Relative Distance: Kinship, Migration, and Christianity between Kenya and the United Kingdom

Leslie Fesenmyer*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Book/ReportBook

Abstract

The socio-economic and political uncertainties of Kenya in the 1990s jeopardised what many saw as the promises of modernity. An increasing number of Kenyans migrated, many to Britain, a country that felt familiar from Kenyan history. Based on extensive fieldwork in Kenya and the United Kingdom, Leslie Fesenmyer's work provides a rich, historically nuanced study of the kinship dilemmas that underlie transnational migration and explores the dynamic relationship between those who migrate and those who stay behind. Challenging a focus on changing modes of economic production, 'push-pull' factors, and globalisation as drivers of familial change, she analyses everyday trans-national family life. Relative Distance shows how quotidian interactions, exchanges, and practices transform kinship on a local and global scale. Through the prism of intergenerational care, Fesenmyer reveals that the question of who is responsible for whom is not only a familial matter but is at the heart of relations between individuals, societies, and states.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationCambridge, UK; New York, NY
PublisherCambridge University Press
Number of pages232
Edition1
ISBN (Electronic)9781009335065, 9781009335096
ISBN (Print)9781009335072
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2023

Publication series

NameThe International African Library
PublisherCambridge University Press

Keywords

  • kinship
  • Migration
  • TRANSNATIONALISM
  • Kenya
  • United Kingdom
  • Christianity

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