Gabriale Payne was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. She obtained her B.A. in History with a minor in Anthropology at the University of Colorado at Denver in 2007 where she discovered her passion for interdisciplinary research while researching and writing her honors thesis, which explored the historical relationship between the changing meaning(s) of female genital cutting and women’s grassroots movements among the Gikuyu in colonial Kenya. After taking a brief hiatus from her academic work, inspired by her lingering passion and commitment to interdisciplinary research, she returned to graduate school at the University of Minnesota in 2011 and is now working to complete her Ph.D. in African History.
Her current research examines changing sex/gender systems in Kenya from the 19th to the 20th century with a particular emphasis on exploring the ways in which Gikuyu notions of manhood and masculinity have been (re)constructed alongside and/or in interaction with notions of womanhood and femininity. She also has a strong commitment to investigating and illuminating the ways in which a Eurocentric gaze — a characteristic feature of the production of knowledge on or about Gikuyu cultural practices, gender norms, and sexuality throughout the colonial period — continues to structure what is and what can be said about the historical (re)construction of Gikuyu culture and society.