Indians in Kenya : the politics of diaspora / Sana Aiyar

Object Details

author

Aiyar, Sana 1979-

Contents

Introduction -- From the America of the Hindu to white man's country -- 'Civilization' in Kenya -- Political homelands across the Indian Ocean -- Between rebellion and suppression -- Negotiating nationhood -- Uhuru and exodus -- Epilogue

Summary

"Indians in Kenya chronicles the competing, often contradictory, strategies by which the South Asian diaspora sought a political voice in Kenya from the beginning of colonial rule in the late 1890s to independence in the 1960s. Indians' intellectual, economic, and political connections with South Asia shaped their understanding of their lives in Kenya. Sana Aiyar investigates how the many strands of Indians' diasporic identity influenced Kenya's political leadership, from claiming partnership with Europeans in their mission to colonize and "civilize" East Africa to successful collaborations with Afrians to battle for racial equality, including during the Mau Mau rebellion. She also explores how the hierarchical structures of colonial governance, the material inequalities between Indians and Africans, and the racialized political discourses that flourished in both colonial and postcolonial Kenya limited the success of alliances across racial and class lines"-- Book jacket.

2015

1963-

Type

Books

History

Physical description

375 pages : maps ; 25 cm

Place

Kenya

Smithsonian Libraries

Topic

Indigenous peoples

National characteristics, Kenyan

Politics and culture

Asian diaspora

Politics and government

History

Race relations

Record ID

siris_sil_1047066

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0