Ruth DeSouza » Migration & Culture » Africa

The Indian Diaspora in Africa

I was born in East Africa and my family has a long history of migration-you can read more about this in my article African connection in The Global Indian (pdf). In fact, Indians have a history of migration that dates back three thousand years, initially as traders and later as sojourners. Reference to Indians in Africa goes back to the first century AD, arriving as traders rather than migrants or permanent settlers. The Indian diaspora was a 19th and 20th century development related to the impact of the British indentured labour scheme, which sought to replace slave labour with cheap and reliable labour for plantations, or the building of railways, for example in Uganda. Large scale migrations of Indians to Africa began with the construction of the great railway from Mombasa to Lake Victoria in Uganda in the late nineteenth century. Indians (especially Goans) were recruited to run the railways after they were built (and Goans came to dominate the colonial civil services). 15, 000 of the 16, 000 "coolies"that worked on the railroads were Indians, who were renowned for their work ethic and competitiveness (Sowell, 1996). One quarter of them returned either dead or disabled.

You can read about my Mother's experiences in Tanzania in a new edited book by Susan Rodrigues called " A Collection of Goan Voices: Stories by People of Goan descent" which has just been published. As it is a no royalty option anyone can download the book for ‘free’ or order a copy from the website where you will be charged for the book and postage. Mum talks about her experience of the mutiny of soldiers of the Tanganyika Rifles in January 1964. According to Wikipedia: "the Mutiny began in Colito barracks in Dar es Salaam, then spread to Kalewa barracks in Tabora with Nachingwea, a new barracks, following suit. The mutiny was over pay, promotions, the removal of British officers and Africanisation. Julius Nyerere conceded that the "soldiers had genuine grievances and the demands presented a perfectly reasonable case." However, he could not tolerate a mutiny. The mutiny raised questions about the place of the military in the newly independent Tanganyika — a military under a foreign command and not integrated into the country’s system".

You can also read Justus Kizito Siboe Makokha's MA thesis, a pioneer study in Kenya, on the works of the most prolific contemporary Anglophone writer from East Africa, MG Vassanji, called "The worlds in-between of an Asian African writer: A Postcolonial reading of selected novels of M.G. Vassanji" completed in May 2006 in the Literature Department at Kenyatta University. Download as pdf (1MB)...

East African Asians

While Asians were discriminated against in relationship to the British, they were relatively privileged in relationship to the indigenous ethnic groups (Mamdani, 2000). Post-independence many Asians found themselves surplus to requirements in the newly independent countries of Uganda (1962), Kenya (1963) and Tanzania (1964) which moved to Africanize their economies (at that time there were 360, 000 Asians in East Africa, now there are not even 200,000, of which 100,000 are in Kenya, 80,000-85,000 in Tanzania and 12-14,000 in Uganda). Many began leaving East Africa especially after 1967, a period that became known as the 'Exodus', this caused a major crisis for the UK government at the time of Prime Minister Harold Wilson. New legislation was rushed through to prevent the flow of immigrants from East Africa. The Immigration Act of 1968 deprived Kenyan Asians of their automatic right to British citizenship and was retroactive meaning that it deprived them of an already existing right. Murad Rayani in his article in Samar argues that the vulnerability of Asians was compounded by the ambiguity of their relationship with the sub-continent, and with Britain whose subjects Asians had become when brought to East Africa. Enoch Powell's notorious speech followed where he asserted that letting immigrants into Britain would lead to "rivers of blood" flowing down British streets. Then the Immigration Act of 1971 was passed further restricting citizenship to subjects of the Commonwealth who could trace their ancestry to the United Kingdom. O ne of the best known works about the Indian experience in East and Central Africa is by V.S. Naipaul: A Bend in the River.

