Book Club Discussion Questions for Unbowed by Wangari Maathai

1. In her first chapter, "Beginnings," Maathai describes the natural environment of her family's village and the effects of colonial settlement, Christianity, and literacy on the native culture of Kenya. How did the coming of white settlers change the native way of life, particularly in terms of families' relations to the land, a traditional economy, and education?
2. What aspects of her family life and her mother's approach to childrearing, as described in "Beginnings," might have nurtured Wangari's strong, forthright, and optimistic character? How powerful was the effect of cultivating the soil on her imagination as a child?
3. Because her education was in English (and later provided her entry to the Kenyan professional elite) it had the potential to separate her from people who spoke the native languages of Kenya, and to be seen as "a white woman in a black skin" [p. 110]. How does she feel about this problem, and how did she address the issue of language in the Green Belt Movement [pp. 60, 72]?
4. How does Maathai react, upon arriving in America, to the presence of black Americans [p. 76]? What connection does she make between the legacy of slavery in America and the legacy of colonialism in Kenya [p. 78]? Is it surprising that, in the America of the early 1960s, she wasn't often the target of racism herself? Was there a
   similar color barrier in Kenya, prior to independence [p. 100]?
5. In Kenya, Maathai found herself often at the mercy of deeply ingrained tribalism and sexism. What situations stand out most strongly as unjust, and how did she stand up to and try to change the injustices she experienced?
6. Facing the difficulties of department politics at the university, Maathai writes, "I found myself wanting to
   be more than the equal of some of the men I knew. I had higher aspirations and did not want to be compared with men of lesser ability and capacity. I wanted to be me" [p. 117]. How did her male colleagues at the university react to her ambition and energy?
7. What is particularly African about Maathai's approach to the environment, and why does the erosion caused by increasing deforestation disturb her so much? Do you see the roots of her feeling for the environment in her childhood? What does the fig tree she loved as a child symbolize for her [p. 122]?
8. Why did Maathai decide that tree planting as a community action is particularly suited to women in rural areas? What effect did it have on the lives of the women who got involved?
9. Regarding her marriage, Maathai says, "Nobody told me that men would be threatened by the high academic achievements of women like me. . . . It was an unspoken problem that I and not my husband had a Ph.D. and taught in the university" [p. 139]. In the divorce trial, her husband tells the court that she was "too educated, too strong, too successful, too stubborn, and too hard to control" [p. 146]. How does she deal with these accusations and with the end of her marriage?
10. How does Maathai come to realize that activism must be grounded in the community, and that communication must be at a level all members of the community can understand [p. 133]? Why is she so effective in reaching out to poor and illiterate rural women through the Green Belt Movement [pp.135–38]?
11. Regarding the Uhuru Park struggle, Maathai says people "were amazed not only that one relatively insignificant woman could stop a large project that those in power wanted to see completed, but astonished that it could be done only a year after we had watched in despair as losers of an election were declared the winners. . . . To me, this was the beginning of the end of Kenya as a one-party state" [p. 204–205]. Why was this a promising sign of change for her?
12. Reflecting on her time in prison for treason, Maathai says, "As I sat in those cells, denying me the ability to control what happened seemed to me to be the greatest punishment the regime could mete out to me" [p. 214]. Discuss the ways she responds to adversity and to the failure, at times, of her hopes [pp.154, 164]. Which aspects of her character allow her to be so effective in fighting back against the corrupt government and encouraging others to insist upon their rights?
13. "Throughout my life," Maathai writes, "I have never stopped to strategize about my next steps. I often just keep walking along, through whichever door opens. I have been on a journey and this journey has never stopped" [p. 286]. Given the biblical story she recounts, why is "Rise Up and Walk" (Acts 3:1–10) an apt choice for her campaign slogan?
14. Maathai became increasingly known to and engaged with Western women's groups, environmental groups, and NGOs that could provide her with support and publicity. Why was her decision to create and nurture such relationships abroad so crucial to her struggle?
15. Considering how little experience Maathai had in political matters, she used the press brilliantly to the advantage of her various causes, as well as for her own protection. Why was the press—particularly American and European papers—so important in keeping the hopes for progress alive in the face of a corrupt government during this period?
16. What was particularly effective about the encampment of mothers in Uhuru Park in an effort to free political prisoners? What principle is at work in this particular action? Is it surprising that the government took so long
    to free the prisoners?
17. What might be the reason Maathai provides so little detail about her family life or personal life after her divorce?
18. Maathai writes about being particularly devastated by the death of her mother [pp. 274–76], and earlier describes her relationships with her mother and grandmother when she was a child [pp. 13, 36–37]. Virginia Woolf wrote, "we think back through our mothers if we are women." How does this idea apply to Maathai and her decision to work to improve the lives of women?

Suggested Reading
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Half of a Yellow Sun; Karen Armstrong, The Spiral Staircase; Alexandra Fuller, Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight; Paul Hawken, Blessed Unrest; Kathy Kelly, Other Lands Have Dreams: From Baghdad to Pekin Prison; Barbara Kingsolver, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life; Charles C. Mann, 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus; Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma; Arundhati Roy, War Talk and An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire; Bill McKibben, Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future; Terry Tempest Williams, The Open Space of Democracy; Caroline Elkins, Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya; Ngugi waThiong'o, Wizard of the Crow.

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Anchor Books. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.