What is it about?
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 twenty-first century.
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Why is it important?
Studying the YWCA's narrative of "race" and inclusion (which Vera Harley wrote about in terms of "becoming multi-racial") yields two key insights. 1. In late colonial Kenya, racial and religious identity were strongly connected - whiteness implied Christianity and vice versa. 2. Black African women were historically excluded from equal membership in Kenya YWCA, even though they were Christian. A new story about the YWCA's identity had to be told, in order to "include" them.
Perspectives
In this book chapter, written in 2015, I outlined some of the central themes and arguments that I expanded on in my doctoral thesis. The idea that an organisation's story about its identity could have such a big impact on its activities was a turning point in my research about the YWCA movement.
Dr Eleanor Tiplady Higgs
Brunel University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Becoming ‘Multi-Racial', January 2016, IGI Global,
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8772-1.ch002.
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