An Uncertain Age
The Politics of Manhood in Kenya
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Ohio University Press
Published:27th Mar '17
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
In An Uncertain Age, Paul Ocobock investigates the roles of age and gender in shaping relationships and identities in colonial Kenya.
In An Uncertain Age, Paul Ocobock explores the intricate dynamics of age and gender in twentieth-century Kenya, revealing how these forces influenced household and generational relationships. The book delves into the ways in which East Africans interacted with and shaped emerging colonial and global perceptions of masculinity. Through this lens, Ocobock illustrates how Kenyan men and boys navigated their paths to manhood amid changing rites of passage and the allure of urban life, crime, and nationalism.
The narrative highlights the colonial government's appropriation of masculinity as a tool for statecraft and control, demonstrating the complex interplay between power and identity. As young men sought wages or engaged in anticolonial movements, their evolving understanding of manhood became a pivotal aspect of both resistance and compliance within the colonial framework. Ocobock's research sheds light on the concept of 'youth' as a driving force behind both colonial power and the opposition it faced.
An Uncertain Age contributes to a growing body of scholarship that challenges traditional notions of male identity, pushing the historiography of Kenya and empire into new and nuanced territories. By examining the multifaceted masculinities that young men debated and performed, Ocobock provides a compelling account of how these identities were shaped by, and in turn shaped, the colonial experience.
“Provocative and meticulously researched, Ocobock’s book demonstrates the importance of age and masculinity in Kenyan history. Readers will appreciate the elegant prose and arresting detail of this rigorous narrative history. Ocobock is unquestionably a historian and writer of first rank.”
“In Ocobock’s work, intriguing tales about male initiation and other coming-of-age practices show how African youth and elders struggled with colonial officials, missionaries, settlers, and nationalist leaders over the meanings of manhood. His nuanced analysis enriches and expands the history of masculinities.”
“In demonstrating the centrality of concerns over age and gender, Ocobock offers a brilliant means of reconceiving Kenyan history beyond the more usual focus on ethnicity. Linking the processes of growing up and state making, he deftly shows how gendered notions of maturity have shaped Kenya’s politics. This superb book will find a wide and appreciative audience.”
“With a sure command of the literature, Ocobock argues for the increased importance of gender and generation for historical research.…The core of the book, based on archival material and in-depth interviews, contrasts the colonial era ‘elder state’ to the contemporary postcolonial situation. Although these chapters are informative and detailed, the introductory chapter alone is worth the price of admission’…Summing up: Highly recommended.” * Choice *
“Compellingly elucidates that Kenya as a colony was no seamless well-oiled machine, but rather a ‘crowded, cacophonous place’ of religious leaders,
judges, wardens, and other authorities who all had frequently competing visions about how to shape age and manhood.”
- Winner of Morris D. Forkosch Prize 2018
- Short-listed for Bethwell A. Ogot Book Prize 2018
ISBN: 9780821422632
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
368 pages