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African Womanhood and Incontinent Bodies

Kenyan Women with Vaginal Fistulas

  • Book
  • © 2019

Overview

Authors:
  1. Kathomi Gatwiri

    1. School of Arts and Social Sciences, Southern Cross University, Bilinga, Coolongata, Australia

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  • Provides new knowledge on Kenyan gender, health, and sexuality
  • Offers new insights into gendered structures of power in Africa
  • Proposes a balance between real-world narratives and theoretical explorations

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvii
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  2. Exploring African Feminisms: Context, Positioning, and Making the Personal Political

    • Kathomi Gatwiri
    Pages 1-31

  3. The Problem of Vaginal Fistulas: Dimensions and Trends

    • Kathomi Gatwiri
    Pages 33-57

  4. African Women, Gender, Health, and Sexuality: Theoretical Considerations

    • Kathomi Gatwiri
    Pages 59-94

  5. Vaginal Fistulas and Structural Disadvantage

    • Kathomi Gatwiri
    Pages 95-124

  6. Rationalising Fistulas: A Cultural Influence and Response

    • Kathomi Gatwiri
    Pages 125-155

  7. Flawed Bodies, Blackness, and Incontinence

    • Kathomi Gatwiri
    Pages 157-186

  8. Recreating African Womanhood and Rewriting Our Stories: Bringing the Narratives to a Close

    • Kathomi Gatwiri
    Pages 187-202

  9. Back Matter

    Pages 203-210
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Keywords

About this book

This book reveals the structures of poverty, power, patriarchy and imperialistic health policies that underpin what the World Health Organization calls the “hidden disease” of vaginal fistulas in Africa. By employing critical feminist and post-colonial perspectives, it shows how “leaking black female bodies” are constructed, ranked, stratified and marginalised in global maternal health care, and explains why women in Africa are at risk of developing vaginal fistulas and then having adequate treatment delayed or denied. Drawing on face-to-face, in-depth interviews with 30 Kenyan women, it paints a rare social portrait of the heartbreaking challenges for Kenyan women living with this most profound gender-related health issue – an experience of shame, taboo and abjection with severe implications for women’s wellbeing, health and sexuality. In absolutely groundbreaking depth, this book shows why research on vaginal fistulas must incorporate feminist understandings of bodily experience to inform future practices and knowledge.






Authors and Affiliations

  • School of Arts and Social Sciences, Southern Cross University, Bilinga, Coolongata, Australia

    Kathomi Gatwiri

About the author

Dr. Gatwiri is a Lecturer at Southern Cross University, where she teaches at the School of Arts and Social Sciences. Prior to migrating to Australia, she worked with Family Foundation, a start-up NGO in Kenya where she provided support for women and children living with HIV/AIDS and as a Youth Social Worker for Basic Needs UK in Kenya she provided mental health services, support for carers and coordinated youth wellness and resilience programs. In Australia, she worked in service provision for people living with disabilities at Central Bayside Community Health in Melbourne. Gatwiri holds a Bachelor of  Social Work from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, a Master’s in Counselling and Psychotherapy from the Cairnmillar Institute in Melbourne,  and a PhD from Flinders University in South Australia.  In 2017, Gatwiri was named Young Kenyan of the Year by the Kenya Association of South Australia for her achievements and community service.

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