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 Periodical article |
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| Title: | Louis Leakey as Ethnographer: On the Southern Kikuyu before 1903 |
| Author: | Clark, Carolyn M. |
| Year: | 1989 |
| Periodical: | Canadian Journal of African Studies |
| Volume: | 23 |
| Issue: | 3 |
| Pages: | 380-398 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Kenya |
| Subjects: | Kikuyu History and Exploration Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) |
| About person: | Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey |
| External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/485184 |
| Abstract: | This article is an examination of Louis Leakey's 'The Southern Kikuyu before 1903', which was completed in 1939, but published posthumously in 1977. It considers both Leakey's claim to be Kikuyu and the quality of his ethnography of the Kikuyu of Kenya in the light of questions raised by recent critiques of ethnography. Is this an ethnographic pastorale? Was this a collaborative effort? To what extent did Leakey as ethnographer infuse his writing on Kikuyu culture with moral statements or allegories? The author concludes that 'The Southern Kikuyu before 1903' is an attempt to describe the late 19th century customs of the Kikuyu. It accomplishes this objective through a transcription of the laws of the society as understood by 'committees' of senior elders and through a representation of the Kikuyu in the various ceremonies and rituals they performed. Even though a different perspective may be gleaned from the singular story of an elder's life, the ethnography succeeds in representing generic masculine Kikuyu culture as rule-governed, democratic, and orderly. The implicit questions or allegories which directed the representation of women in the ethnography led to a broad inclusion of women but did not allow women to be seen outside the frame of the questions, moral concerns, and challenged prejudices of 'the West'. The ethnography also captures the present or emergent culture that was a part of the colonial encounter. Furthermore, the Kikuyu used the writing of the ethnography as an occasion to proclaim Kikuyu opposition to whites. Bibliogr., notes, sum. in French. |
