| Description |
1 online resource (186 pages) : illustrations |
| Contents |
Werengeka's Anxiety -- Forced Labor and Colonial Development in Africa -- The Juridical Foundation of Government Forced Labor -- 'Making the Lazy Nigger Work:' European Settlers, the State and Forced Labor, 1895-1919 -- The Northey Forced Labor Crisis, 1919-1921 -- Interlude: Forced Labor Bounded, 1921-1925 -- Normalizing Force: Archdeacon Walter Owen and the Issue of Communal Labor, 1920-1930 |
| Summary |
This project examines the development of forced labor in colonial Kenya from 1912 to 1930 and the parallel normalization of communal forced labor during this time period. The colonial reinvention of traditional unpaid labor was, as the noted historian of Kenya, Robert Maxon, has stated, 'based upon a completely fallacious view of the traditional history of Kenya's people.' Even among certain ethnic groups with a nebulous tradition of communal or collective labor, the labor requirements under communal labor were frequently distorted to the point were coerced labor no longer resembled its community based origins. State manipulation of these communal obligations was, in fact, part of a more general phenomenon in Africa. Europeans in Africa made use of invented tradition to both co-opt and ideologically solidify certain Africans into positions of leadership, like chiefs, and to also redefine relationships between Europeans and Africans. Seen by the state as merely an extension of tribal duties and resurrected as another phantom of customary law, communal labor was not actually exploitation but a form of relearning. In the case of communal labor, the British in Kenya used the Native Authority Ordinance to 'invent' traditional powers that galvanized the authority of chiefs to call out the labor. Conversely, chiefs also took advantage of these 'traditional' mandates to enhance their own status |
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"This book describes the growth and development of communal forced labor in Kenya from 1912-1930. During the early period in Kenya's colonial history the British administration employed various forms of forced labor to make Africans work on the building of infrastructure, like roads and bridges, and also for European settlers on their plantations. This type of forced labor was defined and justified as a continuation of traditional duties that Africans would normally owe to their chiefs. Under communal labor, the state in Kenya exploited African labor in ways that often contradicted its traditional mandate. Previous studies of forced labor in colonial Kenya have tended to describe communal labor as milder form of coercion. This book offers a fresh interpretation by exploring the negative impacts of communal labor and the various African reactions to this coercive labor regime"-- Provided by publisher |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
Print version record |
| Subject |
Forced labor -- Kenya -- History -- 20th century
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Colonialism & imperialism -- c 1914 to c 1918 (including WW1) -- c 1918 to c 1939 (Inter-war period) -- Kenya.
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Social & cultural history -- c 1914 to c 1918 (including WW1) -- c 1918 to c 1939 (Inter-war period) -- Kenya.
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African history -- c 1914 to c 1918 (including WW1) -- c 1918 to c 1939 (Inter-war period) -- Kenya.
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20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 -- c 1914 to c 1918 (including WW1) -- c 1918 to c 1939 (Inter-war period) -- Kenya.
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Sociology: work & labour -- c 1914 to c 1918 (including WW1) -- c 1918 to c 1939 (Inter-war period) -- Kenya.
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HISTORY -- Modern -- 20th century.
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SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Slavery.
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HISTORY -- Africa -- East.
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BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Human Resources & Personnel Management.
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History.
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Forced labor
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Politics and government
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| SUBJECT |
Kenya -- Politics and government -- To 1963.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85072004
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| Subject |
Kenya
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| Genre/Form |
History
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| Form |
Electronic book
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| ISBN |
9780230392960 |
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0230392962 |
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9780230392953 |
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0230392954 |
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