The book review:
The title The Ostrich Wakes is drawn from Kikuyu lore regarding Mt. Kenya, whose local name Kirinyaga means mountain of the ostrich. The title conveys the thrust of the book that confirms social, economic, and political change in Kikuyuland.

Author Jean Davison, an anthropologist, recently returned to the slopes of Mt. Kenya where she investigated rural lifestyles in the 1970s in order to chronicle changes that have since been affected, especially in the lives and perspectives of women. Obviously, significant changes did occur over the thirty-year period.

Davison’s earliest interviewees remembered colonialism, Mau Mau and the onset of independence. Many of the women underwent Irua, female coming of age circumcision ceremony. Lives were intricately wound into long-standing Kikuyu traditions: age groups, labor tasks, farming, marriage, child bearing and rearing, and family.

For this last study in 2002 Davison contrasted grandmothers and mothers with contemporary young women. Not unexpectedly she found things were different. Female circumcision ceased and tribal lore along with its importance diminished. Education was valued—school did indeed broaden outlooks, knowledge and sophistication. Farming was not cool, but jobs in the modern sector were hard to find. Although schooling had a positive impact upon health, sanitation and disease control, there was (in 2002) very little valid information being passed on about HIV/AIDS prevention. Electricity and computers had not trickled down into rural areas, but cell phones were putting in an appearance. Coffee prices were abysmal and tea prices too low. The Moi government was not deemed effective in developing Central Province, but hopes were high that newly elected Kikuyu President Kibaki would do right for his fellow tribesmen.

On the positive side, Davison found that young Kenyans respected their elders, valued family and prized education. Everyone wanted to better themselves and their circumstances. They judged lack of jobs to be the key constraint to progress.

None of the information developed would be surprising to RPCVs and others who know Africa. The last fifty years have indeed been times of change. Although not intended, I found Davison’s style a bit condescending and too chatty. She described too much detail of mundane events such as preparing dinner, walking through town or visiting old friends. The interviews themselves seemed to elicit standard responses rather than true insight. Davison seemed preoccupied with when, in the absence of Irua, girls considered themselves to be adults. Yet the author was justifiably frustrated in discovering that HIV/AIDS education activities had little impact.

Given current events in Kenya, I was sensitive to the lack of commentary on tribalism. Aside from disenchantment with Moi because, besides being corrupt, he was Kalenjin, there was no discussion of tribalism. Certainly, Davison did her research in the Kikuyu heartland where societal cleavages were more of a Christian/non-Christian variety rather than tribal. Even so, clearly none of the respondents felt they or their province had received any special favoritism on account of being Kikuyu. I wonder how or whether views changed following Kibaki’s first term?

In summary, The Ostrich Wakes does not tell us anything strikingly new. It does satisfactorily chronicle changes in attitudes over the past several generations and presents them in a non-academic format. Those who know Central Province and its people will appreciate the book more than others.