ABSTRACT
Histories held by women often remain submerged, truly subaltern in many parts of Africa. What makes the collaborative research of Katuruka so important is that it brought to the surface vitally important subaltern accounts that substantially change the way that ritual life and political organization are represented in the western part of the Lake Victoria basin. Spivak argues that one of the fundamental conundrums of subaltern studies is that the unveiling of subaltern histories depends on elite, privileged academics-a fundamental tension and contradiction. Academics have been puzzling for several decades about how to overcome this dilemma, how to remove their agency from the emergence of subaltern accounts. The Katuruka research provides a poignant example of how the subaltern may emerge without the agency of academics. Snakes at royal shrines are of great significance. This relationship did not become clear until the subaltern history of Njeru emerged with testimonies in Katuruka.
