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Examining divorce in contemporary Kenya, this book explores how the end of marriage reshapes women’s social status and respectability in a context where marriage remains central to female adulthood, sexuality, and motherhood. Drawing on in-depth interviews, ethnographic research in Nairobi, and digital ethnography of Kenyan social media, it examines how divorced women navigate stigma, shifting identities, and moral expectations. Using Zigon’s concept of moral breakdown, the study shows how divorce creates both vulnerability and ethical possibility, enabling women to renegotiate respectable womanhood and motherhood. In doing so, it highlights the emergence of plural moralities of respectability in Kenyan society.
I am very impressed by the quality of the research and the writing. The work addresses a large anthropological research gap – divorce – and adds to our knowledge in highly significant and very original ways. Norah Kiereri’s very innovative empirical evidence and reflecting remarks (in the conclusion) will certainly stimulate further research. Dr. Julia Pauli, Institut für Ethnologie Universität Hamburg
Reading the manuscript, I was struck to realise the lacunae in literature on divorce in African societies, while it is such a common practice and experience. I see this book as an example of a new generation of African authors who are finding their own route in the academic landscape, manoeuvring Euro-American academic styles and canons, as well as responding to African scholarly expectations. Rachel Spronk, University of Amsterdam
Norah Wawira Kiereri is a social anthropologist and SNF SPARK funding recipient, currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Geneva Graduate Institute. She was previously a postdoctoral researcher on the SNF-funded FamilEA project (2023–2025). Her current research examines the everyday practices of relations of middle-class Nairobi women with their relatives-in-law. She has published in Les Cahiers d’Afrique de l’Est and contributed to an edited volume on migration and on morality.