Gender and Development

Emily Awino Onyango

Description

For a long time African history has been dominated by western perspectives through predominantly male accounts of colonial governments and missionaries. In contrast, Dr Emily Onyango provides an African history of mission, education development and women’s roles in Kenya. Based on archival research and interviews of primary sources this book explores the relationship of these areas of history with each other, focusing on the Luo culture and the period of 1895 to 2000.
With the pre-colonial African context as the foundation for understanding and writing history, Dr Onyango uses gender to analyze the role of Christian missionaries in the development of women’s education and their position in Kenyan society. The result of this well-researched study is not only a challenge to the traditional understanding of history, but also a counternarrative to the common view that to be liberated African women must disregard Christianity. Rather she looks at the importance Christianity plays in helping women establish themselves economically, politically and socially, in Kenyan society. This research is a vital contribution to women’s history and the history of Christianity in Africa.

Informations

• Publié par: Langham Creative Projects
• Date de parution: 31 octobre 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781783684908
• Langue: English

Extrait

In this book, Rev Canon Dr Onyango has brought to light women’s agency in navigating layers of systems that first affirmed them in the community life and then excluded them from being heard in the area of education. The triple culture within which women operated in seeking formal education is well narrated. Most importantly the objective analysis of culture, especially the Luo culture, shows the learning processes between African women students and the missionaries who taught them. The African women’s agency runs through the book and adds to the perspectives of women and the growth and development of a new community. The intersections between the African and Western learning systems run through the chapters of the book and are an indication of the author’s effort using them in as much as they impacted education for girls. This is an important book in teaching about women and education in Kenya during the period discussed, but it also has parallels to some of the education patterns in society today. Education has been and continues to be an important factor in empowering women to be key leaders in society.
Esther Mombo, PhD
Director, International Partnerships and Alumni Relations,
Faculty of Theology, St Paul’s University, Nairobi, Kenya
Emily Onyango is a pioneer in the history of girls’ education in Kenya. With good evidence based on state and missionary archives and the recollections of some memorable women, she tells an extraordinary story of initial cultural courage by young Kenyan women, of persevering female missionary dedication, of difficult gendered negotiations in home and employment and, in the end, of the confident, if still embattled, sense of achievement by a growing number of Kenyan women.
John Lonsdale, PhD
Emeritus Professor, Modern African History,
Fellow of Trinity College,
University of Cambridge, UK

Gender and Development
A History of Women’s Education in Kenya
Emily Awino Onyango

© 2018 Emily Awino Onyango
Published 2018 by Langham Monographs
An imprint of Langham Publishing
www.langhampublishing.org
Langham Publishing and its imprints are a ministry of Langham Partnership
Langham Partnership
PO Box 296, Carlisle, Cumbria CA3 9WZ, UK
www.langham.org
ISBNs:
978-1-78368-489-2 Print
978-1-78368-490-8 ePub
978-1-78368-491-5 Mobi
978-1-78368-120-4 PDF
Emily Awino Onyango has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the Author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher or the Copyright Licensing Agency.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-78368-489-2
Cover & Book Design: projectluz.com
Langham Partnership actively supports theological dialogue and an author’s right to publish but does not necessarily endorse the views and opinions set forth here or in works referenced within this publication, nor can we guarantee technical and grammatical correctness. Langham Partnership does not accept any responsibility or liability to persons or property as a consequence of the reading, use or interpretation of its published content.

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Contents

Cover


List of Abbreviations


Introduction


Chapter 1 The Argument


Chapter 2 Women during the Precolonial Period


Education of Girls


Women in Religious Leadership


Leadership in Society


Socio-Economic Empowerment


Chapter 3 Colonial Period as a Watershed for African Women


Leadership during the Colonial Period


Socio-Economic Changes during the Colonial Period


Chapter 4 The Establishment of Christianity in Kenya


Precolonial Period at the Coast as the Foundation for Mission Work


The Establishment of Christianity in Central Kenya


The Establishment of Christianity in Western Kenya


The Establishment of the Women’s Movement in the Church


Chapter 5 The Interaction between the Missions and African Culture


Female Circumcision


Bride-Wealth


Forced Marriages


Polygamy


Widowhood and Levirate Marriage


Conclusion


Chapter 6 Mission Education for Girls: Case-Study of Ng’iya Girls’ School


Aim of Education for Girls


Case-Study of Ng’iya Girls’ School


Women’s Negotiation of Mission Education: Gender and Development


Women’s Negotiation of Mission Education: Case Study, Lucia Okuthe (1919–1989)


