1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910814998903321

Autore

Thomas Lynn M

Titolo

Politics of the womb : women, reproduction, and the state in Kenya / / Lynn M. Thomas

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berkeley, : University of California Press, c2003

ISBN

1-59734-818-X

9786612762765

1-282-76276-1

0-520-93664-7

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (318 p.)

Disciplina

305.4/096762

Soggetti

Women - Kenya - History

Female circumcision - Kenya - History

Women - Kenya - Social conditions

Sex role - Kenya

Kenya Social conditions

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 235-287) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- List Of Abbreviations -- Introduction -- 1. Imperial Populations And "Women's Affairs" -- 2. Colonial Uplift And Girl-Midwives -- 3. Mau Mau And The Girls Who "Circumcised Themselves" -- 4. Late Colonial Customs And Wayward Schoolgirls -- 5. Postcolonial Nationalism And "Modern" Single Mothers -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

In more than a metaphorical sense, the womb has proven to be an important site of political struggle in and about Africa. By examining the political significance-and complex ramifications-of reproductive controversies in twentieth-century Kenya, this book explores why and how control of female initiation, abortion, childbirth, and premarital pregnancy have been crucial to the exercise of colonial and postcolonial power. This innovative book enriches the study of gender, reproduction, sexuality, and African history by revealing how reproductive controversies challenged long-standing social hierarchies and contributed to the construction of new ones that continue to



influence the fraught politics of abortion, birth control, female genital cutting, and HIV/AIDS in Africa.