East African Asians in the UK and the world

Goans in East Africa

Apparently Goans first arrived in East Africa in the 16th century, when the Portuguese brought them from Goa colony to help build Fort Jesus (in Mombasa) their coastal trading port. Goans were identified as Asian from the outside despite arguing for the status of a culturally distinct sub-group (Kuper, 1979) Goan settlers also came to Zanzibar as cooks, traders and clerks then specifically as clerical workers by the British because they were quick to learn English. It was intended as a way of earning some money for retirement in Goa and colonial authorities did not offer encouragement to put down permanent roots either. Asians were excluded from professions or areas which were better suited to European settlement for example the highlands of Kenya. They were encouraged to be involved in areas that Europeans were not interested in working in (due to a fear of competition) or where Africans were not yet able. Therefore operating in a milieu of prejudice, suspicion and disadvantage. Land was unavailable for freehold purchase and education provision was inadequate resulting in children being sent back to India (as my father was). Later on as communities grew, special schools were established and women and children joined their men (as in my mother's family). Goans also made up the only significant number of Christian Indians in East Africa only catholic Goans migrated to East Africa, they spoke Konkani or English and dressed in more Western clothing . In addition the fact that they were Christian and ate pork and beef set them further apart from Hindu and Muslims, some were called mesticos which referred to them being half-caste and illegitimate which was vigorously denied by most Goans. The invasion/liberation of Goa by India in 1961 also brought about a crisis of identity as the relationship with Portugal had set Goans apart from other Indians.The migration of Goans to East Africa reached a peak in the years between the world wars (1918 to 1939), when many Goan seamen who had served in the Merchant or Royal Navy during the First World War moved to East Africa with their families (from the Port Cities website).

The Kenyan Asian experience

One of the myths of the Kenyan freedom struggle, is that the Asian community remained aloof from politics. Yet, there are people such as Madan, Desai, Jeevanjee, Makhan Singh, Pio Gama Pinto (fought for Kenya's freedom, and was assassinated), Sultan Somjee, Shiraz Durrani, Murtaza Jaffer, Yash Pal Ghai, Davinder Lamba, Joesph Zuzarte (mother was Masai and father from Goa who rose to become Kenya's Vice-President), Jawaharlal Rodrigues (journalist and pro-independence fighter), Salim Lone and Zarina Patel who played crucial roles. Others like trade unionist Makhan Singh organised workers and pressed for better conditions and pay. I recently found out that in 1914 the East African Indian National Congress was established iwhich encouraged joint action with the indigenous African community against the colonial powers.

Lawyers like A. Kapila and J.M. Nazareth represented people who were detained without trial provisions during the Mau Mau ovement.The Kikuyu in Kenya are the largest tribe, located centrally and privileged economically, however, during the Colonial era they lost their land to the settlers which eventually led to the Mau Mau rebellion, giving Kenyatta, a Kikuyu leader detained by the British, the status of national leader with support throughout the Colony (Stewart , F., & O'Sullivan, M. (1998). Democracy, Conflict and Development - Three Cases. Oxford: Development Studies at Oxford, Working Papers.). Also worth a read :Britain's Gulag: The Brutal End of Empire in Kenya by Caroline Elkins and Histories of the hanged : Britain's Dirty War in Kenya and the End of Empire by David Anderson). In response to the Mau Mau movement 32 European settlers were killed in the half decade of violence, whereas as many as 300,000 Kikuyu lost their lives..

Asians had dominated commerce, industry and most key jobs in the country and found new laws in Kenya draconian. 'Foreigners' could only hold jobs until a Kenyan national could be found to replace them: and more and more cities, including Nairobi, were demanding that the government ban non-Kenyans from owning a shop or trading in municipal markets. Indiansmade up about 0.25% of the Kenyan population and had been there for many generations, yet were politically powerless.

The Ugandan Asian experience

In 1972 Idi Amin gave the country's 75,000 Asians 90 days to leave. The previous President, Milton Obote had backed down from expelling the Asians.

The Tanzanian Asian experience

Tanganyika was a German colony from 1880 to 1919, then became a British trust territory from 1919 to 1961. Tanganyika became Tanzania after forming a union with Zanzibar in 1964. Asians who made up one percent of the total population originated from the Gujarat, Kutch, and Kathiawar regions of western India (traders, shopkeepers and merchants), civil servants from Goa and artisans from Punjab played a significant role as middlemen and skilled laborers in colonial Tanganyika (Nagar, 2000). During the Zanzibar Revolution of 1964 over 10,000 Asians were forced to migrate to the mainland as a result of violent attacks (also geared to Arabs), especially to Dar es Salaam. In the 1970s over 50,000 Asians left Tanzania (my family left in 1967).In Feb., 1967, President Nyerere issued the Arusha Declaration which called for egalitarianism, socialism, and self-reliance. He introduced a form of African socialism termed Ujamaa (“pulling together”) . Factories and plantations were nationalized, and ajor investments were made in primary schools and health care (from the Answers.com site) but proved economically disastrous.

Links to websites about East Africa

Links to African diaspora websites

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Copyright © 2003-2007 Ruth DeSouza. All rights reserved. Contact: ruth[at]ruthdesouza.com.