Discursive Representation of Women’s Interests and Needs in Makueni District - Kenya

Authors

Jacinta Ndambuki
the School of Education, University of the Witwatersrand. Johannesburg
DOI: https://doi.org/10.57054/codesria.pub.1100

Keywords:

Women, Needs, Makueni District, Kenya

Synopsis

The thesis deals with the discursive representation of women’s interests and needs in Makueni District, a rural area in the eastern part of Kenya. The study explores the mismatch between the way politicians and other community leaders select and represent these interests and needs and the way women construct these issues in women’s groups. It provides a fresh approach to the study of women’s issues by using a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as a means of uncovering the subtle ways in which the representation of these issues interfaces with questions of power. The thesis explores the overall question: how does a study of the language used to talk about women’s interests and needs help us understand the constraints and possibilities for women with regard to agency and change? Data was collected from political rallies, interviews and focus group discussions. The data for the entire study consists of four political speeches, ten interviews with politicians and other community leaders and eleven focus group discussions with women’s groups. CDA as theory and method provides a framework for understanding how prevailing discourses impact on the participation of women in the political process in Kenya.
A key finding of the research is that though women, politicians and other community leaders construct women’s agency within deficit discourses, these discourses do not match women’s enacted practices or what political and community leaders say they expect of women. The contradiction that emerges from the study is that although everyone constructs women as lacking in agency, these women act as agentive subjects. All these three categories of research participants draw on prevailing discourses about women in Kenya which locate women is a discourse of negative representation. This language reflects and reproduces the exclusion of women in the political process because it is hard for women to believe that they have a contribution to make when they are interpellated by these deficit discourses. Women for example continuously demand for a leader, a mentor and a saviour; an individualized discourse yet agency and sustainability depend on the collective. Further, my research has shown that women’s groups that are the focus of this study (popularly known as merry-go-rounds in Kenya) are not ‘feminist’  groups. While the aim of feminist groups is transformation, the aim of the women’s groups is sustainability.

Overall, the study shows that women’s power is located in traditional discourse and collective action is at the heart of women’s ability to sustain their existence and their communities. Women’s inaction on the other hand is located in deficit discourses, a negative discourse on women. If they were to understand and recognize the power of the collective, and that power is in the collective and not in an individual leader, they might choose to influence the political process in a different way. Such understanding might provide different possibilities for political agency and transformation. The key finding of this research is the need to change the discourse of negative representation so that women can recognize their own potential for power.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Jacinta Ndambuki, the School of Education, University of the Witwatersrand. Johannesburg

Prof Ndambuki is an Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics in the Department of Literary and Communication Studies (LITCOMS), School of Humanities and Development Studies (SHDS) at Laikipia University (LU), Kenya where she teaches English language and linguistics as well as communication courses to both undergraduate and postgraduate students. She is the immediate former Acting Dean (SHDS) and currently the Academic Leader for the Master of Arts (Applied Linguistics) Programme in the Department and a member of the Ad. Hoc Gender Mainstreaming Committee representing SHDS. Upon completion of her undergraduate studies at Egerton University in 1992, the University awarded her a merit scholarship to pursue her master’s degree. She was employed as an Assistant Lecturer in Egerton University- Laikipia Campus in 2007 and was promoted to the position of Lecturer in 2006 and subsequently Senior Lecturer in 2011. She joined the University of the Witwatersrand - South Africa for her PhD studies in 2005 during which she was awarded several scholarships among them, the University Council Merit Award (2009), Doris and Harold Tothill Prestige Scholarship (2008); National Research Foundation (NRF) South Africa Overseas Travel Grant, Andrew Mellon Foundation Postgraduate Mentoring Award with Research Mentor Prof. Hilary Janks (2006-2008); Small Grants for Thesis Writing - Council for the Development of Social Science (CODESRIA, 2006). She graduated in 2010 and upon successful completion of her PhD studies, and return to Kenya, she was appointed as the Founding Director - Research, Extension and Consultancy (2010-2013) Laikipia University. During her term as Director Research, the Directorate of Research, Extension and Consultancy Laikipia University also won an award for the installation of the Essential Electronic and Agricultural Library (TEEAL) at an initial cost of USD 5000 and updates of the library for 17 years at a total cost of USD I million in January 2012. In the course of this period, two scholarly Journals for Laikipia University were initiated: Laikipia University Journal of Social Science, Education and Humanities (JSSEH) and Journal of Science and Applied Technology (JSAT). She was appointed Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics in 2018. She served as the Director, Directorate of Postgraduate Studies and as the Chair, Board of Postgraduate Studies, (2016-2019), she spearheaded the development of the Postgraduate Studies Policy and successful implementation of Commission for University Education (CUE) reforms. She has published several papers in refereed journals and several book chapters. She is a volunteer peer reviewer for the Applied Linguistics Journal and has been a series editor, JSSEH. She has attended conferences and academic Institutes such as 2009 APISA, CLACSO, CODESRIA, Fourth South-South Summer Institute. She has served as an External Examiner in two Kenyan universities. She is a member of CODESRIA; Global Writers Link (founding member), and the International Association of Applied Linguistics (AILA) Africa Research Network. She participates in environmental conservation and is a founding member of Eco Green Initiative (a Community Based Organization) which seeks to create an ecologically green environment through sustainable afforestation in Makueni County- Kenya. She also enjoys mentoring young people. In terms of higher degree supervision and mentorship she has graduated the following students; 

