Women's Voices, Women's Power: Dialogues of Resistance from East Africa by Broadview Press

	Title: Women's Voices, Women's Power: Dialogues of Resistance from East Africa Purchase Item Manufacturer: Broadview Press List Price: $26.95 Our Price: $18.70
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Women's Voices, Women's Power: Dialogues of Resistance from East Africa by Broadview Press Purported Objectivity
Early in this sociological study of the subtle forms of power held by Kenyan village women, author Judith Abwunza states that her goal is to in fact let women tell their own stories, in their own voices, while refraining from adding much of her own perspective. Yet the majority of the book involves Abwunza's own spin and interpretation of events, rather than a picture of Kenyan rural life painted by those truly living it. Abwunza attempts to remain objective, and occasionally is forthcoming about the possible influence her presence as a recorder may have had on the stories presented in this book, but the few tidbits she drops about her own life shows that she is far too integrated into the community she studies to truly remain detached. In attempting to stay far from the line of drawing conclusions, Abwunza instead ends up straddling it, and this book points the reader where her thoughts were going without being clear. While there is a great deal of interesting information in this book, I look forward to reading a book about Kenyan experience from someone who has truly lived it, rather than someone just overcoming Outsider status.
Women's Voices, Women's Power: Dialogues of Resistance from East Africa by Broadview Press Book Description
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 enthnography 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 work 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.