A NEW MODEL VILLAGE?: NAIROBI DEVELOPMENT AND THE SOMALI QUESTION IN KENYA, C. 1915-1917

[MARAQ DIGAAG]

ABSTRACT: Kenya has a problem with its urban ethnic Somali population. Many that reside in suburbs of Nairobi are assumed to have entered the country illegally from Somalia, or to have migrated from the large refugee camps located in Dadaab and Kakuma in the north of the country. As such many perceive the Somali to be temporarily encamped in the city. This is despite the fact that Somali claims in Nairobi can be traced back to the first establishment of the British East Africa Protectorate. By outlining the history of a proposed new model village for the Somali, and the ways in which urban Somalis negotiated early British development of the city, this article emphasizes the longevity of Somali claims for rights and recognition from the state. Even though the British perceived them as nomads and livestock traders, and therefore not part of the city’s future, they actively negotiated their resettlement. The article argues that this was not simply and expression of political demands, but also a manifestation of an urban aspiration that is also reflected in more recent Somali migration to urban areas.

https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/bitstream/2438/11836/1/FullText.doc

 

[Thegoodshepherd]

I have been in a 4 year edit war against the editors of the Kenya wiki article who refuse to list Somalis as one of the largest tribes. They list the Kiisi and the Meru but refuse to list the Somali who are larger than both ethnic groups. Ethiopians when pushed will admit that Somalis are a major ethnic group in Ethiopia who should have a larger role to play, the Kenyan's question the legitimacy of Somali citizenship outright. Yet, it is in Kenya that Somalis have more rights and openly participate in politics, while they are severely marginal in Ethiopia.

Great paper.

 

[Apollo]

I have been in a 4 year edit war against the editors of the Kenya wiki article who refuse to list Somalis as one of the largest tribes. They list the Kiisi and the Meru but refuse to list the Somali who are larger than both ethnic groups. Ethiopians when pushed will admit that Somalis are a major ethnic group in Ethiopia who should have a larger role to play, the Kenyan's question the legitimacy of Somali citizenship outright. Yet, it is in Kenya that Somalis have more rights and openly participate in politics, while they are severely marginal in Ethiopia.

Great paper.

To be fair, all those Bantu sub-groups are equivalent to Somali clans, while Bantu is equivalent to Somali.

 

[Thegoodshepherd]

To be fair, all those Bantu sub-groups are equivalent to Somali clans, while Bantu is equivalent to Somali.

It is interesting that Somali and Bantu are at the same distance removed from the parent language family!



The Bantu must have had a huge population explosion as they applied their farming and iron toolkit to all of Subsaharan Africa.

 

[Apollo]

It is interesting that Somali and Bantu are at the same distance removed from the parent language family!



The Bantu must have had a huge population explosion as they applied their farming and iron toolkit to all of Subsaharan Africa.

Austronesians are similar.. some laangaab Taiwanese tribe taking over from Madagscar to Hawaii.

 

[Thegoodshepherd]

Cushitic does not not even have 80 million speakers! I wonder why the Semiticswho arrived with a similar agricultural toolkit did not spread along the Nile to Sudan. You would think that they would follow the river downstream to the fertile and flat Nile valley. For 2,500 years they never came down from the mountains. What kept their populations from burgeoning? Disease load at those altitudes could not have been very high, what do you think happened?

 

[MARAQ DIGAAG]

Cushitic does not not even have 80 million speakers! I wonder why the Semiticswho arrived with a similar agricultural toolkit did not spread along the Nile to Sudan. You would think that they would follow the river downstream to the fertile and flat Nile valley. For 2,500 years they never came down from the mountains. What kept their populations from burgeoning? Disease load at those altitudes could not have been very high, what do you think happened?

Whilst I was reading on the history of the Somalis in Kenya, I realised Somalis are some dangerous people. They somehow got the rights to be allowed trade freely like Indians and Arabs. Some came with Lord Delaware and lived as squatters on his farms. I have seen several sources about white farmers complaining about Somali farmers. The nomadic Somalis in Kenya didn’t even pay taxes to the white man until 1928. When they were finally forced to pay, many clans would just skip over to the Ethiopia border when the time came.

As for your question, I believe the Nilotes were a buffer against Cushitic-Semetic expansion into Sudan. There are many sources indicating wars between Habashaat of Axum and Nilotes. Remember the Islamic army couldn’t penetrate the Nubians, too, and were forced to sign a deal with them.