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POLITICS OF THE SOIL: SEPARATISM, AUTOCHTHONY, AND DECOLONIZATION AT THE KENYAN COAST*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 May 2014

Jeremy Prestholdt
Jeremy Prestholdt*
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego
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Abstract

This article examines the perceived interdependence of territorial rights and social identity in colonial Kenya. In the early 1960s, attempts to win full autonomy for a narrow strip of Indian Ocean coastline – the Protectorate of Kenya – encouraged an exclusivist discourse of autochthony. To establish their historical ownership of the coast, both political thinkers who supported and decried coastal separatism emphasized the correlation of race, ethnicity, religion, and physical space. Through competing claims to ‘the soil’, all parties articulated a dually integrative and divisive language of citizenship. As a result, autochthony discourse exacerbated tensions within coastal society, fortified divergent visions of the postcolonial nation, and highlighted reductive definitions of the coast as either maritime or continental in orientation.

Keywords

Kenyadecolonizationnationalismraceterritory
Type
Special Feature: Africa and the Indian Ocean
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 55 , Issue 2 , July 2014 , pp. 249 - 270
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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Footnotes

*

I would like to thank contributors to the workshops, ‘Religion, Law, and Regimes of Control around the Indian Ocean’, at Roskilde University, and ‘Writing Postnational Narratives’, at the Center for Indian Studies in Africa, University of Witwatersrand, as well as those who commented on versions of this article presented to the Chr. Michelsen Institute, European Conference on African Studies 4, and Johns Hopkins History Seminar. Special thanks to Anne Bang, Felicitas Becker, James R. Brennan, Jonathon Glassman, Preben Kaarsholm, Kai Kresse, Pier Larson, Justin Willis, and anonymous JAH reviewers for their valuable criticisms and suggestions. Financial support was provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, Norwegian Research Council, Institute for European Global Studies at the University of Basel, and the University of California, San Diego Academic Senate. The author can be reached at: jprestholdt@ucsd.edu

References

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45 TNA CO 822/2159/1, Statement by Mr. [Omar] Bassadiq, Coastal Strip Conference, 8 Mar. 1962.

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49 TNA CO 894/12/57, Coast African Political Union, ‘Memorandum to the Commission of Enquiry to the Coastal Problem’, Oct. 1961; Stren, ‘Factional politics’, 40.

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55 TNA CO 822/2149/8, Secretary of State, Draft for Preliminary Discussion with Governor: The Coastal Strip (n.d.).

56 TNA CO 894/10, Memorandum by the President of KADU on the Coastal Strip, 26 Oct. 1961; TNA CO 894/13/15, KANU Kwale Branch, Memorandum to Sir James Robertson strongly objecting autonomy for 10 miles strip, n.d. (ca. 1961).

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60 TNA CO 894/8, Note of a meeting between Sir James Robertson and a delegation from the Waa Location, 19 Oct. 1961.

61 Ibid.

62 TNA CO 894/12/19, KADU Coastal Region Branch, Memorandum on Coastal Strip and 1895 Treaty, 10 Oct. 1961.

63 TNA CO 894/11/7, Abdallah Chiraghdin, et al. to Sir James Robertson, 20 Oct. 1961.

64 TNA CO 894/12/61, Khashia Abubakar, et al., Memorandum on the Coastal Strip Enquiry submitted by the Jomvu Social Club, 15 Oct. 1961.

65 TNA CO 894/13/18, Tamim of Tisa Taifa, Memorandum presented to Sir James Robertson by members of the Nine Tribes, 20 Oct. 1961; KNA CA26/5, Shiekh Ali bin Mohamed bin Yunus to the Sultan of Zanzibar, 7 Oct. 1961.

66 TNA CO 894/13/17, President of the Afro-Asian Association, Memorandum of the Twelve Tribes to be presented to the Commissioner, 14 Oct. 1961.

67 TNA CO 894/11/7, Abdallah Chiraghdin, et al.

68 TNA CO 894/13/20, Ahmed Idha Salim, et al., Memorandum presented to Sir James Robertson, 19 Oct. 1961.

69 TNA CO 894/4, Note of the meeting between Sir James Robertson and Sheikh Salim Mohamed Muhashamy, 9 Oct. [1961].

70 TNA CO 894/12/6, Memorandum by the Coastal League, 7 Oct. 1961; Letters to the editor, Mombasa Times (Mombasa), 22 Sept. 1961.

