welcomed our idea” adds Mathias.

One of the biggest problems he foresees is “Trying to maintain the quality and the standard that we've already set because there are a lot of different ideas and the club was requesting if we can do it every single Monday.”

Drunken Lectures is looking to expand to other towns in the future.

“When Drunken Lectures approached us, we loved their idea and offered them space to bring people in, a space of about 120 people,” says Wangui Ndegwa, the owner of Café Amka, adding that this has increased the footfall at the café while also tapping to a core inclusivity value of creating a space for everyone.

emwenda@e.nationmedia.com