Eloise King’s debut documentary explores the hidden world of Kenya’s ‘shadow scholars’ – ghostwriters powering a global academic industry. Former Vice and i-D producer Eloise King’s debut feature examines the question from the perspective of Kenya’s ‘shadow scholars’, the writers whose livelihoods depend on their ability to pen essays on demand and at short notice. Professor Patricia Kingori arriving in Nairobi in The Shadow Scholars (2024) The Shadow Scholars Limited/Channel Four Television CorporationEthics, AI, technology, responsibility and colonial legacies are in fascinating conversation throughout the film. The Shadow Scholars (2024) The Shadow Scholars Limited/Channel Four Television CorporationThe late Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s contribution underlines the ongoing relevance of his seminal 1986 book Decolonising the Mind. The shadow scholars writing essays for students in the Global North are both a form of ‘normalised abnormality’ and somehow also something more complex, because the scholars are not given power or possibility for their intellectual abilities.