Transforming the Gospel of Domesticity: Luhya Girls and the Friends Africa Mission, 1917-1926

Abstract

: Efforts to transform the lives of colonized women and girls were integral to Christian missionary efforts throughout the world. This study of the attempts by a Quaker mission, in what is now Western Province, Kenya, to remake African womanhood indicates the limited success missionaries had in this effort. As with most evangelical missions, “women's work for women” involved domesticating African women and girls. According to one missionary, the purpose of the Girls' Boarding School (GBS) was to teach girls to be “better wives and mothers.” This goal, however, was subverted by both the missionaries and the schoolgirls. While the curriculum was designed to teach girls to submit to male authority, the female missionary in charge of the school refused to do so herself. Furthermore, the schoolgirls manipulated missionaries and mission institutions to delay marriage and to control their choice of marriage partners. Graduates also used the skills learned at the GBS to cross gender and class boundaries, and contributed to the restructuring of Luhya society. Thus, while missionaries undoubtedly caused many dramatic changes in the lives of Luhya women and girls and in Luhya culture, we see that they were manifestly unsuccessful in controlling the nature of these changes.

Missionaries and female empowerment in colonial Uganda: New evidence from Protestant marriage registers, 1880–1945

“…Similarly, John Taylor's (1958) account of the growth of the Church in Buganda suggested that among educated and urban women marriage ages had increased during the colonial era. Further narrative evidence from a Quaker mission's boarding school in Western Kenya suggests that female education, despite its strong emphasis on domesticity increased girls' control over their choice of marriage partner, postponing marriage for schoolgirls relative to girls living outside the mission (Thomas 2000). Parallel to this, Perlman (1966) suggests that Ugandan fathers were beginning to lose control over their daughters because mission schools and churches provided opportunities for boys and girls to mingle, militating against arranged marriages.…”

The British and curriculum development in West Africa: A historical discourse

“…Ideologically, the missionaries sought schools that would diffuse their concept of a humanitarian, just, and civilized society among West Africans (Murray 1935;Thomas 2000). They were also motivated by their ''... desire to give rather than to take, and to offer what they believed to be the best form of their own culture'' (Taylor 1984: 196).…”

“…The missionary practice of renaming Africans led to disrespect or disregard of local names. As part of their cultural and religious conversion of Africans, the Missionaries required all converts to adopt a Christian name (Thomas 2000). In many cases, Africans continued this practice when they enrolled in government schools.…”

“…Again, it is interesting to note that vernacular was not emphasized in the curriculum but remained as an optional subject. Needlework was added to the school curriculum, to provide a different kind of education for girls (Thomas 2000). In many cases, while the girls broke into separate groups to do needlework, the boys went to work on the school farm as part of agricultural training.…”

Normative, agitated, and rebellious femininities among East and Central African refugee women

“…This resulted in African women losing power. In other cases, previously marginalized women acquired wealth, status, power, and independence or freedom due to factors such as conversion to Christianity, urbanization, female migration, freedom of sexual choice outside the lineage (see White 1990; Barnes and Win 1992;Schmidt 1992;Jeater 1993;Thomas 2000), and Western education in relation to the accompanying monetization of African economies. In some cases, the intersection of external factors with traditional social organization and gender roles and relations resulted in previously powerful women losing their power (see van Allen 1976).…”