The Advantages of Quick Writing Bursts

Excerpts from “Intimate Decolonization: Strategies for Reconceptualizing and Teaching the End of European Empires,” World History Connected, 15, 3, 2018.

In recalling her time as a student in India in the late 1960s, Adeline Akoth Opondo shared the experience of her classmate and friend, stating: “Mariam got pregnant and the man was very happy; little did he know that the family would never approve of their union. Before long the lady [Miriam] started getting threats from the family to a point where she was told to abort or else be thrown to jail or deported from the country….The family wanted to know why their son could sleep with and decided to impregnate an inferior species…” Scattered throughout East Africa are small numbers of families, like those of Opondo, consisting mostly of African men and non-African women, now in their 70s, and mixed-race offspring, now in their 40s or 50s, who are physical reminders of East Africa’s contact with the outside world during the waning years of colonial rule and the first years of independence. As students in the 1950s and 1960s, African men and women travelled in increasing numbers to diverse areas such as India, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States in search of a university education before returning as nation-builders of their nascent states. These experiences provide important case studies that contemporary students can relate to and obtain a different understanding of the decolorizing world than offered by traditional, politically focused narratives.

The desire for access to higher education can personalize the topic of decolonization, as African students studying abroad possessed similar goals to college students today (the hope for better employment, higher standard of living and middle-class status) that a university degree promised in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Thus, paying secondary school fees and fighting for a scholarship were seen as important investments for the individual, family and community. Also providing some relatability to contemporary students is the idea of how personal connections are needed; East African students quickly discovered that the ability to attend university abroad required ties to the wider British world. Help came in the form of teachers or, frequently, missionaries, who often went against colonial regulations to help students travel abroad. In addition to serving as the primary connection between local communities and the outside world, teachers helped disseminate information regarding new educational and scholarship opportunities. Finally, examinations of rising nationalist politicians raise important and relevant classroom questions regarding the politicization of education (that also can be further connected to the development of nationalist narratives) and the funding of education. Kenyan leaders such as Tom Mboya, Oginga Odinga and later Jomo Kenyatta worked to expand their political base and foster their international connections through the provision of international scholarships. In Tanzania, local politicians did largely the same, although much more of their effort went to helping students reach secondary school and developing local institutions. For those lacking these connections, the students established their own transnational networks—writing to any politician or group at the local, national and international level that might provide some assistance. Thus, East African students epitomize the transnational mobility of colonized or formerly colonized populations as they circumvented colonial and postcolonial travel regulations and forged new connections that pushed global integration.

The memories from Opondo, who graduated in the early 1970s, demonstrate the potential dangers of transnational intimate encounters, as well as the insight that oral histories can provide. After learning of scholarship opportunities from a newspaper advertisement she read at work, Opondo applied for a scholarship with the hope of attending Makerere University in Uganda, as she did not want to be away from her family and community for four years. After failing to secure entrance to Makerere, Opondo accepted an Indian government scholarship offer to study economics at Punjab University, becoming a member of the class of 1973. While abroad, she starting dating and fell in love with an Indian man, with whom she discussed marriage and other long-term plans. However, this multi-month relationship, which went against the desires of her boyfriend’s family, also resulted in an unplanned pregnancy. Learning from the experience of her friend mentioned at the start of this article, Opondo vowed to keep the child—although done in secret, refusing to tell her boyfriend; thus, the racial transgression was never made public. By quickly escaping India, Opondo escaped any larger social condemnations but it was at a high cost to herself and her daughter, a process reflective of the student experiences. Students conducting oral histories of postcolonial migrants and regarding such intimate encounters can realize the poignancy of these experiences and feelings of marginalization that the written sources often fail to convey.

African students remember a general level of distrust and unacceptance that Indians made clear. The mostly male population of African students abroad were seen by Indians as sexual threats and remember being associated with jungles, primitive and savage behavior and mental inferiority. In affirming this perception of Indian views, one former student recalled that “an African man befriending an Indian lady was an abomination.” The threat of violence also worked to prevent African and Indian students from dating. On one occasion, an African student, Naimasiah, was approached by a group of Indian students who threatened “to rough him up” if he continued seeing his Indian girlfriend. Abortions also occurred, as in at least one instance, a student believed that terminating her pregnancy was the only action available to ensure her own safety, which also ensured that racial boundaries were maintained. Housing-related issues worked to reinforce the Afro-Indian divide by limiting the interaction between the two groups. African students were housed in different dormitories or houses than Indian students, and access to shared space within the home was limited due to fears regarding miscegenation. As Indian students returned to their family home from time at school, their parents worked to reassert their authority over wayward youths who, in the minds of parents, had gone astray while at school. Overall, the life stories conveyed by the interviews demonstrate the tension between official narratives of toleration and welcome and the lived experience of students who constantly fought the racism they faced. Consequently, the African students quickly realized that Afro-Asian solidarity existed only at the rhetorical level; in actuality, Indians worked to maintain, guard and constantly reinforce a distance between themselves and Africans, both inside the university campus and outside of it.

While some Indians either denied or did not remember any anti-African discrimination, other oral histories provide a more nuanced view. For example, one former Indian student, Rai Bahadur, remembered: “We had good relations with Africans. We never experienced such moments. But yes there were some acts of misbehavior from Africans but I would not categorize it as a part of discrimination.”^[1] In another oral history, Kashi Nath Singh highlights the levels of discrimination mentioned by East Africans: “Some of them [the African students] were addicted to drugs, but overall they were good and friendly towards Indians…During our time we Indians and Africans have been through injustice and exploitations in those days before, we [Africans and Indians] were linked through mutual empathy like freedom from domination and discrimination.” Here Singh is echoing views that are were seemingly overshadowed by the colonial experience and the shared animosity directed towards the British Empire. If students encounter similar responses, additional questions can be raised about convergences of memories and the impact of present day coverage of Africans (as alleged drug dealers) on their subjects’ memories.

Schools existed as places of contestation over societal rules regarding relationships as students challenged traditional views by establishing their own dating, sexual and marriage partners, something that could be further taken advantage of while abroad. Returning home married to a foreigner was generally accepted by East African societies. The offspring of such unions were accepted at the local level but experienced alienation as their respective nation-states increasingly were defined by Africanness. With regard to their careers, the majority of African students enjoyed success upon their return home and became leaders in government, medicine, and business. Quickly moving into the elite of their respective countries, they helped develop their nation-states, demonstrating the importance of transnational connections in the process of nation-building. The new connections forged by African students provide an alternative view of the last 50 years, as encounters were restricted by the imperial legacy and complicated by the Cold War. This article has worked to raise new questions regarding the continuation of an imperial racialized ideology and how it was embedded in postcolonial institutions, while demonstrating important transnational linkages and blurring the colonial/postcolonial divide.