Becoming ‘Multi-Racial': The Young Women's Christian Association in Kenya, 1955-1965

Becoming ‘Multi-Racial': The Young Women's Christian Association in Kenya, 1955-1965

Eleanor Tiplady Higgs
ISBN13: 9781466687721|ISBN10: 146668772X|EISBN13: 9781466687738
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8772-1.ch002
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MLA

Higgs, Eleanor Tiplady. "Becoming ‘Multi-Racial': The Young Women's Christian Association in Kenya, 1955-1965." Gender and Diversity Issues in Religious-Based Institutions and Organizations, edited by Blanche Jackson Glimps and Theron Ford, IGI Global, 2016, pp. 24-50. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-8772-1.ch002

APA

Higgs, E. T. (2016). Becoming ‘Multi-Racial': The Young Women's Christian Association in Kenya, 1955-1965. In B. Glimps & T. Ford (Eds.), Gender and Diversity Issues in Religious-Based Institutions and Organizations (pp. 24-50). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-8772-1.ch002

Chicago

Higgs, Eleanor Tiplady. "Becoming ‘Multi-Racial': The Young Women's Christian Association in Kenya, 1955-1965." In Gender and Diversity Issues in Religious-Based Institutions and Organizations, edited by Blanche Jackson Glimps and Theron Ford, 24-50. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2016. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-8772-1.ch002

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Abstract

This chapter addresses issues of identity and racial exclusion by looking at Christianity and whiteness at the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) in the context of late colonial Kenya. Between 1955 and 1965, Kenya YWCA rejected its identity as an organization for white/European women, and became inclusive of African women for the first time. The history of Kenya YWCA written by its last white leader, Vera Harley, is an important source of information about this period in Kenya YWCA's history. The narrative Harley constructs is an important part of the identity of the organization in the present day. Studying this narrative of ‘race' and inclusion yields two key insights; firstly, that in late colonial Kenya racial and religious identity were strongly connected, even mutually constitutive. Secondly, women in African contexts have historically been excluded from (some) Christian organisations.

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