3 - Recruitment, Resistance and Memories of the First World War among the Terik of Kenya
Corresponding Author(s) : Eliud Biegon
Afrika Zamani,
No. 26 (2018): Afrika Zamani: An Annual Journal of African History
Abstract
While the First World War was, from the Terik point of view, an unpopular and painful event, it inaugurated a deeper interaction between the British colonial government and the Terik. Terik memories of the war are complicated and ambivalent. Informants recall the war not only as a contest between the British and the Germans, but also as a time of widespread famine and forced recruitment. Driven by British anti-German propaganda, political anxieties and forced recruitment, Terik carriers and askari endured disease, suffering and death in the battlefields of East Africa between 1914 and 1918. These tragedies are deeply seared into Terik memories, but so are those of their bravery, heroism and being part of the victorious side. While they brought some economic and social benefits to the veterans, they also deepened British colonial cooptation of the Gapjepkoi ruling elite as well as its unpopularity among the Terik.
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- Biegon, E., 2016. ‘A History of the Terik Community of Kenya, ca. 1890 to 1960’, unpublished thesis, University of Cambridge.
- Farwell, B., 1987, The Great War in Africa, 1914–1918, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
- Forgaty, R., 2008, Race and War in France: Colonial Subjects in the French Army, Baltimore, MA: Johns Hopkins University Press.
- Gillispie, W., 2018, ‘Colonialism in global conflict: Liberia’s entry and participation in World War One’, First World War Studies 9 (1): 111–29.
- Greenstein, L., 1975, ‘Africans in a European War: The First World War in East Africa with Special Reference to the Nandi of Kenya’, Ann Arbor, MI, Xerox University Microfilms, Indiana University, PhD.
- Hodges, G., 1986, The Carrier Corps, Military Labor in the East African Campaign, 1924–1918, London: Greenwood Press.
- Hollis, A.C, 1909, The Nandi: Their Language and Folk-lore, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- Huntingford, G.W.B, 1944, The Nandi, Nairobi: Ndia KUU Press.
- Langley, M., 1979, The Nandi of Kenya: Life Crisis Rituals in a Period of Change, London: C. Hurst & Company.
- Lunn, J., 1999, Memoirs of the Maelstrom: A Senegalese Oral History of the First World War, Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
- Matson, A., 1994, Nandi Resistance to British Rule: The Volcano Erupts, Cambridge Africa Studies Centre Monograph Series vol. 15, Cambridge: University of Cambridge.
- Maxon, R., 1980, John Ainsworth and the Making of Kenya, Lanham, MA: University Press of America.
- Meinertzhagen, R., 1957, Kenya Diary: 1902–1906, Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd Limited.
- Moyd, M., 2016, ‘Centering a sideshow: local experiences of the First World War’, First World War Studies 7 (2): 111–30.
- Page, M., 1978, ‘The war of Thangata: Nyasaland and the East African Campaign, 1914–1918’, Journal of African History 19 (1): 87–100.
- Page, M., ed., 1987, Africa and the First World War, Basingstoke: Macmillan Press Ltd.
- Pilgrim, J.W., 1961, The Social and Economic Consequences of Land Enclosure in the Kipsigis Reserve, East African Institute of Social Research, Applied Research Unit.
- Rosberg, C. and Nottingham, J., 1966, The Myth of ‘Mau Mau’: Nationalism in Kenya, Nairobi: East African Publishing House.
- Samson, A., 2012, World War I in Africa: The Forgotten Conflict among the European Powers, London: I.B. Tauris.
- Spear, T. and Waller, R., eds, 1993, Being Maasai; Ethnicity and Identity in East Africa, London: James Currey.
- Strachan, H., 2004, The First World War in Africa, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
References
Biegon, E., 2016. ‘A History of the Terik Community of Kenya, ca. 1890 to 1960’, unpublished thesis, University of Cambridge.
Farwell, B., 1987, The Great War in Africa, 1914–1918, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Forgaty, R., 2008, Race and War in France: Colonial Subjects in the French Army, Baltimore, MA: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Gillispie, W., 2018, ‘Colonialism in global conflict: Liberia’s entry and participation in World War One’, First World War Studies 9 (1): 111–29.
Greenstein, L., 1975, ‘Africans in a European War: The First World War in East Africa with Special Reference to the Nandi of Kenya’, Ann Arbor, MI, Xerox University Microfilms, Indiana University, PhD.
Hodges, G., 1986, The Carrier Corps, Military Labor in the East African Campaign, 1924–1918, London: Greenwood Press.
Hollis, A.C, 1909, The Nandi: Their Language and Folk-lore, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Huntingford, G.W.B, 1944, The Nandi, Nairobi: Ndia KUU Press.
Langley, M., 1979, The Nandi of Kenya: Life Crisis Rituals in a Period of Change, London: C. Hurst & Company.
Lunn, J., 1999, Memoirs of the Maelstrom: A Senegalese Oral History of the First World War, Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Matson, A., 1994, Nandi Resistance to British Rule: The Volcano Erupts, Cambridge Africa Studies Centre Monograph Series vol. 15, Cambridge: University of Cambridge.
Maxon, R., 1980, John Ainsworth and the Making of Kenya, Lanham, MA: University Press of America.
Meinertzhagen, R., 1957, Kenya Diary: 1902–1906, Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd Limited.
Moyd, M., 2016, ‘Centering a sideshow: local experiences of the First World War’, First World War Studies 7 (2): 111–30.
Page, M., 1978, ‘The war of Thangata: Nyasaland and the East African Campaign, 1914–1918’, Journal of African History 19 (1): 87–100.
Page, M., ed., 1987, Africa and the First World War, Basingstoke: Macmillan Press Ltd.
Pilgrim, J.W., 1961, The Social and Economic Consequences of Land Enclosure in the Kipsigis Reserve, East African Institute of Social Research, Applied Research Unit.
Rosberg, C. and Nottingham, J., 1966, The Myth of ‘Mau Mau’: Nationalism in Kenya, Nairobi: East African Publishing House.
Samson, A., 2012, World War I in Africa: The Forgotten Conflict among the European Powers, London: I.B. Tauris.
Spear, T. and Waller, R., eds, 1993, Being Maasai; Ethnicity and Identity in East Africa, London: James Currey.
Strachan, H., 2004, The First World War in Africa, Oxford: Oxford University Press.