The Ostrich Wakes: Struggles for Change in Highland Kenya

Jean Davison
Kirinyaga Publishers (2006)
ISBN 0978515005
Reviewed by Richard R. Blake for Reader Views (5/07)

Dr. Jean Davison, an anthropologist, returns to visit the foothills of Mt. Kenya. Davison returns to Kenya to discover how the Gikuyu farmers view the changes of the last decade in their country.  Her return to a land where she had lived, worked and studied twenty years earlier came at the very time the political party in power since Kenya received independence, had been replaced.  Excitement was everywhere. Expectations were high.

The remote rural areas of Kenya have become linked to the global coffee and tea markets, as well as the internet, TV, and cell phones. Any change will benefit some and disadvantage others in this age of globalization.  The title of the book “The Ostrich Wakes” speaks of the many changes in Highland Kenya: the coming of electricity, improved transportation, and the availability of education. This is a wakeup call at a time of crisis. Davison was particularly concerned about the impact of these changes in relation to “Women’s Concerns” in education, economic opportunity, property rights, overpopulation, family planning skills, and “AIDS.”

Dr. Davison contacted village elders and youth alike to learn how they had been impacted through these transitions. She visited old friends to interview them about the long awaited changes in the government, the uncertainties of the economy, of the trends in agricultural, and the educational opportunities available to the children and youth of Kenya.

As she retraced her steps of earlier visits she was particularly interested in how traditions, customs, rituals, and coming of age rites had changed since her last visit.  Among others she interviewed four generations of one family to get a comparison of how time and education have impacted how they learn, what they had learned by observing their mothers, and what they had learned in the more formal school setting. Many of those interviewed were open and frank, and shared freely in their stories of coming of age, marriage and childbirth.  Others were more private, especially when questions concerned the older rituals and rites associated with girls coming of age.

I appreciated the unique approach Dr. Davison used to present the results of her research.  She writes using a story form narrative in her interviews. Her presentation of background material on the government, history, and geography of Kenya is woven into the stories in a unique and entertaining way.

The subject matter of “The Ostrich Wakes” is enlightening and useful, an important addition to the studies available on the threat, prevention, and treatment of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in third world communities.  It is the story of an awakening of a people from the lethargy and sense of despair.  This is a book of travel, of warm stories from peoples of another culture, as well as the results of an anthropology research study.

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