Description
Book SynopsisThis work explores Britain''s attempt to take land from the Bantu-Luyia peoples of Western Kenya for gold mining following the discovery of gold in the North Kavirondo (NK) reserve in 1931. The discovery led to the Kenyan gold rush, in which local European settler farmers and mining prospectors converged on Kakamega. The presence of mining prospectors in Western Kenya and the move to transform a rural agrarian terrain into an industrial one had important economic, political, socio-cultural, medical, and environmental ramifications for the inhabitants. This book illuminates the struggles of mine workers and dispossessed African households by looking at their actions and reactions toward the emerging British colonial venture of the region. Fundamentally, this work captures the largely undocumented histories of ''the common people'' who lived through Kenya''s failed eldorado.
Trade ReviewAn exceptionally well-researched monograph. Such data...could provide valuable insight into the complex history of colonialism in Africa in general. -- James H. Smith, University of California, Davis
In this monograph Priscilla Shilaro gives us the first full account and the first critical study in depth of what until now has been a lengthy footnote in colonial Kenyan history. . . . This book presents a vigorously pursued and very useful addendum to a social and political literature usually dominated by struggles over agricultural land. * African Studies Review, September 2009 *
Recommended. * CHOICE, December 2008 *
Table of ContentsPart 1 Abbreviations Part 2 Maps and Tables Part 3 Preface Chapter 4 Prelude to the Gold Rush Chapter 5 The Kakamega Gold Rush, Luyia Land Rights and the Kenya Land Commission, 1932-34 Chapter 6 Rural Industrialization, 1931-52 Chapter 7 Politics of Land, 1931-52 Chapter 8 Rural Industrialization: The Economic Balance Sheet Chapter 9 At the Crossroads: Social-Cultural Transformation Chapter 10 "A Failed Eldorado" Part 11 Bibliography Part 12 Appendices
