TY - JOUR
T1 - Intersections of Insecurity, Nurturing, and Resilience
T2 - A Case Study of Turkana Women of Kenya
AU - Pike, Ivy L.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research relies on the kindness and generosity of so many pastoralist families. I extend my gratitude to each and every one of the families who have shared powerful stories about life and death. This research would not be possible without an extraordinary set of Turkana research assistants: Lopeyon, Eliud Achuwe Lowoto, Sarah Ekomwa, Elizabeth Arupe, Paul Ekwon, Paul Chamale Lumonyin, Elizabeth Ekai, Angela Wilma, Veronica Nusa, and Josephine Lokawa. Crystal Patil, Susan Tanner, and Amanda Thompson have served as sounding boards and stalwart writing companions. Few of us would think as carefully about nurturing without the thoughtful work of Penny Van Esterik, here I offer my thanks. A note of gratitude also goes to Sandra Gray for carefully documenting how pastoralist women go about feeding children.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 by the American Anthropological Association
PY - 2019/2/1
Y1 - 2019/2/1
N2 - In a backdrop of low-intensity violence, this article examines how Turkana women of northern Kenya work to maintain culturally honed nurturing practices. Often referred to as AK-47 raids, this violence disrupts even the most basic subsistence tasks. Drawing on case studies and ethnographic interviews, I document how Turkana women reimagine nurturing practices using the “creative resources” at hand. Such resourcefulness includes widows breaking with levirate marriage systems, seeking new forms of support by leaving the pastoral sector to earn income to feed their children, and planting seeds when no one expected success. Further, these acts offer insights into women's resilience by documenting the sociocultural and structural challenges experienced as they reconstitute their lives. With a growing global health emphasis on the importance of early child development, these ethnographically grounded case studies offer insights into the lengths families will go to and the challenges they face to maintain practices of care. [mothering, gender, anthropology of food, conflict, pastoralism, Kenya, East Africa].
AB - In a backdrop of low-intensity violence, this article examines how Turkana women of northern Kenya work to maintain culturally honed nurturing practices. Often referred to as AK-47 raids, this violence disrupts even the most basic subsistence tasks. Drawing on case studies and ethnographic interviews, I document how Turkana women reimagine nurturing practices using the “creative resources” at hand. Such resourcefulness includes widows breaking with levirate marriage systems, seeking new forms of support by leaving the pastoral sector to earn income to feed their children, and planting seeds when no one expected success. Further, these acts offer insights into women's resilience by documenting the sociocultural and structural challenges experienced as they reconstitute their lives. With a growing global health emphasis on the importance of early child development, these ethnographically grounded case studies offer insights into the lengths families will go to and the challenges they face to maintain practices of care. [mothering, gender, anthropology of food, conflict, pastoralism, Kenya, East Africa].
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U2 - 10.1111/aman.13153
DO - 10.1111/aman.13153
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85058855927
SN - 0002-7294
VL - 121
SP - 126
EP - 137
JO - American Anthropologist
JF - American Anthropologist
IS - 1
ER -