Women's Voices, Women's Power : Dialogues of Resistance From East Africa

The history of Avalogoli has been written by both Logoli and non-Logoli people. 7 According to the Avalogoli accounts of migration and descent (Lisingu, 1946 and oral information), "A long time ago" Logoli ancients came from a country called Asia. From Asia they settled for a time in Misiri (Egypt), then travelled the Nile and arrived in Congo. From Congo, they travelled overland to Uganda, then crossed Lake Victoria from Uganda in "canoes made from reeds" to today's Kisumu, Kenya. Some forefathers died on the journey: Muyeli in Ethiopia and Nabwege in Uganda (Mwelesa). 8 A strong wind on Lake Victoria is said to have split up the canoes. This resulted in some forefathers going "south" and some going "north." 9 However, "The grandfather of all was the same person, and wherever people went they left behind those who had the same customs and language as Avalogoli" (Lisingu, 1946). 10 The forefathers of Mulogoli, the ancestor of all Logoli people, stayed for some time ("many years") on the shores of Lake Victoria (from about 1250 A.D. 11 ). The father of Mulogoli, Andimi, moved farther inland, dying in today's South Nyanza. Mulogoli, "tired of fighting" with the Nandi and the Masai, moved northwest to Seme, then Maseno, and finally to Mwigono (Maragoli Hills) or Evologoli, which is today's Maragoli. His brother, Anyore, settled nearby, in today's neighbouring Division, Bunyore. The Maragoli settlement by the ancestor, Mulogoli, with his wife Kaliyesa, is considered to have taken place around 1700 (Were, 1967b, 7-8). 12 Today's memories say that this land was uninhabited and wars between neighbouring groups, such as the Luo and Nandi, did not begin until settlement was well established (Abwunza, 1985). In the old days, Maragoli was "known in two steps, east and west." For Avalogoli, the east, direction of the sunrise, represents life. The west, direction of sunset, is the place of worship. The Mung'oma Hills (Maragoli Hills) are said to be in the west. The caves of the ancients, where Mulogoli and his people first lived before building houses, are in the Mung'oma Hills. Today, the locations of North and West Maragoli are in the traditional east, and South Maragoli is in the traditional west. Mulogoli and Kaliyesa had four sons, Musali, Kizungu, Kilima and M'mavi. These four sons make up the tsinyumba tzinene (great houses) in the segmentary lineage structure of the people of Logoli. Mulogoli gave his sons land, "as all fathers do." Musali and Kizungu moved north, Kilima went to the west, and the last born, M'mavi, "remained behind" in the south, yatigala nalinda misango gia Mulogoli (caring for his father's land). These sons and their children spread over the land, settling in defined territorial segments that for the most part remain today. The sentiment of territorial

Most ethnographic treatments of other cultures restrict the voice of their "subjects"; at most, description and analysis by the observer are accompanied by brief selective quotation. With a methodological openness that may be particularly appropriate to gender studies, anthropologist Judith Abwunza provides in this ethnography both the fruit of her research into the lives of Logoli women of Western Kenya and substantial transcripts giving the women's own description and analysis of their situation.

The Avalogoli remain a strongly patriarchal society. Yet, as in many such societies elsewhere in Africa and indeed around the world, women have demonstrated a resilience under patriarchy that has resulted in their nominal power being far outweighed by their actual power. As Abwunza demonstrates, the economic survival of the Avalogoli is dependent not only on women's works but also on their decision-making. Through 'back-door decisions' they have a surprising power to influence national as well as local events.

Women's Voices, Women's Power offers no apologies for a system that remains disturbingly patriarchal. But it does attempt to face directly the complexities and paradoxes involved—not the least of which is that many of the women posture an adherence to patriarchy even as they describe the disproportionate burden it places upon them. And it seeks an understanding of the ways in which Logoli society is changing in the face of increasing capitalism and commodification—processes that the author argues may simultaneously empower and disempower women.