Iona Mayer interviewed by Alan Macfarlane, 13^th July 1983

0:00:05 Introduction; married Philip Mayer 1946; had done post-graduate work at Oxford and had an academic career in mind, but wanted something more practical and human; had done an administrative job concerned with post-war relief but not human enough so trained for social work and got diploma just before leaving for Kenya

0:01:25 First impressions on the Gusii; first time outside England and very shy so found it difficult to make relationships and missed a lot; had been appointed as Philip’s assistant; refused to do “women and girls” thinking it was non-intellectual but really because too shy with them as no deference, unlike from the men; instead sat in as note-taker at interviews, writing very fast and taking down every word; very useful later as material so good; one person working alone cannot do this but also gives both persons a deep knowledge of the material

0:06:98 Now would be happy to do the women and girls and would like to make contact with women at own life stage cf. Margaret Mead at 23; later did open up during fieldwork in South Africa in early 1970’s; until then own work on the Gusii was theoretical, and later in South Africa, on networks; then went back to Gusii material to do something on domestic mores and realized they were a patriarchal con; this led to interest in women’s movements and gender in Grahams Town with new eyes; at same time joined the Black Sash, an anti-apartheid movement; now intellectually confronting what the system was doing to South African macro society; also taking a part by working in an advice office for local Black people; suddenly began relating to Black people individually; now found it possible to really participate; this led to work still doing on everyday life of Black women with collection of oral life-stories; looking also at macro patterns so bridging gap between the intellectual and the human

0:15:00 Apprehensions about going back to South Africa; Laura Bohannan’s ‘Return to Laughter’