71 TNA CO 822/2151/E2/3, ‘Some salient facts on the history of Mwambao’ (ca. Apr. 1961); TNA CO 822/2151/E2/2, Abdilahi Nasser to W.B. L. Monson, Asst. Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, 5 Apr. 1961.

72 TNA CO 822/2151/E2/4, An Open Letter; TNA CO 894/13/2, Maalim Omar Rashid Bakuli, Memorandum on Coastal Strip Autonomy, 20 Oct. 1961; TNA CO 894/11/6, Yayha Lali Omar to Commissioner of Inquiry, 21 Oct. 1961.

73 TNA CO 894/13/22, A. F. Janoo, Memorandum, 19 Oct. 1961.

74 Others relayed that up-country politicians openly discussed dismantling mosques. TNA CO 894/5, Note of a meeting held at Malindi, 13 Oct. 1961; TNA CO 894/5, Note of a meeting between Sir James Robertson and a delegation from the Kenya Protectorate Nationalist Party, 13 Oct. 1961.

75 TNA CO 894/13/8, Mwanawangu Mzee and Somoe Bausi, Memorandum on Coastal Strip submitted by Coast Peoples Party (Women's Wing), 20 Oct. 1961.

76 TNA CO 894/4, Note of a meeting between Sir James Robertson and Mr. J. Mbotela, 20 Oct. 1961.

77 Anderson, ‘Majimboism’, 29.

78 KNA District Commissioner (DC) Mombasa (MSA) 2/1/93, S.R. D. Msechu to the Publicity Committee of CPP, 27 Sept. 1961; TNA CO 894/7, Note of a meeting between Sir James Robertson and a KADU delegation (Kilifi), 14 Oct. 1961; Mombasa Times (Mombasa), 3 Oct. 1961; TNA CO 822/2158/4, Memorandum on the Coastal Strip submitted by the President of KADU to Sir James Robertson, 26 Oct. 1961.

79 TNA CO 894/4, Note of a meeting between Sir James Robertson and a delegation from the Coast African Political [Union], 16 Oct. 1961.

80 Mombasa Times (Mombasa), 3 June 1961.

81 ‘Coast not separate says Mr. Kenyatta’, East African Standard (Nairobi), 5 Oct. 1961. Former Legco member from the coast, Omar Bassadiq, recalled that during his first meeting with Jomo Kenyatta in 1961 the future president was convinced that settler designs were behind the separatist movement. Interview with Omar Bassadiq, Mombasa, 23 July 2008.

82 ‘Weekend activity over Coast autonomy’, Mombasa Times (Mombasa), 9 Oct. 1961.

83 ‘Commissioner condemns intimidation’, Mombasa Times (Mombasa), 11 Oct. 1961.

84 ‘Race tension mounts at Coast’, Daily Nation (Nairobi), 10 Oct. 1961.

85 TNA CO 894/4, Note of a meeting between Sir James Robertson and a delegation from the Coast People's Party, 20 Oct. 1961.

86 TNA CO 822/2151, A. J. Karisa to the Colonial Secretary, 30 Sept. 1962; TNA CO 822/3073, Memorandum of a meeting between CAPU, Coastal League, Shungwaya Freedom Party, and National Union of Northern Coast of Kenya and His Excellency, 16 Nov. 1962.

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88 TNA CO 822/2159/4, Record of a second meeting, Kenya Coastal Strip Conference, 9 Mar. 1962; interview with Omar Bassadiq.

89 Lynch, I Say to You, 68–9; Ogot, ‘The decisive years’, 76.

90 TNA CO 822/2150/189, Press Office Background Paper, No. 2, The Coastal Strip, Feb. 1962.

91 TNA CO 822/3073, Coast KADU Delegation Memorandum to the Governor of Kenya, June 1963.

92 TNA CO 822/3073/E17(xix), Committee of the Coast United Front to Malcolm McDonald, 31 July 1963.

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