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The Kikuyu (also Agĩkũyũ/Gĩkũyũ) are a Bantu ethnic group native to East Africa Central Kenya. At a population of 8,148,668 as of 2019, they account for 17.13% of the total population of Kenya , making them Kenya's largest ethnic group.
The Kikuyu regarded female genital mutilation, which they called irua or circumcision, [6] as an important rite of passage between childhood and adulthood. [7] " Irua" consisted largely of three procedures: removal of the clitoral glans (clitoridectomy or Type I); removal of the clitoral glans and inner labia (excision or Type II); and removal of all the external genitalia and the suturing of ...
Wangũ wa Makeri (c. 1856–1915 or 1936 [1] [2]) was a Kikuyu tribal chief, known as a headman, during the British Colonial period in Kenya.She was the only female Kikuyu headman during the period, who later resigned following a scandal in which she engaged in a Kibata dance,this was the ultimate transgression since kibata was never to be danced by women.
The government's public relations officer, Granville Roberts, presented villagisation as a good opportunity for rehabilitation, particularly of women and children, but it was, in fact, first and foremost designed to break Mau Mau and protect loyalist Kikuyu, a fact reflected in the extremely limited resources made available to the ...
Kikuyu women played crucial roles in organising and sustaining supply lines that facilitated the delivery of essential resources such as food, medicine, weapons, and information to the rebel forces. [28] Additionally, women served as recruiters, actively identifying and enlisting capable fighters to join the cause.
Unexcised Kikuyu women (irugu) were outcasts. [ 187 ] Jomo Kenyatta , general secretary of the Kikuyu Central Association and later Kenya's first prime minister, wrote in 1938 that, for the Kikuyu, the institution of FGM was the " conditio sine qua non of the whole teaching of tribal law, religion and morality".
Nyanjiru was an associate and supporter of Harry Thuku.Thuku, secretary and Young Kikuyu Association (later known as the East African Association) [3] was known throughout Kikuyuland as "chief of women" mainly for his vocal support of women especially around the issues of physical and sexual abuse, as well as forced labor.
For the Kikuyu, the ceremonies and procedure were a vital ethnic ritual. Unexcised women (irugu) were viewed as unmarriageable outcasts. [21] The Times of London reported in February 1930: "The young girls represent an economic asset to the parents and, in the eyes of the tribe, their value is completely lost unless the rites are performed. In ...