Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Preface
- Introduction Biographical approaches to mothering: identities and lived realities
- 1 Becoming and being a Polish mother: narratives on the motherhood experience
- 2 ‘A good mother is a good mother and a good wife’: gender politics and mothering practice among older Iranian Muslim women
- 3 Exploration of mothering and shifting identities in Kenya
- 4 Biographies of Roma mothering in contemporary Czechia: exploring tapestries of multi-ethnic gendered identity in a marginalised social position
- 5 Identities and life choices of mothers in a disadvantaged neighbourhood in England
- 6 Giving voice to Irish mothers experiencing separation and divorce
- 7 Ideal, good enough and failed motherhood: how disabled Canadian mothers manage in hostile circumstances
- 8 Confronting meanings of motherhood in neoliberal Australia: six crystallised case studies
- 9 Unplanned breakdown of foster mothering: biographical perspectives on identity challenges of foster mothers
- 10 Non-mothers: identities, ambiguity, biography making and life choices
- Conclusion Exploring mothering in future biographical research: interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity and new research agendas
- Index
3 - Exploration of mothering and shifting identities in Kenya
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 January 2024
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Notes on contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Preface
- Introduction Biographical approaches to mothering: identities and lived realities
- 1 Becoming and being a Polish mother: narratives on the motherhood experience
- 2 ‘A good mother is a good mother and a good wife’: gender politics and mothering practice among older Iranian Muslim women
- 3 Exploration of mothering and shifting identities in Kenya
- 4 Biographies of Roma mothering in contemporary Czechia: exploring tapestries of multi-ethnic gendered identity in a marginalised social position
- 5 Identities and life choices of mothers in a disadvantaged neighbourhood in England
- 6 Giving voice to Irish mothers experiencing separation and divorce
- 7 Ideal, good enough and failed motherhood: how disabled Canadian mothers manage in hostile circumstances
- 8 Confronting meanings of motherhood in neoliberal Australia: six crystallised case studies
- 9 Unplanned breakdown of foster mothering: biographical perspectives on identity challenges of foster mothers
- 10 Non-mothers: identities, ambiguity, biography making and life choices
- Conclusion Exploring mothering in future biographical research: interdisciplinarity, transdisciplinarity and new research agendas
- Index
Summary
Introduction
In their article ‘Long-distance mothering in urban Kenya’, the authors conclude that, with rapid urbanisation, many female migrants will move into urban areas, with their families, seeking employment (Cotton and Beguy, 2020). This article, based on research from two informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya, shows that the fate of children's lives is an urgent policy concern surrounding female migration and mothering. Echoing this view, African feminist scholars have argued for the need to give voice to the varied yet nuanced richness of African women's lives, while at the same time acknowledging the commonalities they share (Heugh, 2011). As Bunwaree observes ‘For African feminists, rethinking diversity entails a new political and theoretical engagement with women's multiple identities and social positions’ (Bunwaree, 2004, p 154).
Some commonalities that women face in the course of their lives include caring, nurturing, observing, working, becoming mothers and/or mothering children in diverse family contexts (Clark et al, 2017; Gaydosh, 2019; Cotton, 2021). However, less is known about African women themselves and the specificities of social-mothering practices in these varied familial and community backgrounds. Often absent is an understanding and conceptualisation of African women's lives through their biographies, which form a central aspect of understanding society (Steady, 1981; Ogundipe-Leslie, 1994; Imam et al, 1997; Mikell, 1997).
This chapter devotes itself to the reconstruction of a single mother's biography, grounded in qualitative data obtained from analysis of her life narrative. Qualitative methods are used because they enable mothers’ voices to be discernible and further advance knowledge about social mothering as a concept. Melodi (a pseudonym), the mother in focus, is part of the ‘mama nguo’ female labour force offering a washing/laundry service, who live predominantly in informal settlements and provide services to middle-and upper-class families in Nairobi. While recognising the overwhelming poverty where Melodi lives, positionality, power relations and representation, all related to reflexivity, are discussed within the specificities of African feminist research and biographical interviewing. The focus on Melodi's life – belonging, doing, being, and becoming a mother – are influenced by social cultural norms related to social mothering in the Abaluhya culture, to which she belongs (Wandibba, 1997). The interconnectedness of individual life narratives, the role of agency and structure in everyday life, and how these enable an understanding of social mothering, provide significant insights into the challenges inherent in Melodi's life.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Biographical Research and the Meanings of MotheringLife Choices, Identities and Methods, pp. 61 - 81Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2023