PRESENTATION DRAFT FOR POLS2002
Reading: Burying Otieno: The Politics of Gender and Ethnicity in Kenya by Patricia Stamp.
Theme focused: Gender, State and Nationalism
Introduction
Good day to the floor and assessor, I am Tintswalo Chauke and for my contribution of this
group presentation I will be focusing on critically analysing the reading titled [above], under
theme 7 focused on the topics of “gender, state and nationalism”. I will start of by giving an
analytical summary of the article, then proceed to give a brief overview of its connection to
various other themes across the course, its connection to the pragmatism of a feminist
movement and lastly leave the audience with a question to hopefully prompt further
discussion.
Analytical summary of the reading
I am sure we can all attest to the fact that this reading is one that is quite nuanced and
nebulous, this observed in its structure and lengthy commentary mainly positioned round
legal jargon. It took me a good 4 hours to get around the main argument of this lengthy
reading as it covers a range of themes across the course that I will mention shortly.
In the words of Stamp, the main argument of the article stems from a 1989 case study that
elucidates a tragic ordeal faced by a Kenyan Kiyuyu widow who was taken to court by her late
husband’s family in a sensational contest over the burial of his remains. Wambui Otieno,
became a key figure in the controversial debates surrounding the precedence of customary
law over common law in Kenya, women’s rights and intertribal marriages. With her husband
being of Luo descendent and her of Kikuyu, her husband’s clan the Umira Kager refused to
allow Wambui to bury her husband in their home in Nairobi on the grounds that he was a
traditional man (this justified by his attendance of several family funerals by a graveman
witness in court), and according to Luo burial law was to be buried by his home clan. The
author clearly outlines that the Umira Kager clan’s main aim in court was to reconstruct the
late Otieno as a Luo whose primary loyalty, in death as in life, was to clan and patrilineage. A
major effect of the clan’s argument and the court decisions in the Otieno case was thus the
reinforcement of the importance of lineages and clans in contemporary Kenyan life. They
Reading: Burying Otieno: The Politics of Gender and Ethnicity in Kenya by Patricia Stamp.
Theme focused: Gender, State and Nationalism
Introduction
Good day to the floor and assessor, I am Tintswalo Chauke and for my contribution of this
group presentation I will be focusing on critically analysing the reading titled [above], under
theme 7 focused on the topics of “gender, state and nationalism”. I will start of by giving an
analytical summary of the article, then proceed to give a brief overview of its connection to
various other themes across the course, its connection to the pragmatism of a feminist
movement and lastly leave the audience with a question to hopefully prompt further
discussion.
Analytical summary of the reading
I am sure we can all attest to the fact that this reading is one that is quite nuanced and
nebulous, this observed in its structure and lengthy commentary mainly positioned round
legal jargon. It took me a good 4 hours to get around the main argument of this lengthy
reading as it covers a range of themes across the course that I will mention shortly.
In the words of Stamp, the main argument of the article stems from a 1989 case study that
elucidates a tragic ordeal faced by a Kenyan Kiyuyu widow who was taken to court by her late
husband’s family in a sensational contest over the burial of his remains. Wambui Otieno,
became a key figure in the controversial debates surrounding the precedence of customary
law over common law in Kenya, women’s rights and intertribal marriages. With her husband
being of Luo descendent and her of Kikuyu, her husband’s clan the Umira Kager refused to
allow Wambui to bury her husband in their home in Nairobi on the grounds that he was a
traditional man (this justified by his attendance of several family funerals by a graveman
witness in court), and according to Luo burial law was to be buried by his home clan. The
author clearly outlines that the Umira Kager clan’s main aim in court was to reconstruct the
late Otieno as a Luo whose primary loyalty, in death as in life, was to clan and patrilineage. A
major effect of the clan’s argument and the court decisions in the Otieno case was thus the
reinforcement of the importance of lineages and clans in contemporary Kenyan life. They
