Customer Reviews

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

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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.