Communal Labor in Colonial Kenya The Legitimization of Coercion, 191
This book advances research into the government-forced labor used widely in colonial Kenya from 1930 to 1963 after the passage of the International Labor Organization’s Forced Labour Convention. While the 1930 Convention intended to mark the suppression o
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Communal Labor in Colonial Kenya The Legitimization of Coercion, 1912–1930
Opolot Okia
COMMUNAL LABOR IN COLONIAL KENYA
Copyright © Opolot Okia, 2012. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2012 978-0-230-39295-3 All rights reserved. First published in 2012 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-35215-9
ISBN 978-0-230-39296-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230392960 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress. Okia, Opolot, 1968– Communal labor in Kenya : legitimizing coercion, 1912–1930/ Opolot Okia. p. cm. 1. Forced labor—Kenya—History—20th century. 2. Kenya—Politics and government—To 1963. I. Title. HD4875.K4O37 2012 331.11'7309676209041—dc23
2012002805
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Scribe Inc. First edition: August 2012 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
List of Illustrations
vii
Introduction: Werengeka’s Anxiety
1
1
Forced Labor and Colonial Development in Africa
9
2
The Juridical Foundation of Government Forced Labor, 1902–1912
23
“Making the Lazy Nigger Work”: European Settlers, the State, and Forced Labor, 1895–1919
37
4
The Northey Forced Labor Crisis, 1919–1921
63
5
Interlude: Forced Labor Bounded, 1921–1925
81
6
Normalizing Force: Archdeacon Walter Owen and the Issue of Communal Labor in Colonial Kenya, 1920–1930
93
3
7
Conclusion: Forced Labor as an Abstraction
115
Notes
119
Bibliography
171
Index
183
Illustrations
6.1 Archdeacon Walter E. Owen.
97
6.2 On July 25, 1928, Archdeacon Owen came upon a large safari of adults and children forced to carry grass for thatching roofs on administrative buildings from Maseno to Kisumu.
98
Introduction
Werengeka’s Anxiety
T
he year 1929 was an auspicious time in the annals of world history. A year that culminated in the collapse of the stock market in the United States, triggering the Great Depression, also saw the twelfth session of the International Labour Organization (ILO) put into motion discussions and debates that would ultimately result in the promulgation of the Forced Labour Convention, defining forced labor and controlling its use, the following year. Of course, what did this matter to Werengeka, wife of Karanja? On May 3, 1929, Werengeka had more pressing matters to deal with. For starters, in her small speck of Western Kenya,1 she had just been visited by a demon! This was not your garden-variety demon, though. In place of a
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