Guide to the Greet Kershaw Papers M1661

Finding aid prepared by Monika Lehman

Department of Special Collections and University Archives

Green Library

557 Escondido Mall

Stanford, California, 94305-6064

specialcollections@stanford.edu

Title: Greet Kershaw papers

Identifier/Call Number: M1661

Contributing Institution: Department of Special Collections and University Archives

Language of Material: English

Physical Description: 2.0 Linear feet (3 manuscript boxes, one map folder)

Date (inclusive): 1953-2003

Abstract: Greet Kershaw, an anthropologist from the University of California, Long Beach, lived in Kenya from 1955 to 1957 in order to study the reasons behind the Mau Mau movement, an anticolonial movement, and the effects on the local people and the world. Included in this collection are her field notes, her M.A. thesis and Ph.D. dissertation among various correspondences with editors, articles written by her and other notable anthropologists and her contributions to published works. This collection also has maps, charts and photographs which Kershaw used in her research.

Processing note: Due to limited resources, minimal processing occurred to this collection. Scholars may find paperclips, staples, and other original bindings along with letters in their original envelopes. A date span was given whenever possible. Since no arrangement occurred inside each individual box, scholars should note that the completeness of the folder heading could be suspect.

creator: Kershaw, Greet (Gretha)

Preferred Citation

[identification of item], Greet Kershaw papers (M1661). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

Access to Collection

The materials are open for research use. Audio-visual materials are not available in original format, and must be reformatted to a digital use copy.

Publication Rights

All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, California 94305-6064. Consent is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s) or assigns. See: http://library.stanford.edu/spc/using-collections/permission-publish.

Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.

Biographical/Historical note

Greet Kershaw was a professor of Anthropology at California State University, Long Beach, when she went to Kenya in 1955. She remained in Kenya until 1957, traveling between four villages, Thuita, Itara, Mbari ya Igi and Nginduri and studying the Mau Mau. Her husband John Kershaw, a historian, accompanied her and assisted in her research. She earned her Master’s in Anthropology at the University of Chicago in 1960. She went on to complete her Ph.D. in Anthropology in 1972 also at the University of Chicago. Kershaw’s field notes and research culminated in a book entitled Mau Mau From Below which was published in 1997. Kershaw spent years writing her book, revisiting her field sites and exploring the aftermath of a movement. She also was an advocate for applied anthropology because she believed that anthropologists could do valuable work outside of academia. Kershaw also studied and wrote articles about the Hmong diaspora in Long Beach in the 1970s and 1980s.

Kershaw died in 2008. One obiturary wrote, "On Jan. 30, Greet Kershaw, 85, passed away after a brief hospitalization. Born in Amsterdam and raised in the Netherlands, Greet spent her early adult years as a social worker, many of those in East Africa during the 1950s and 1960s, later becoming one of only a handful of ethnologists with detailed, painstakingly collected data about the lives of the Kikuyu people who were at the center of the Mau Mau movement. She earned a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Chicago and was professor of anthropology at CSULB from 1966 until retiring in the late 1980s." [source: Inside CSULB, Vol 60 No. 16 : Sept 2, 2008, California State University, Long Beach]

Scope and Contents

Three boxes of materials contain photographs, maps, field notes, articles and correspondence of Greet Kershaw, an anthropologist from California State University, Long Beach, before, during and after her fieldwork in Kenya. Also included are notes on her research on Hmong refugees in Southern California, her M.A. thesis and Ph.D. dissertation and her correspondence with various editors.

Acquisition Information

This collection given by Dave Kershaw to Stanford University, Special Collections in 2008.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Anthropology.

East Africa--History

Hmong Americans

Kenya

Mau Mau

Women anthropologists

Box 1, Folder 1

Correspondence 1961-1981

Scope and Contents

Contains correspondence between Kershaw and various editors and publishers, her dissertation committee and film makers creating a special on tribes and their first contact with the outside world.

Box 1, Folder 2

"Husband Correspondence" 1957-2003

Scope and Contents

Contains a correspondence relating to a misunderstanding that Greet Sluiter (madien name of Greet Kershaw) in 1957 had a polyamorous relationship with a member of the Kikuyu tribe during her stay in Kenya. This misinterpretation sheds light on the difference between kinship labels in Kenya and Europe.

Box 1, Folder 3

Correspondence 2003

Scope and Contents

Contains a series of emails between Jon Lonsdale and Greet Kershaw concerning Louis Leakey’s research on the Mau Mau uprising is included in this folder.

Box 1, Folder 4

Mau Mau articles

Scope and Contents

Contains untitled and undated articles about the Mau Mau’s origins and culture. Also included is a graph of the literacy rates, Christians and landowning demographics of the tribe.

Box 1, Folder 5

Kershaw articles 1971-1975

Scope and Contents

Contains notes on colloquium lectures about social change in Kikuyu tribe and decision making in the Kikuyu tribe.

Box 1, Folder 6

Articles (alternate careers for Anthropologists) 1981

Scope and Contents

Contains Kershaw’s remarks on a conference held on April 25, 1981 at UCLA entitled “Alternate Careers for Anthropologists” in which Kershaw defended the idea that there are fulfilling jobs for anthropologists outside of academia. She also replies to one of her critics, Dr. Susan Kent.

Box 1, Folder 7

Articles: Hmong families 1982

Scope and Contents

Contains an article entitled “Hmong families in Long Beach 1978- 1982: Between Incorporation and Rejection written by Dr. Kershaw when she was at California State University Long Beach.

Box 1, Folder 8

Kershaw: articles 1981-1984

Scope and Contents

Contains articles entitled “War and Peace”, a proposal for a possible Peace Studies certificate and “The Tyranny of Ideology: A Case Study”, California State University Long Beach’s Anthropology Department newsletter and an article named “Running Fast to Stand Still” which highlights the roles of women in the Kikuyu culture.

Box 1, Folder 9

Contribution to published works

Scope and Contents

Contains “The Changing Roles of Men and Women in the Kikuyu Family by Socioeconomic Strata” and contributions to “Cultural source materials for population planning in East Africa”.

Box 1, Folder 10

Articles undated

Scope and Contents

Contains articles entitled “The People against John Smith, Anthropologist”, “A Model for the Study of Development and Modernization in East Africa” and an introduction.

Box 1, Folder 11