"We Only Come Here to Struggle": Stories from Berida's Life [Paperback]

Berida Ndambuki (Author), Claire Cone Robertson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 22, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0253213665 | ISBN-13: 978-0253213662

Here is the life history of Berida Ndambuki, a Kenyan woman trader born in 1936, who speaks movingly of her experiences under the turbulences of late British colonialism and independence. A poverty survivor, Berida overcame patriarchal constraints to reclaim the rights to her labor, her body, and her spirit. She invokes a many-faceted picture of central Kenyan life in this compelling narrative.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Berida Ndambuki has been living and working in Nairobi for almost thirty years, while travelling back and forth to her home, Kathonzweni, in Ukambani, Kenya. Her work as a retailer of dried staples and dealer in other commodities has taken her into Uganda and Tanzania, as well as all over Kenya. She is married and has nine surviving grown children, as well as numerous grandchildren. She is a leader of women's groups in Kathonzweni and at Gikomba Market in Nairobi. This is her first literary endeavor.

Claire Robertson, Associate Professor in the departments of History and Women's Studies at the Ohio State University, has a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in African History, and has specialized in the study of African women, especially traders, for some twenty-five years. She has published numerous articles and four books including Sharing the Same Bowl: A Socioeconomic History of Women and Trade in Accra,Ghana
(1984), which won the 1985 Herskovits Prize from the African Studies Association, and Trouble Showed the Way: Women, Men, and Trade in the Nairobi Area, 1890-1990 (1997), during the research for which she became friends with Berida Ndambuki. Their collaboration produced this book.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press (March 22, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253213665
• ISBN-13: 978-0253213662
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #337,535 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #42 in Books > History > Africa > Kenya

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ordinary Woman, Extraordinary Life, May 31, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: "We Only Come Here to Struggle": Stories from Berida's Life (Paperback)

This book is the culmination of a lengthy relationship between Claire Robertson and a market woman in the area of her research work in Africa. Robertson aims to portray the everyday life and struggle of an average woman in Western Africa. What comes through the pages is no less than an ordinary woman leading an extraordinary life. Through the course of reading this book, you will hear Berida's life story in her own words. As she encounters one obstacle after the other, from problems with her husband, to theft, to the birth and tragic death of her children, she continues to rise above and triumph. For all those who believe that African women are submissive and unempowered this book will be an eye-opener.