Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Shifting Forms of Continental Colonialism pp 363–385Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Legacies of Colonial Agency in Africa: Reflections of an ‘Ethnicized’ Space in Kenya and Rwanda

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

  • 880 Accesses

Abstract

This study investigates the enduring legacies of colonial rule through the frameworks of related practices, strategies, and mechanisms of ‘political control’ in Kenya and Rwanda post-independence. These legacies are evaluated in light of their agency in ‘ethnicizing’ the political space and their attendant implications. The study examines the British and Belgian colonial models of control and how some of these models were adapted by African elites’ post-independence and which corresponds to facets of internal colonialism. These are engaged through the lens of neo-patrimonialism. The study examines the imprints of the British and the Belgian colonial legacies in reinforcing ethnic differences and the attendant violence in the two polities. The study situates the Rwandan genocide of 1994 and the Kenyan 2007/08 electoral violence within these debates.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • Ajulu, Rok. 2002. “Politicised Ethnicity, Competitive Politics and Conflict in Kenya: A Historical Perspective.” African Studies 61(2): 251–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alemazung, Joy Asongazoh. 2010. “Post-colonial Colonialism: An Analysis of International Factors and Actors Marring African Socio-economic and Political Development.” The Journal of Pan African Studies 3(10): 62–84.

    Google Scholar 

  • Atieno-Odhiambo, Elisha Stephen. 2002. “Hegemonic Enterprises and Instrumentalities of Survival: Ethnicity and Democracy in Kenya.” African Studies 61(2): 223–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Azarya, Victor. 2003. “Ethnicity and Conflict Management in Post-colonial Africa.” Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 9(3): 1–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bach, Daniel C. 2011. “Patrimonialism and Neopatrimonialism: Comparative Trajectories and Readings.” Commonwealth & Comparative Politics 49(3): 275–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, George. 1966. “Kenya’s ‘Little General Election’.” The World Today 22(8): 336–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berman, Bruce J. 1998. “Ethnicity, Patronage and the African State: The Politics of Uncivil Nationalism.” African Affairs 97(388): 305–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berman, Bruce J. 2009. “Ethnic Politics and the Making and Unmaking of African Constitutions.” Canadian Journal of African Studies 43(3): 441–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blanton, Robert, T. David Mason, and Brian Athow. 2001. “Colonial Style and Post-colonial Ethnic Conflict in Africa.” Journal of Peace Research 38(4): 473–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boone, Catherine. 2011. “Politically Allocated Rights and the Geography of Political Violence: The Case of Kenya in the 1990s.” Comparative Political Studies 44(10): 1311–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bratton, Michael, and Nicolas van de Walle. 1994. “Neopatrimonial Regimes and Political Transitions in Africa.” World Politics 46(4): 453–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buckley-Zistel, Susanne. 2009. “Nation, Narration, Unification? The Politics of History Teaching After the Rwandan Genocide.” Journal of Genocide Research 11(1): 31–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cappelen, Christoffer, and Jason Sorens. 2018. “Pre-colonial Centralization, Traditional Indirect Rule, and State Capacity in Africa.” Commonwealth & Comparative Politics 56(2): 195–215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ceuppens, Bambi, and Peter Geschiere. 2005. “Autochthony: Local or Global? New Modes in the Struggle Over Citizenship and Belonging in Africa and Europe.” Annual Review of Anthropology 34(1): 385–407.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dey, Dipankar. 2015. “Internal Colonialism.” In The Encyclopedia of Political Thought, edited by Michael T. Gibbons, vol. IV, 1846–48. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunn, Kevin C. 2009. “‘Sons of the Soil’ and Contemporary State Making: Autochthony, Uncertainty, and Political Violence in Africa.” Third World Quarterly 30(1): 113–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geschiere, Peter. 2005. “Autochthony and Citizenship: New Modes in the Struggle for Belonging and Exclusion in Africa.” Forum for Development Studies 32(2): 371–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Green, Elliott. 2012. “Explaining African Ethnic Diversity.” International Political Science Review 34(3): 235–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gryzmala-Busse, A. 2008. “Beyond Clientism: Incumbent State Capture and State Formation.” Comparative Political Studies 41(4–5): 638–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hintjens, Helen. 2008. “Post-genocide Identity Politics in Rwanda.” Ethnicities 8(1): 5–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Isabirye, Stephen B., and Kooros M. Mahmoudi. 2001. “Rwanda, Burundi and Their Tribal Wars.” Social Change 31(4): 46–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jenkins, Sarah. 