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Mombasa, the Swahili and the Making of the Mijikenda

Oxford

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This book presents a history of the city of Mombasa and its surrounding settlements from the mid-19th century to the height of colonial rule in the 1930s. Dr Willis sets out to place the island and town of Mombasa in its African context, incorporating the findings of recent historical and anthropological research. He examines the institutions and social networks which simultaneously united and divided the people of the region before the colonial period, demonstrating both their interdependence and the creation of distinct population categories. He traces the development of these institutions under British rule, when the demands of the colonial economy caused officials to attempt far-reaching changes to the social structure and physically to remake the town of Mombasa.histories of the coast, and the structure of hinterland communities; clients and slaves. Part 2 "Why the natives will not work" - labour, trade and the story of Singwaya, 1890-1919: squatting and trade in the hinterland; casual labour and the Swahili in Mombasa. Part 3 "Close contact with the coast residents is most prejudicial" - state intervention, 1900-1931: the creation of administrative categories; the control of trade; planning Mombasa; labour legislation, casuality and the cost of labour. Part 4 "Other dances" - Mombasa and the Mijekenda, 1925-1934: new networks of labour; the twelve tribes and the Mijikenda.

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