Kikuyu Women, the Mau Mau Rebellion, and Social Change in Kenya

Based on rare oral data from women participants in the "Mau Mau" rebellion, this book chronicles changes in women's domestic reproduction, legal status, and gender roles that took place under colonial rule. The book links labour activism, cultural nationalism, and the more overtly political issues of land alienation, judicial control, and character of the colonial administration in an analysis of the impact of colonial policy on Kikuyu society, and especially its negative consequences for women. Dr Presley argues that women's involvement in anti-colonial activities began during the World War I era when the state forcibly recruited women into a wage labour system characterized by physical and sexual abuse. Women took part in all facets of the increasingly violent nationalist movement, including serving in the guerilla army. This manuscript is an important addition to the "Mau Mau" debate, offering a careful exploration of the effect of colonial social policy on women and making a valuable, original contribution to the literature on African peasant women and their involvement with a major liberation struggle. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title 4 Copyright 5 Contents 6 List of Tables and Maps 8 Preface 10 1 Introduction 16 Methodology 23 The Research Site 24 The Research Setting 25 2 Women, Domestic Production, and Social Organization 28 Women in Domestic Production 28 Female Traders 35 Leadership and Gender Boundaries 38 The Women's Council 42 Gender, Ritual, and Myth 43 Notes 46 3 Women and the Colonial Economy 50 Famine, Warfare, and European Trade 51 Colonial Economic Policy 58 Women's Labor on the Coffee Estates 62 Women Laborers, the East African Association, and Reform 68 Prices, Wages, and Work Requirements 71 Notes 77 4 Kiambu Women's Labor Protest, 1912-1960 82 The Kenya Trade Union Movement 82 Women's Labor Protest 83 Notes 95 5 Cultural Transformation: Women and the Missions 98 The Establishment of Mission Stations 99 Missionary-Kikuyu Relations, 1898-1927 101 The Circumcision Dispute 104 Kikuyu Independent Schools 109 Female Education 115 Notes 118 6 Kikuyu Women and Political Associations, 1920-1947 122 Conflict Between Moderate and Radical Associations 123 Women's Involvement with the Political Associations 129 Notes 136 7 Kikuyu Women and the Mau Mau Rebellion 138 Women's Roles in Organizing Mau Mau 141 The Female "Passive" Wing 145 Women's Roles in the Forest Camps 148 Conditions in the Prisons 151 Notes 165 8 The Mau Mau Rebellion, Kikuyu Women, and Social Change 170 The Historiography of Mau Mau 170 The Image of Women Nationalists 173 Women, Nationalism, and the Colonial Infrastructure 175 The Impact of Social Policy on Women's Nationalism 177 Notes 185 9 Conclusion 190 Women's Transformation Model 192 Glossary 200 Abbreviations 202 Bibliography 204 Index 222 Cora Ann Presley. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 189-205) And Index.