Suzanne Levine
- 1. Paparatto 1 Francesco Paparatto Journal # 3 Elkins 9 & 10 G & G Chap 7 Konieh & Co. 447 – 457 475 – 501 April 2, 2015 History – 259 Imperial Reckoning reveals the violence and terror of Britain’s civilizing mission in Kenya. Caroline Elkins, the author interviews many Kikuyu men and women who were survivors of the brutal British camps. This period of time is considered to be the bloodiest and disturbing struggle of Kenyan History. Elkins provides the reader with the brutality that dominated life in Kenya’s camps. Violence and torture swept through the villages where thousands of victims died. Investigations revealed that the mass killings, slave labor, burning down of villages forced these unfortunate victims to become diseased and stricken with famine. The widespread violence and cruelty at these camps were eventually exposed and were circulated in letters by prisoners who spelled out what was truly happening in these camps. Former detainees recalled the brutal deaths of thousands of villagers who considered these camps as Nazi concentration camps. The contents of many of the letters were hardly believable. The details of the psychological trauma that these detainees were described as unspeakable brutalities. Several letters were written to the Kenyan Government and none were addressed or answered. Numerous cases of wrong doings were reported to the government, but these investigations were swept under a rug and were believed that British officers could have not been involved in such acts. Therefore these torturous accuracies could have not happened. The massive
- 2. Paparatto 2 unrecorded murders of Mau Mau victims were extreme. The British civilizers had blood on their hands and they did not accept any responsibility. When Elkins began her project to research and examine the detention camps and Emergency villages, she found that files and official archived reports were missing. Documents were not enough. Written memoirs and letters were pieced together and gathered by Elkins to record the challenging issues of these traumatic events. The believability of using the survivor’s testimonies became clear to Elkins that these brutal and traumatic moments provided would present a true account of what happened to the Kikuyu population under the colonial rule of Britain. In this book, I believe that Elkins discloses the gruesome mayhems that the Kikuyu people tragically endured. Since the Colonial British government intentionally destroyed many records, Elkins was able to piece together testimonies and resources to write this text. This truly was a pivotal moment in Kenya’s history as they struggled for their independence. In Chapter 7 of Understanding Contemporary Africa, written by Gordon & Gordon explores the population and the urbanization of Africa. This chapter reveals the rapid growth rate of population in Africa. Based on these growth rates mentioned in this chapter, Sub – Saharan Africa has the highest population and urban growth rates in the world. The population growth in Sub – Saharan Africa is expected to more than double in size between the years 2010 – 2050 from 864.6 million to 1.8 billion (G & G, 208). These statistics are quantitative population growth rates that indicate trends such as family planning, education, economic developments, and fertility is associated with the urbanization of rates of population. Trends of population are viewed as complex in Africa because of the demographic problems, family planning trends, as well as individual
- 3. Paparatto 3 circumstances result in the population dynamics and development of population densities. When analyzing the current population of Africa, an understanding of African history and culture of pre-colonial as postcolonial forces needs to be explored. The challenges and issues include social situations, slavery, and colonialism contributes to the issues of population growths. Some scholars say that the Atlantic Slave Trade drastically upset the demographic balance in Africa; millions of Africans were lost to the Americas or to death during transport. This disrupted their reproductive and productive future, which resulted in deaths or diseases. Family planning trends, mostly from the modern periods, Africa had a decline in fertility because of contraceptives, the infection of AIDS and unmarried women seeking education lowered population growth. Married women used birth control to space out or limit the amount of children. Problems with cities with weak economies, environmental and political conflicts still continue to have rapid growth rates. The HIV/AIDS virus has continued to be problematic for Africa. Death from this virus has declined due to antivirus drugs, however it is still prevalent in African because of the high frequency of sex outside of marriage. Only in the past few years, international communities have attempted to help control this devastating disease. Billions of dollars are being spent to help control this virus and initiative from major global funds have launched programs for Sub – Saharan African countries to help with this crises. The consequences of AIDS and this epidemic have affected the mortality of young adults and therefore lower their life expectancies. This epidemic has had a great affect on the population growth of the inhabitants of this very large continent, Africa. “The Colonial Impact”, by Adu Boahen, is an essay that examines the impact of the colonial experience. The controversial question of the nature of legacies that
- 4. Paparatto 4 impacted colonialism appear to have effected the social, political, and economic fields in Africa. Some historians feel that imperial system was a powerful engine to the cultural diffusion in the history of Africa. Some suggest that colonialism had no positive impact and some suggest that the exploitation and oppression did benefit the development of Africa. Therefore, Boahen clearly seems to suggest that along with the negative came the positive. The first three decades of the colonial era, violence, anarchy, instability, and the loss of lives no doubt had impacted the social as well as the economic stability of Africa. The partition of African independence of the states placed boundaries and maintained independence. Unfortunately problems with arbitrarily drawing boundaries on African maps created serious problems. Consequently, problems such as becoming an independent state with nations having their own culture, language, and traditions were issues with the development of its own state. Boundary disputes created multi – ethnic states which have created difficult situations with preexisting nations. Furthermore, the unequal sizes of natural resources created more complications with its development, especially lands that had no access to the sea or fertile land. This created security and smuggling situations that impacted African states. However, positive impacts such as the development of a new judicial system and civil servants contributed to the fundamental changes of Africa becoming independent. Another positive impact gave Africans a sense of identity and a sense of nationalism. The spirit of Pan – Africanism generated strength and spirit throughout Africa. Some scholars suggest however, nationalism generated by colonialism was more of a negative one because of the oppressive and exploitive measures that resulted from colonialism forced negative sentiments and attitudes. The chronic sources of instability and anarchy resulted in confusion and unnecessary political
- 5. Paparatto 5 problems for African countries. Therefore, the political impact was a very negative and regrettable delay of political development and maturity for Africa. I believe that this caused the loss of control over its own State caused Africa to become unsuccessful in developing its own independence and culture can be associated by the constant failures and frustrations to manage its own affairs as a nation. This is why Africa faced many economic changes that resulted in consequences. The abolition of slavery changed Africa’s social structure but still continued to be problematic for this nation to mature into an independent nation. The deficiencies of education created major conflicts for children to be part of a society practically give them a sense of self worth. The social impact of colonialism gave a negative impact among women because they were not treated equally, and education was not easily available for them. It was a man’s world and there was no room for women to have profession roles in their society. All of these negative impacts created by colonialism are apparent. The psychological impact outweighs the balance of development and humiliation for Africans. Clearly Africa underwent some very harsh negative impacts from colonialism. I believe that these negative and positive impacts gave Africa the strength to develop itself into an independent nation filled with its own culture, tradition, and legacy.