Kenya - History, Africa - African Peoples - East Africa, East African Politics & Government, Africa - Social Conditions, Africa Historiography

"Girl Cases": Marriage and Colonialism in Gusiiland, Kenya, 1890-1970

Name: "Girl Cases": Marriage and Colonialism in Gusiiland, Kenya, 1890-1970
Author: Brett L. Shadle
ISBN: 9780325070940

by Brett L. Shadle

Unavailable on Bookshop Available on Amazon Write a review

Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.

Overview

Brett Shadle's Girl Cases examines the impact of mature colonialism in East Africa on the Gusii and on their strategies to maintain wealth in a era of rapid social change. Girl Cases is a marvelous social history of the epidemic of "girl cases" that seemed to challenge the very nature of Gusii concepts of wealth and security. In an era of increasing bridewealth and stagnating wages, Gusii elders increasing turned to the native courts to control both young women and young men. Employing a sophisticated methodology for mining the transcripts of the regions local courts, Shadle uncovers precious detail on the changing meanings of marriage and strategies of young women and men to define their own futures.
- Richard Roberts; Professor and Director of Center for African Studies; Stanford University

About the Author, Brett L. Shadle

BRETT L. SHADLE teaches African History at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 2000, where he worked under Professor Jonathon Glassman. Prior to joining Virginia Tech in 2005, Shadle taught at Bowdoin College and the University of Mississippi. He is currently researching the history of sexual crimes in twentieth-century Kenya, and the history of colonial Kenya's African courts system.