References

Ogola, M. (2003) Interview, pp. 123-147. In Ed. Kuria, M. Talking Gender: Conversations with Kenyan Women Writers. Nairobi: PJ.

Ogot, G. (2003) Interview, pp.71-97. In Ed. Kuria, M. Talking Gender: Conversations with Kenyan Women Writers. Nairobi: PJ.

Ogot, G. (1978) Women’s Perception of Themselves and Other Women. In Eds. Pala, A. Awori, T. and Krystal, A. Conference Proceedings of The Participation of Women in Kenyan Society held in Nairobi 11-15 August 1975. Nairobi: Kenya Literature Bureau.

Okombo, D. O. (2001) Language Policy: The Forgotten Parameter in African Development and Governance Strategies. Inaugural lecture delivered to the University of Nairobi and the Kenyan Public. Thursday 4th October, 2001.

Olaleye, W. (2003) Legitimising Electoral Process: The Role of Kenyan Domestic Observation Programme (K-DOP) in Kenya’s 2002 General Election. Journal of African Elections, Vol. 2, No. 2, 14-29.

Olukoshi, A. (1998) State, Conflict and Democracy in Africa: The Complex Process of Renewal pp. 453-466. In Ed. Joseph, R. State, Conflict and Democracy in Africa. Boulder, Colo: Lynne Rienner Publishers.

Obama, B. (2006) The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream. New York: Crown Publishers.

Onyango, O. (2006) The Dark Shadow of Masculinities and Women’s Emancipation Agenda.

CODESRIA Bulletin Special Issue on the African Woman. Vols.1 and 2, pp. 36-38.

Orwell, G. (1995) Politics and the English Language, In Ed. Jackall, R. Propaganda. New York: New York University Press.

Phillips, A. (1991) Engendering Democracy. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Popkewitz, T.S. (2007) Cosmopolitanism and the Age of School Reform: Science, Education and Making Society by Making the Child. London: Routledge.

Puchta C. and Potter, J. (2004) Focus Group Practice. London: Sage.

Quinlan, T. and Wallis, M. (2003) Local Governance in Lesotho: The Central Role of Chiefs. In Eds. Ray, D and Reddy P. Grassroots Governance? Chiefs in Africa and the Afro-Caribbean.

Alberta: University of Calgary Press.

Republic of Kenya: Report of Women Groups Census in Kenya Eastern Province. Women’s Bureau UNFPA Project (1992).

Downloads

Complete Thesis

Published

June 22, 2023

Series

Thesis
Copyright (c) 2023 CODESRIA Books Publication System

Details about this monograph

Physical Dimensions