Gender, colonialism, and social change in Kenya

Worries of the Heart

How does the concept of gender change the way we think about colonialism in Kenya and Africa? Give specific examples.

Is colonialism 'bad' or 'good?' Conventional wisdom in the 19th century suggested that colonialism was beneficial to the residents of Africa and East Asia, because it was 'civilizing' and was even necessary, to 'carry the white man's burden' of enlightening non-Christians. Then, in the wake of the decolonization process of the 20th century, colonialism was portrayed as an unmitigated evil by nationalists. In her book Worries of the Heart: Widows, Family, and Community in Kenya, the African-born writer Kenda Mutongi attempts to question such dichotomies. Mutongi notes that when she was growing up, many of the women she met expressed a kind of nostalgia for the colonial era. The authors' mother, for example, remembers the carefully managed, sanitized hospitals of the British, which she said fell into disrepair after the Kenyan native population took control of the government (Mutongi 2). These attitudes were starkly contrasted with the radical politics which the author had learned at the hands of her teachers as part of her education (Mutongi 3-4). Mutongi argues that the end of colonialism bought mixed benefits to women: on one hand, it provided them a discourse of liberation, but on the other hand, it eliminated many of the protections the British offered them [THESIS].

Attitudes towards the British were not as uncomplicated as we have been lead to believe, and gender exerts a powerful impact upon peoples' perceptions. The treatment of widows in native culture is particularly troubling, according to the author, and is thus the primary although not exclusive subject of her anthropological study. The new inheritance laws enacted after the colonial era were haphazardly designed and often negatively affected widows. During World War II, women's civil rights and mobility were strictly controlled, for fear that they would 'stray' while their husbands were away fighting. Widows were considered utterly bereft in this patriarchal culture and were unable to make a living themselves -- only by shaming men in the community to take care of them as their male duty were they able to survive (Mutongi 8). Mutongi calls this shaming 'worries of the heart,' in reference to the plague of worries that affected widows in a unique fashion. Community members and relatives would sometimes 'pitch in' to help but overall, the suffering of widows was disproportionate, when compared with other populations.

However, after independence, widows began to use the language of citizenship to demand their full rights, and protest against the paranoia about women's chastity that had festered, even after the end of the war. When these demands were not always answered, combined with the privations they faced, the recent colonial past began to look better and better in the eyes of all Kenyans but particularly women. Former British subjects waxed nostalgic about the better hospitals, teachers, politicians, and roads they enjoyed then, versus the unsanitary conditions and incompetence of the present. The failure of realizing the promise of full enjoyment of liberty was galling to all Kenyans, although Mutongi notes her own frustration at the refusal of her subjects to say what she wants them to say. "Our leaders have failed us...their living standards had sharply deteriorated since independence" they told her (Mutongi 196).

This deterioration affected almost all Kenyans, but was particularly difficult for the weakest and most vulnerable members of society -- namely the women. Denied the promise of a better life, they were particularly angry at what they saw as the corruption of their rulers. Black Africans were supposed to take care of their 'worries of the heart' better than the British, and instead did a far, far worse job regarding the provision of basic social services. Poverty eroded the sense of obligation and networks of community interdependence that had once protected widows.