Before ChatGPT, There Were 'Shadow Scholars'

Aug 20, 2025

Patricia Kingori, a global health ethics professor at the University of Oxford, and Eloise King, the director of the documentary "The Shadow Scholars," dive into the intriguing world of contract cheating. They reveal how Kenyan writers ghostwrite essays for Western students, driven by economic challenges. The duo discusses the implications of this hidden industry, the impact of AI on academic integrity, and the complex relationships between writers and students. Their film aims to humanize these 'shadow scholars' and challenge educational systems' complacency.

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INSIGHT

Kenya As A Global Ghostwriting Hub

Kenya is a global hotspot for academic ghostwriting due to English literacy and limited job opportunities.
The industry has scaled with technology, shifting hidden labor to regions made invisible by global systems.

INSIGHT

The Power Of Language And Visibility

The term 'shadow scholars' questions who is visible and whose labor counts in global knowledge systems.
Patricia notes calling people 'shadow' implies they don't exist in ways that erase their contributions and agency.

ANECDOTE

Long-Term Client Relationships

Chege worked for the same student for years and used earnings to buy a car and pay for his sister's university.
That long-term client relationship illustrates how writers rely on steady, intimate commercial ties to survive.

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Thousands of writers in Kenya make their living ghostwriting academic papers for wealthy Western students. It’s an industry known as “contract cheating” or “essay mills,” and is the subject of a new documentary, “The Shadow Scholars.” Directed by Eloise King, the film follows Kenyan-born Oxford Professor Patricia Kingori as she investigates this hidden industry and seeks to understand the essay writers working in the shadows of the educational system.

Morgan talks with Patricia and Eloise about the world of academic cheating, and how these writers are adapting to a world in which AI-generated essays are just a click away.

Guests:

Patricia Kingori, professor of global health ethics at the University of Oxford

Eloise King, director of “The Shadow Scholars”