Voices from Mutira: Changes in the Lives of Rural Gikuyo Women, 1910-1995

by Jean Davison

Book by Davison, Jean

271 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Audrey Cruey · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Voices from Mutira” was the perfect follow-up read to “The Color Purple” — I absolutely love when my academic and personal reading material overlap! Davison writes a brilliant ethnography that is a collection of life histories related to her by Gikuyu women in Kenya. The impact of colonialism, the struggle for liberation, then freedom is evident in the course of each woman’s life — the rites of passage she participates in, her role in the economy and society as a whole, and what it means to be a woman. I enjoyed Davison’s book thoroughly and found it quite accessible for an academic text!

[Erin O'Riordan]

College anthropology class. If you've ever wondered, "Who cultivates Kenya coffee?" the answer is Gikuyo women (sometimes spelled Kikuyo).

[stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not only a fantastic example of life history ethnography, but also a wonderful study of the effects of modernization on multiple generations of African women.