Neither To Be Seen Nor Heard Book Summary

Dr. Jessie Ruth Gaston is the author of Neither To Be Seen Nor Heard and is also a history teacher at Sacramento State (CSUS). She has degrees in subjects such as Psychology, African and Middle Eastern studies, and African American studies. Dr. Gaston has visited Africa and served on two Fullbright-Hays Seminars in Africa: one being in Ghana and the other in Rwanda. She also serves as Chair of the Center of African Peace and Conflict Resolution Advisory Board at CSUS and is a member of the international African Studies Association. From taking Dr. Gaston’s History of Africa class, I can tell that she is very passionate in educating her students on the misconceptions of what our American society has taught us of Africa. Being a sociology major, …show more content…
Faith describes when she was a young girl, her father would send her off to run errands in town and would advise her to ride the bicycle. Faith explains that girls on bicycles are not common and widely accepted in her community. When Faith was riding her bicycle, she would stop pedaling when someone would look or stare to make it seem as if she was not actually riding. Subconsciously, the lack of pedaling made Faith a little more comfortable with the stares she was receiving. Faith also describes a similar feeling later on in life when she was able to purchase a moped. She explains that women did not commonly own mopeds so she would get many stares when taking her children to school. By this time, Faith was used to breaking societal norms and rode with pride. Another main point of the book was independence. Faith spoke multiple times about her excitement of being independent from/of her father once she became married. She speaks again of this once she leaves Yona and returns to Uganda. When she works full time and supports her children full time she feels dignified and takes pride in her independence. Marriage is another main point discussed in the book. Faith describes her excitement about marriage, but then also her naivety about the roles and duties of becoming a wife. She witnessed her father’s marriages, but I don’t think she truly understood what laid/lay ahead in her …show more content…
She explains in great detail the conflict her father felt when wanting to send Faith to school. She explains her happiness and sadness during this time and even when her father decides to educate her at home she still seems excited about it. This shows me that growing up, the father has much of a say what the expectations of the daughter will be in moving into her adult life. Once her father is out of the picture, the responsibility, then gets moved to the husband. It wasn’t until Faith was freed from all the men in her life that she could truly be who she wanted to be and accomplish all she wanted in life. Women in Africa face judgement on a daily basis when it comes to adhering to societal norms. This is very hard for women that are independent and strong; these women want to be dominant and conquer the world. Women have expectations when it comes to marriage and raising children. If women do not adhere to these expectations they become scrutinized in their community. Also, becoming educated is up to the parents not the child. Even if the women are educated as a child/teen, once they grow up they are still limited to certain jobs such as nursing. All I can suggest to women living in a society such as those who face these hardships on a daily basis is to “Be You”. It is hard for me to imagine