Women’s Negotiation of Mission Education: Case Study, Grace Onyango (1931–Present)


Women’s Negotiation of Mission Education: Case Study, Grace Ogot (1930–2015)


Chapter 7 Mission Education: Case Study of Alliance Girls’ High School


Aim of Education


Alliance Girls’ High School


The Women’s Movement


Case Studies


Conclusion


Glossary


Bibliography


Archival Sources


Transcripts of Interviews, housed at St. Paul’s United Theological College, Limuru, (SPA), on Colonial Period and Establishment of the Church in Nyanza


Transcripts on Piny Owacho , housed at St. Pauls’ United Theological College, Limuru, (SPA), Signed by Okaro-Ojwang, n.d.


Oral Sources


Books, Chapters in Books, and Journal Articles


Unpublished Theses and Manuscripts


About Langham Partnership

Endnotes
List of Abbreviations
AAWORD African Association of Women in Research ABC analysis tool of gender ADC African District Councils AGHS Alliance Girls High School AIDS acquired immune deficiency syndrome AIM African Inland Mission CMS Church Missionary Society CSM Church of Scotland Mission DAWN Development Alternatives with Women in a New Era DC district commissioner EFA Education for All FAIM Friends African Industrial Mission FAO Food and Agricultural Organization FAWE Forum for African Women Educationists FEMNET African Women Development and Communication Network FGM female genital mutilation GMS Gospel Missionary Society HIV human immunodeficiency virus ICHDR International Centre for Health Development and Research KAU Kenya African Union KCA Kikuyu Central Association KCAN Kenya Coalition for Action in Nutrition KISE Kenya Institute of Special Education KNDI Kenya Nutritionists and Dieticians Institutes KPU Kenya Peoples Union KTWA Kavirondo Tax Payers Welfare Association KYA Kiambu Youth Association LNC Local Native Council LPK Labour Party of Kenya LPT Lower Primary Teachers Course MA master’s of arts MP Member of Parliament MU Mothers Union MYW Maendeleo Ya Wanawake MYWO Maendeleo Ya Wanawake Organization NARC National Alliance Rainbow Coalition NCCK National Council of Churches in Kenya NCWK National Council of Women in Kenya NFLS Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women NGO Non-Governmental Organization ODM Orange Democratic Movement PC provincial commissioner PHD doctor of philosophy PKP Progressive Kikuyu Party SWAG Senior Women’s Advisory Group on Sustainable Development UN United Nations UNEP United Nations Environmental Program UNESCO United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund USA United States of America USIU United States International University WB World Bank WTO World Trade Organization YWCA Young Women Christian Association
Introduction
The focus of this book is a reconstruction of African, women’s, and religious history of Kenya. The book privileges the African voice, women’s voice, and religion in the reconstruction of the history. This is based on Professor Ogot’s assertion that Africans participated in the construction of their identity and history in the precolonial period. [1] This was done through the formal schools, where history was constructed through the different specialists. Africans continue to participate in the construction of their history and identity through recitation and performance. Oral traditions have developed through such history, and they have changed in response to new challenges and situations.
The first written sources were mainly accounts from administrators and missionaries. Johnston, Hobley, Northcote, Leakey, and Tate wrote on different aspects of the material cultures and religious beliefs of the African communities. [2] Their main focus was on the strangeness of the beliefs. They wrote that most of the beliefs were based on ignorance and were unchristian. However, they did not relate the beliefs to the environment. Most of these works were authentic sources of history because they were mainly based on African informants. Africans continued to control their history because the first written sources were either written by Africans or written by missionaries i