The Case of Mister X (Formerly Miss X): Intersexuality in Modern Kenya and the Ethics of History Writing (c. 1940‐present).
Relying on fragmented archival records, this article examines the life of Mr X – an intersex Kenyan – who was raised as a girl but, after a surgical operation in London in 1968, became a man. With assistance from officials, the wealthy and well‐educated Mr X received new identity documents, which re...
| Published in: | Gender & History Vol. 35; no. 2; pp. 709 - 730 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Wiley-Blackwell
Jul2023
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=164701493&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 164701493 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 09535233 BPJ jtl: Gender & History issn: 09535233 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Jul2023 vid: 35 iid: 2 pid: 480 pub: Wiley-Blackwell artinfo: ui: 164701493 10.1111/1468-0424.12558 ppf: 709 ppct: 21 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 207KB tig: atl: The Case of Mister X (Formerly Miss X): Intersexuality in Modern Kenya and the Ethics of History Writing (c. 1940‐present). aug: au: Moskowitz, Kara su: Intersexuality Kenyans Historiography Intersex people Intersexual identity History of Kenya, 1895-1963 History of Kenya, 1963- sug: subj: Intersexuality Kenyans Historiography Intersex people Intersexual identity History of Kenya, 1895-1963 History of Kenya, 1963- ab: Relying on fragmented archival records, this article examines the life of Mr X – an intersex Kenyan – who was raised as a girl but, after a surgical operation in London in 1968, became a man. With assistance from officials, the wealthy and well‐educated Mr X received new identity documents, which recognised him as male and, in turn, preferential land access. Mr X's story makes clear the importance of class in decolonising Kenya and reveals how state power could deeply shape Kenyan lives. Indeed, the state produced most of the archival traces on Mr X's life. This history not only offers rare insight into the life of an intersex Kenyan in the mid‐twentieth century, but it also raises questions about biography and historical evidence, how we piece together human stories in spite of the epistemology and erasure of the archives, and how we do so ethically. Given ethical concerns about maintaining Mr X's anonymity to protect his family from stigmatisation and discrimination, I withhold some available information. Where possible, though, I enrich the evidentiary fragments by rendering the context in detail and drawing on comparative contemporaneous accounts of intersex Kenyans. The conclusion explores contemporary Kenya's legal recognition of intersex identity and gestures to the building of a new intersex archive. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Gender & History is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Gender & History holder: Wiley-Blackwell dt: @attributes: year: 2023 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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