Maria G. Cattell

Praise the lord and say no to men: Older women empowering themselves in Samia, Kenya

In rural western Kenya, older Samia women, often victims of forced marriage in youth, are refusing traditional widow inheritance (remarriage) and renewed male domination after a husbands death. They make their refusals in the strategic public discourse of funeral speeches. The ability of older women to bring about change in female roles and power is related to their positions in extended families and support from ‘saved’ Christians. Examination of Samia womens everyday resistance to patriarchal power reveals the dynamics of gender relations within the overlapping power structures of kinship hierarchies, marriage, and religion (Christianity). It is also an example of religious renewal as a force in social change.

Gerontology Education and Research in Kenya Establishing a U.S.-African Partnership in Aging

Abstract This article reprises four presentations on “Gerontology Education in Kenya,” a seminar at the 2004 Annual Meeting ofthe Association of Gerontology in Higher Education. It describes the process by which the Gerontology Institute of Georgia State University established a 3-year gerontology education and research partnership with Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya, and the field experiences of two scholars who have conducted aging research in Kenya. We provide four key elements of cultural competence and recommendations for American gerontologists wishing to establish international linkages.