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List of contents
List of Figures
Ackowledgments
Abreviations
Map of Kenya with locations of YWCA branches
Introduction
Part I.
1. Identity and Ethics in Narrative
Part II.
2. Imperial Maternalism, 1855-1965
3. From Welfare to Development, 1965-2000
4. African, Christian, Feminist? 2000-2012
Part III.
5. Controversial Faith Issues
6. ‘We are Christians’
7. Everyday Christian Ethics
Postscript
Notes
References
Index
About the author
Eleanor Tiplady Higgs is Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Her research interests lie in ethics, feminist theory, narrative, and the study of gender and Christianity.
Summary
Can a Christian organization with colonial roots work towards reproductive justice for Kenyan women and resist sexist interpretations of Christianity? How does a women’s organization in Africa navigate controversial ethical dilemmas, while dealing with the pressures of imperialism in international development?
Based on a case study of the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) in Kenya, this book explores the answers to these questions. It also introduces a theoretical framework drawn from postcolonial feminist critique, narrative identity theory and the work of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians: ‘everyday Christian ethics'. The book evaluates the theory’s implications as a cross-disciplinary theme in feminist studies of religion and theology.
Eleanor Tiplady Higgs argues that Kenya YWCA’s narratives of its Christian history and constitution sustain a link between its ethical perspective and its identity. The ethical insights that emerge from these practices proclaim the relevance of the value of ‘fulfilled lives’, as prescribed in the New Testament, for Christian women’s experiences of reproductive injustice.
Foreword
Introduces ‘ordinary theological ethics’ as a tool for understanding how Kenyan Christian women activists, theologians, and organisations approach sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Additional text
This sophisticated study explores how the Kenya YWCA negotiates tensions arising among its Christian, feminist and African identities as it seeks to advance women’s lives. It sheds light on an underappreciated yet important aspect of how African Christians engage global Christianity and development institutions.
