Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T23:49:06.171Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Indigeneity and Kenya's Nubians: seeking equality in difference or sameness?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2013

Samantha Balaton-Chrimes
Samantha Balaton-Chrimes*
Affiliation:
School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne 3010, Australia
*
Email: balaton@unimelb.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Recent studies of indigeneity in Africa have highlighted the problematic nature of the concept in a continent where it is difficult to determine which groups have temporal priority in a given location. These studies have suggested, with varying degrees of criticism, that indigeneity in Africa is a strategic identity deployed to attain a special status and associated benefits, often to remedy past harms. This article agrees that indigeneity is an act of positioning, but suggests that in the Kenyan context it can be deployed in another way as well, that is, as an act that seeks equal rather than special positioning within the dominant population. In this case indigeneity is not a special ‘slot’ but rather the norm. The article illustrates this by drawing on research with the Nubian community of Nairobi who seek to shed their ethnic stranger status and instead position themselves as indigenous to Nairobi in order to access the same quality of citizenship as that enjoyed by Kenya's ‘42 tribes’.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 51 , Issue 2 , June 2013 , pp. 331 - 354
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Adam, A. H. 2009. ‘Nubians: standing up to statelessness?’, Forced Migration Review 32: 19.Google Scholar
Anderson, D. 2010. ‘Majimboism: The troubled history of an idea’ in Branch, D., Cheeseman, N. & Gardner, L., eds. It's Our Turn to Eat. Berlin: LIT.Google Scholar
Balaton-Chrimes, S. 2011. ‘Counting as citizens: recognition of the Nubians in the 2009 Kenyan census’, Ethnopolitics 10, 2: 205–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balaton-Chrimes, S. 2012. Citizens minus: rights, recognition and the Nubians of Kenya. Unpublished PhD thesis, Monash University.Google Scholar
Baras, L. 2011. Report: patronage locks out small ethnic groups. Daily Nation (Nairobi), 6 April.Google Scholar
Barnard, A. 2006. ‘Kalahari revisionism, Vienna and the “Indigenous Peoples” debate’, Social Anthropology 14, 1: 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnard, A., Guenther, M., Kenrick, J., Kuper, A., Plaice, E., Thuen, T., Wolfe, P. & Zips, W.. 2006. ‘Discussion: The concept of indigeneity’, Social Anthropology 14, 1: 17–32.Google Scholar
Bayart, J.-F. 2000. ‘Africa in the world: a history of extraversion’, African Affairs 99, 395: 217–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berman, B. 1998. ‘Ethnicity, patronage and the African state: the politics of uncivil nationalism’, African Affairs 97, 388: 305–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berry, S. 2001. Chiefs Know Their Boundaries: essays on property, power and the past in Asante, 1896–1996. Portsmouth: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Burton, A. 2001. ‘Urchins, loafers and the cult of the cowboy: urbanization and delinquency in Dar es Salaam, 1919–61’, Journal of African History 42, 2: 199–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burton, A. 2003. ‘Townsmen in the making: social engineering and citizenship in Dar es Salaam, c. 1945–1960’, International Journal of African Historical Studies 36, 2: 331–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cairns, A. 2000. Citizens Plus: aboriginal peoples and the Canadian State. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Comaroff, J. L. & Comaroff, J.. 2009. Ethnicity, Inc. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Smedt, J. 2009a. ‘“No Raila, No Peace!” Big man politics and election violence at the Kibera grassroots’, African Affairs 108, 433: 581–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Smedt, J. 2009b. ‘“Kill Me Quick”: a history of Nubian gin in Kibera’, International Journal of African Historical Studies 42, 2: 201–20.Google Scholar
De Smedt, J. 2011. The Nubis of Kibera: a social history of the Nubians and Kibera slums. Unpublished PhD thesis, Leiden.Google Scholar
Dorman, S., Hammett, D. & Nugent, P., eds. 2007. Making Nations, Creating Strangers: states and citizenship in Africa. Leiden: EJ Brill.Google Scholar
Englund, H. 2004. ‘Introduction: recognizing identities, imagining alternatives’, in Englund, H. & Nyamnjoh, F. B., eds. Rights and the Politics of Recognition in Africa. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Geschiere, P. 2009. The Perils of Belonging: autochthony, citizenship, and exclusion in Africa and Europe. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ghai, Y. 2003. Public Participation and Minorities. London: Minority Rights Group International.Google Scholar
Ghai, Y. 2008. ‘Devolution: restructuring the Kenyan state’, Journal of Eastern African Studies 2, 2: 211–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haugerud, A. 1995. Culture of Politics in Modern Kenya. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodgson, D. 2002. ‘Introduction: comparative perspectives on the indigenous rights movement in Africa and the Americas’, American Anthropologist 104, 4: 1037–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodgson, D. 2009. ‘Becoming indigenous in Africa’, African Studies Review 52, 3: 1–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodgson, D. 2011. Being Maasai, Becoming Indigenous. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Hornsby, C. 2001. ‘Election day and the results’, in Rutten, M., Mazrui, A. & Grignon, F., eds. Out for the Count: The 1997 general election and prospects for democracy in Kenya. Kampala: Fountain.Google Scholar
Igoe, J. 2006. ‘Becoming indigenous peoples: difference, inequality and the globalization of East African identity politics’, African Affairs 105, 420: 399–430.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, S. 2006. ‘Sons of which soil? The language and politics of autochthony in Eastern D.R. Congo’, African Studies Review 49, 2: 95–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, S. 2007. ‘Of doubtful nationality: political manipulation of citizenship in the D. R. Congo’, Citizenship Studies 11, 5: 481–500.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, D. H. 2009. ‘Tribe or nationality? The Sudanese diaspora and the Kenyan Nubis’, Journal of Eastern African Studies 3, 1: 112–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karlsson, B. 2003. ‘Anthropology and the “indigenous slot”: claims to and debates about indigenous peoples’ status in India’, Critique of Anthropology 23, 4: 403–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenrick, J. & Lewis, J.. 2004. ‘Indigenous peoples’ rights and the politics of the term “indigenous”’, Anthropology Today 20, 2: 4–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. 2010. 2009 Kenya Population and Housing Census, Volume 2 – Population Distribution by Age, Sex and Administrative Units. Nairobi: Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.Google Scholar
Kenya National Commission on Human Rights. 2007. An Identity Crisis? A study on the issuance of National Identity Cards. Nairobi: Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.Google Scholar
Kikechi, B. & Jamah, A.. 2010. ‘Census and the question of tribe’, The Standard (Nairobi), 31 August.Google Scholar
Kraxberger, B. 2005. ‘Strangers, indigenes and settlers: contested geographies of citizenship in Nigeria’, Space and Polity 9, 1: 9–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuper, A. 2003. ‘The return of the native’, Current Anthropology 44, 3: 389–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kymlicka, W. 2008. ‘The internationalization of minority rights’, International Journal of Constitutional Law 6, 1: 1–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, T. M. 2000. ‘Articulating indigenous identity in Indonesia: Resource politics and the tribal slot’, Comparative Studies in Society and History 42, 1: 149–79.Google Scholar
Lonsdale, J. M. 1994. ‘Moral ethnicity and political tribalism’, in Kaarsholm, P. & Hultin, J., eds. Inventions and Boundaries: historical and anthropological approaches to the study of ethnicity and nationalism. Roskilde: Roskilde University.Google Scholar
Lynch, G. 2006. ‘The fruits of perception: “ethnic politics” and the case of Kenya's constitutional referendum’, African Studies 65, 2: 233–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lynch, G. 2011a. ‘Kenya's new indigenes: negotiating local identities in a global context’, Nations and Nationalism 17, 1: 148–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lynch, G. 2011b. I Say to You: ethnic politics and the Kalenjin in Kenya. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lynch, G. 2012. ‘Becoming indigenous in the pursuit of justice: The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Endorois decision’, African Affairs 111, 442: 24–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mamdani, M. 1996. Citizen and Subject: contemporary Africa and the legacy of late colonialism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Mamdani, M. 1998. When Does a Settler Become a Native? Reflections on the colonial roots of citizenship in Equatorial and Southern Africa. Cape Town: University of Cape Town.Google Scholar
Mamdani, M. 2001. ‘Beyond settler and native as political identities: overcoming the political legacy of colonialism’, Comparative Studies in Society and History 43, 4: 651–64.Google Scholar
Manby, B. 2009a. Citizenship Law in Africa: a comparative study. New York: Open Society Institute.Google Scholar
Manby, B. 2009b. Struggles for Citizenship in Africa. London: Zed Books.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall-Fratani, R. 2006. ‘The war of “Who is Who”: autochthony, nationalism, and citizenship in the Ivorian crisis’, African Studies Review, 49, 2: 9–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martínez, M. A. 1999. Human rights of indigenous peoples: Study on treaties, agreements and other constructive arrangements between States and indigenous populations. Geneva: United Nations Economic and Social Council. E/CN.4/Sub.2/1999/20.Google Scholar
Mbembe, A. 2001. On the Postcolony. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Médard, C. 1996. ‘Les conflits “ethniques” au Kenya: une question de votes ou de terres?’, Afrique Contemporaine 180: 62–74.Google Scholar
Médard, C. 2008. ‘Key issues in disentangling the Kenyan crisis: evictions, autochthony and land privatization’, Les Cahiers d'Afrique du l'Est 37: 81–98.Google Scholar
Ndegwa, S. N. 1997. ‘Citizenship and ethnicity: an examination of two transition moments in Kenyan politics’, American Political Science Review 91, 3: 599–616.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Njogu, K. 2001. ‘The culture of politics and ethnic nationalism in Central Province and Nairobi’, in Rutten, M., Mazrui, A. & Grignon, F., eds. Out for the Count: the 1997 general elections and the prospects for democracy in Kenya. Kampala: Fountain.Google Scholar
Nubian community. 2000. ‘Draft position paper for the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission’, unpublished, copy on file with author.Google Scholar
Ocobock, P. 2006. ‘“Joy Rides for Juveniles”: vagrant youth and colonial control in Nairobi, Kenya, 1901–52’, Social History 31, 1: 39–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ogot, B. A. 1995. ‘Transition from single-party to multiparty political system: 1989–93’, in Ogot, B. A. & Ochieng, W. R., eds. Decolonization and Independence in Kenya: 1940–1993. London: James Currey; Nairobi: E.A.E.P.; Athens, OH: Ohio University Press.Google Scholar
Open Society Justice Initiative. 2011a. Nubians in Kenya: numbers and voices. New York: Open Society Justice Initiative. Available at http://www.soros.org/initiatives/justice/focus/equality_citizenship/articles_publications/publications/kenyan-nubians-20110412 (Accessed 27 April 2012).Google Scholar
Open Society Justice Initiative. 2011b. Nationality and Discrimination: the case of Kenyan Nubians. New York: Open Society Justice Initiative. Available at http://www.soros.org/initiatives/justice/focus/equality_citizenship/articles_publications/publications/kenyan-nubians-20110412 (Accessed 27 April 2012).Google Scholar
Open Society Justice Initiative. 2011c. Nubians in Kenya: numbers and voices. Available at http://www.soros.org/initiatives/justice/articles_publications/publications/kenyan-nubians-20110412/nubians-kenya-data-sheet-20110506.pdf (Accessed 2 December 2011).Google Scholar
Otieno, K. 2010. ‘Cohesion team wants quota system scrapped’, Daily Nation (Nairobi), 27 July.Google Scholar
Parsons, T. 1997. ‘“Kibra is Our Blood”: the Sudanese military legacy in Nairobi's Kibera location, 1902–1968’, International Journal of African Historical Studies 30, 1: 87–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pelican, M. 2009. ‘Complexities of indigeneity and autochthony: an African example’, American Ethnologist 36, 1: 52–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saugestad, S. 2001. ‘Contested Images: “First peoples” or “marginalized minorities” in Africa?’ in Barnard, A. & Kenrick, J., eds. Africa's Indigenous Peoples: ‘First peoples’ or ‘marginalized minorities’? Edinburgh: Centre for African Studies, University of Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Shack, W. 1979. ‘Introduction’ in Shack, W. & Skinner, E., eds. Strangers in African Societies. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Shack, W. & Skinner, E., eds. 1979. Strangers in African Societies. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Shipton, P. 1994. ‘Land and culture in tropical Africa: soils, symbols, and the metaphysics of the mundane’, Annual Review of Anthropology, 23: 347–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sing'oei, K. 2011. ‘Engaging the Leviathan: national development, corporate globalisation and the Endorois' quest to recover their herding grounds’, International Journal on Minority and Group Rights 18, 4: 515–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skinner, E. 1979. ‘Conclusions’. in Shack, W. & Skinner, E., eds. Strangers in African Societies. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Sylvain, R. 2002. ‘“Land, Water, and Truth”: San identity and global indigenism’, American Anthropologist 104, 4: 1074–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, C. 1994. ‘The politics of recognition’, in Taylor, C. & Guttman, A., eds. Multiculturalism and the Politics of Recognition. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Throup, D. & Hornsby, C.. 1998. Multi-Party Politics in Kenya: The Kenyatta & Moi states and the triumph of the system in the 1992 election. London: James Currey; Nairobi: E.A.E.P.; Athens, OH: Ohio University Press.Google Scholar
Wachira, G. M. 2008. Vindicating Indigenous Peoples' Land Rights in Kenya. University of Pretoria, Doctor of Laws thesis.Google Scholar

Interviews

Abbas, Nubian, Nairobi, September 2009.Google Scholar
Amadi, Nubian, Nairobi, April 2009.Google Scholar
Gore Mohamed, Nairobi City Councillor and Nubian, Nairobi, October 2009.Google Scholar
Hassan, Nubian, Nairobi, May 2009.Google Scholar
‘Ibrahim’, Nubian, Nairobi, April 2011.Google Scholar
Jamia, Nubian, Nairobi, September 2009.Google Scholar
Korir Sing'Oei, Co-Founder of Centre for Minority Rights and Development, Nairobi, April 2011.Google Scholar
Muhidin, Nubian, Nairobi, September 2009.Google Scholar
Prof. Yash Pal Ghai, Former Commissioner, Kenya Constitutional Review Commission, Nairobi, April 2011.Google Scholar
Sheik Nasoro Hamisi, Nubian, Nakuru, June 2009.Google Scholar