Maxwell African Scholars Union presents: Martin S. Shanguhyia

Maxwell African Scholars Union Presents:
Rehabilitating ‘Tradition’ in Soil Conservation:
The Failure of Colonial Efforts in Western Kenya

Soil conservation programs that were mooted by colonial states in rural Africa were invasive to the environment as much as they also undermined the propensity of African households to pursue voluntary choices in land management practices. The intensity of rural apathy towards these programs confirmed the tenuous nature of colonialism so much that for the British colonial government in Kenya, the solution seemed to reside in reviving the indigenous authorities in the hope of achieving community consensus towards its conservation program in the western part of the territory in the 1940s and 1950s. This solution proved elusive. I argue that the reasons for this failure were varied but related, chief of which was the contradictory perception of the nature and role of African indigenous authorities by colonial officials in western Kenya.

Martin S. Shanguhyia
Assistant Professor, History Department at Syracuse University

Lunch will be served

April 5, 2013
12:30 pm – 2:00 pm
341 Eggers Hall