A study of the Catholic Church in Northern Kenya, describing how Catholic missionaries endeavoured to preach the Gospel in remote regions such as Ileret and El Wak. Index, refs, notes, b/w photographs, 312pp, KENYA. PAULINES PUBLICATIONS AFRICA.

2004 9966217843 Paperback

Kenya is also said to be 80 percent Christian. Under the bland label 'Kenyan Christianity', several different overlapping realities can be distinguished, and it is these which Gifford investigates in this book, relating them to the country's politics and public life. The politically engaged form that challenged the dysfunctional one-party state in the early 1990s is given due prominence, but Gifford contends that today the mainline churches, both Catholic and Protes-tant, are marked less by such political engagement than by their involvement in development, in which foreign missionaries and global networks play a huge role. Indexes, bib, 283pp, UK. HURST.

Explores how gender has shaped the encounter between missionary priests and Maasai men and women in Tanzania and how gendered change among Maasai has affected women's and men's notions of religious faith, religious practice, and spiritual power. Looks at the appeal of Catholicism among women in East Africa, the enmeshing of Catholic and Maasai religious beliefs and practices, and the meaning of conversion to new Christians. Index, bib, notes, b/w photos, 307pp, USA. INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS.

A contribution to the debate on the role of Christianity in coloniality, and more so, in post-coloniality and neo-coloniality in Kenya. Demonstrates the crucial role of the church in shaping Kenya's emerging civil society and in developing an alternative politics. BNS, 328pp, UK. FRANK CASS, 0714650773

In this theoretically rich exploration of ethnic and religious tensions, Janet McIntosh demonstrates how the relationship between two ethnic groups in the bustling Kenyan town of Malindi is reflected in and shaped by the different ways the two groups relate to Islam. While Swahili and Giriama peoples are historically interdependent, today Giriama find themselves literally and metaphorically on the margins, peering in at a Swahili life of greater social and economic privilege. Giriama are frustrated to find their ethnic identity disparaged and their versions of Islam sometimes rejected by Swahili. 344pp, UK. DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS.

Probes the political standing of Islam in Kenya, especially since independence, and identifies the factors that strengthen and weaken Islam's position. App, notes, bib, index, ix, 236pp, USA. LYNNE RIENNER.

Addresses the various political aspects of the Kenyan political mosaic during the time of Bishop David Gitari, later Archbishop 1997-2002. These essays focus on both this courageous man and the various aspects of the political mosaic in Kenya at that time to 2008, in an effort to bring out the religious dimensions of Kenyan and African politics. 316pp, UK. PALGRAVE.