2012. “Ethnicity, Violence and the Immigrant-Guest Metaphor in Kenya.” African Affairs 111(445): 576–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kameri-Mbote, Patricia, and Kithure Kindiki. 2008. “Trouble in Eden: How and Why Unresolved Land Issues Landed ‘Peaceful Kenya’ in Trouble.” Forum for Development Studies 35(2): 167–93.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kanyinga, Karuti. 2009. “The Legacy of the White Highlands: Land Rights, Ethnicity and the Post-election Violence in Kenya.” Journal of Contemporary African Studies 27(3): 325–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klopp, Jacqueline M., and Elke Zuern. 2007. “The Politics of Violence in Democratization: Lessons from Kenya and South Africa.” Comparative Politics 39(2): 127–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lynch, Gabrielle. 2006. “Negotiating Ethnicity: Identity Politics in Contemporary Kenya.” Review of African Political Economy 33(107): 49–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mamdani, Mahmood. 2001. “Beyond Settler and Native as Political Identities: Overcoming the Political Legacy of Colonialism.” Society for Comparative Study of Society and History 43(4): 651–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mamdani, Mahmood. [2001] 2002. When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda. Kampala: Fountain Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mann, Laura, and Marie Berry. 2016. “Understanding the Political Motivations That Shape Rwanda’s Emergent Developmental State.” New Political Economy 21(1): 119–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mueller, Susanne D. 1984. “Government and Opposition in Kenya, 1966–9.” The Journal of Modern African Studies 22(3): 399–427.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mueller, Susanne D. 2008. “The Political Economy of Kenya’s Crisis.” Journal of Eastern African Studies 2(2): 185–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Myers, Jason C. 2005. “On Her Majesty’s Ideological State Apparatus: Indirect Rule and Empire.” New Political Science 27(2): 147–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Njoh, Ambe J. 2000. “The Impact of Colonial Heritage on Development in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Social Indicators Research 52(2): 161–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Osamba, Joshia. 2001. “The Dynamics of Ethnopolitical Conflict and Violence in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya.” Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 7(4): 87–112.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pottier, Johan. 2002. Re-imagining Rwanda: Conflict, Survival and Disinformation in the Late Twentieth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Russell, Garnett Susan, and Laura Quaynor. 2017. “Constructing Citizenship in Post-conflict Contexts: The Cases of Liberia and Rwanda.” Globalisation, Societies and Education 15(2): 248–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stone, John, and Rutledge Dennis. 2003. Race and Ethnicity: Comparative and Theoretical Approaches. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Straus, Scott. 2006. The Order of Genocide: Race, Power, and War in Rwanda. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Suzuki, Kazuko. 2017. “A Critical Assessment of Comparative Sociology of Race and Ethnicity.” Sociology of Race and Ethnicity 3(3): 287–300.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Uvin, Peter. 1999. “Ethnicity and Power in Burundi and Rwanda: Different Paths to Mass Violence.” Comparative Politics 31(3): 253–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vandeginste, Stef. 2014. “Governing Ethnicity After Genocide: Ethnic Amnesia in Rwanda Versus Ethnic Power-Sharing in Burundi.” Journal of Eastern African Studies 8(2): 263–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wai, Zubairu. 2012. “Neo-patrimonialism and the Discourse of State Failure in Africa.” Review of African Political Economy 39(131): 27–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Young, Crawford. 2004. “The End of the Post-colonial State in Africa? Reflections on Changing African Political Dynamics.” African Affairs 103(410): 23–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Social Sciences, St. Paul’s University, Limuru, Kenya

    John Mwangi Githigaro

Authors
  1. John Mwangi Githigaro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle (Saale), Germany

    Dittmar Schorkowitz

  2. Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, USA

    John R. Chávez

  3. Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology, Philipps University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany

    Ingo W. Schröder

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Githigaro, J.M. (2019). Legacies of Colonial Agency in Africa: Reflections of an ‘Ethnicized’ Space in Kenya and Rwanda. In: Schorkowitz, D., Chávez, J.R., Schröder, I.W. (eds) Shifting Forms of Continental Colonialism. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9817-9_14

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9817-9_14

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-13-9816-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-13-9817-9

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation