Best regards, Andrew Stewart
Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: February 22, 2021 at 11:30:25 AM EST > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Africa]: Ferrell on Switzer, 'When the Light Is > Fire: Maasai Schoolgirls in Contemporary Kenya' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Heather D. Switzer. When the Light Is Fire: Maasai Schoolgirls in > Contemporary Kenya. Urbana University of Illinois Press, 2018. 248 > pp. $28.00 (paper), ISBN 978-0-252-08372-3. > > Reviewed by Lacy S. Ferrell (Central Washington University) > Published on H-Africa (February, 2021) > Commissioned by David D. Hurlbut > > Heather D. Switzer's When the Light Is Fire: Maasai Schoolgirls in > Contemporary Kenya offers a rich and compelling account of > schoolgirlhood among the Maasai, whom many in Kenya erroneously view > as "hating" education. Based on extensive interviews with schoolgirls > themselves, the book both dispels any misapprehensions about the > helplessness, and hopelessness, of Maasai girls and directly refutes > the developmentalist discourse that sees girls' empowerment as a > panacea for the developing world's problems. > > The most compelling parts of the book emerge from the many accounts > of the girls themselves and Switzer's transparent recounting of their > interactions. She is highly conscious of being a white American woman > in Kenya and frames all of her stories in terms of her own, and the > girls', subjectivity. As readers we therefore come to understand some > of the layers of cultural practice and nuance that influence what and > how different girls, women, and men might have told her about > themselves. We also see the individuals whose sparks of ambition and > intelligence are fueling quiet but profound shifts in Maasai > communities, reflecting and defying developmentalist logic. > > One important intervention is Switzer's rejection of any simplistic > division between "girls in the home" and "schoolgirls" (p. 91). > Scholarly and developmentalist literatures often see these two > categories as fundamentally different, most of all in cultural terms. > Yet the girls in the book, for the most part, still value and feel > bound by family and community expectations, especially to become > wives and mothers. It is more accurate to say they want to transform > these roles; girls and mothers alike spoke of gaining independence > from "certain patriarchal claims" and coming to depend on themselves, > rather than fathers or husbands (p. 69). Their dreams are > substantial; one of the girls Switzer interviewed described her grand > plans, including building her parents a house, digging boreholes for > water, and installing solar lighting (p. 78). > > The schoolgirls in the book want to be "better Maasai," though as > they remake their identities they struggle with how to articulate > their status (p. 14). One of the most interesting discussions in the > book is the difficulty of defining "girl" and "woman" in the context > of education and the "in-betweenness" these young women experience > (p. 93). Nearly all the girls in the book who are in school have > undergone _emurata_, the ritual excision ceremony that traditionally > marks a girl as a woman, ready for marriage and childbearing. Yet > these school_girls_ do not identify as women. They also reject the > term for girls/women who are not yet married: _enkanyakuai_. For > schoolgirls, that term connotes "a person who is just sitting at home > without doing any work" (p. 127). The Maa language does not have a > word for how these young women see themselves. They refer to > themselves as schoolgirls, even those in their late teens, regardless > of emurata status. > > Lurking throughout this discussion of these predominately teenaged > young women is the specter of early pregnancy, which nearly always > leads to leaving school. The assumption is that men and boys try to > "disturb" and "cheat" (coerce) girls to have sex, yet it is the > girl's responsibility to resist these attentions and assaults (p. > 137). Switzer observes that mothers do not "seem to register" the > competing demands and pressures on schoolgirls' sexuality (p. 134). > She calls this silence "striking" and connects it to the communal > investment in girls' educations, a reflection not only of the girls' > desires or experiences but also of sacrifices from many families (p. > 140). > > Switzer's book does an excellent job of highlighting the tension > between girls' own desire to be "exceptional, girlpowered girls" and > the demands that can easily disrupt their grandest plans (pp. > 146-47). In her conclusion, she makes powerful policy critiques and > recommendations that center her analysis of Maasai girls' and women's > own words and experiences. Rejecting the neoliberal emphasis on > "empowering" individual girls, she resituates these girls within the > family and community contexts that govern their options and suggests > that refiguring existing expectations may be far more powerful than > outright rejection (p. 157). With extensive quotations and anecdotes, > Switzer anchors the text with the words of Maasai girls and women, > whose input is long overdue in developmentalist discourse. > > Citation: Lacy S. Ferrell. Review of Switzer, Heather D., _When the > Light Is Fire: Maasai Schoolgirls in Contemporary Kenya_. H-Africa, > H-Net Reviews. February, 2021. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=55069 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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