The Royal African Society

Race and Politics in Kenya by Elspeth Huxley; Margery PerhamReview by: H. S. ScottAfrican Affairs, Vol. 43, No. 172 (Jul., 1944), pp. 140-142Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of The Royal African SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/718467 .

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140 AFRICAN AFFAIRS

Vote of Thanks to the President. On the motion of the Chairman, seconded by Lord Hailey, the following resolution was passed with acclamation:

That the thanks of this meeting be given to the President for continuing in office and for his interest in the Society. Vote of Thanks to the lon. Officers and to Mr. Corbyn. It was proposed by Sir John

Chancellor, seconded by Sir Harry Iindsay and resolved: (a) That the thanks of the Society be given to the Chairman of the Finance and General

I'urposes Committee, the Hon. Treasurer, Hon. Solicitor and Hon. Auditors for their services in the past year.

(b) That the thanks of the Society be given to Mr. E. N. Corbyn for his work as Secretary and Editor for many years.

Vote of Thanks to Chairman. On the motion of Mr. Smart, seconded by Mr. Power, a vote of thanks was passed to Sir Henry Galway for taking the Chair at this meeting.

Lord Hailey expressed his deep gratitude and appreciation of the honour done him in electing him as Vice-Chairman. He was greatly interested in Africa, which was one of the most interesting studies anyone could make. At the end of a long career in India he had decided that a change of work was advisable; this study of Africa had given him a second life, and he was delighted that this opportunity had been given him of increasing his knowledge of that Continent.

Recent Books Race and Politics in Kenya. Elspeth Huxley and Margery Perham. Faber. Pp. 247 with 3 maps and an index. I2s. 6d.

THE reader who takes up this book will, especially after reading Lord Lugard's intro- duction, expect to find a clear picture of the difficulties of the European settlers in Kenya, and also of the difficulties which European settlement has produced for those responsible for the administration of that colony. He may also hope to find some line of solution of the problems. He is likely to be disappointed in these hopes-particularly in his hopes for the sight of a solution: but he will at least appreciate the complexity of the problem to be examined, though he may find it difficult whole-heartedly to endorse Lord Lugard's description of the presentment as admirably clear on both sides.

Lord Lugard's introduction is not the least interesting and valuable part of the book, with its summary of the inquiries of the last twenty years and its outline of his own plan of administrative separation.

If these two authors of such different views were indeed right in attempting to combine in producing one book about Kenya they certainly adopted the only practicable method of production. The results of their effort to do not breathe (and no one would expect them to breathe) the spirit of the symposium, but it is at least something that as far as one can see the spirit of the Borgias is also absent from the feast of letters put before us. Lord Lugard speaks of the vigour of the assault and the courtesy and skill of the riposte, and one can largely endorse this. There are only occasional signs of what might justify the cynical vulgarian to speak rather of blast and counterblast.

But, if the method of controversy by correspondence is to enable us to have a clear picture, two conditions are essential. The parties to the correspondence should have definite agreement as to what they are arguing about. It is also an essential condition of success that the writers should answer their opponent's arguments with complete clarity. Neither of those conditions is adequately fulfilled: perhaps it is asking too much under all the circumstances.

The book is divided into four parts. The first endeavours to set forth the issue, and the three following deal with the past, the present, and the future.

In their attempt to define the issue, the writers are in disagreement from the beginning. Mrs. Huxley regards the problem as one arising from the critics' hostile attitude to the Kenya settlers. Miss Perham rejoins that these writers are really on the defensive and that conflict as between settler and African is inescapable. The critics in her opinion are bound to intervene when they see dangerous developments at the expense of the un- represented and backward majority. At the same time she recognises that the calls upon the settlers' patience and self-sacrifice are severe. She fears that we are drifting towards dangers and injustices and seems to feel that the position of the settler produces conditions which are morally untenable.

To this Mrs. Huxley replies that the only alternatives are expropriation or provision

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RECENT BOOKS 141

for putting the European into the economic and political structure of a future East African state. She argues that, if they are to stay, some policy must replace the existing negative attitude. To this Miss Perham replies that she considers expropriation im- practicable, but that it is for the settlers to call off the assault and say whether they will accept the policy of paramountcy of African interests. She maintains that a place has been already found for the settlers.

Mrs. Huxley regards this as a static and sterile policy because it does not look to the future. She makes the point that you ought to look at the future in economic terms of racial interdependence, not in terms of political conflict. She goes on to argue that no human society can stand still while those about it are swiftly changing. To which Miss Perham with some justice retorts that the society to be considered is the people of Kenya as a whole, not a small ruling majority. She goes on to urge (no doubt in defence of her adjective "ruling") that the settlers have made no secret of their intention to gain the dominant position in the constitution; and that, without having achieved that position, they have become the dominant party. In the Imperial Government's view, the majority group and not the settlers must advance quickly.

Mrs. Huxley comes back with her plea that the aim should be racial co-operation and not domination by one of them. Miss Perham's reply is that the need for a "constitutional halt" is based on the evidence of the past history of Kenya, which also shows that there is in existence a conflict between native and European interests. She therefore urges that they should examine the past. Mrs. Huxley reluctantly agrees.

This analysis of the part of the book entitled "The Issue" is necessary for an estimate of the value of the book as a contribution to the Kenya problem. It is difficult not to criticise both writers. Miss Perham's insistence on the past fails to make adequate allow- ance for changed views in the present: while Mrs. Huxley's plea to look forward, with which one must sympathise, fails to recognise that the change in outlook, which she depicts and hopes to see develop, should be publicly announced by the accepted leaders among the Europeans.

The second part of the book deals with the past. It must be admitted that Mrs. Huxley's misgivings are justified by the course which the discussion appears inevitably to take. Points are indeed well taken on both sides but there is inevitably produced in the mind of the reader a feeling that the debate is barren and almost unreal because the facts (when they are not themselves a matter of disagreement) are often capable of entirely opposite interpretations. This applies particularly to land. In the fields of labour and finance there is ground for suspicion that debating points obscure the general issues. It is not surprising that this part of the correspondence ended in deadlock.

The correspondence about the present position begins with a gallant defence of the settlers and their attitude towards the African. To this Miss Perham's reply is that the African is none the less gravely distrustful of the settler. She poses the question as to the real power of the settlers. Mrs. Huxley replies by saying that the bitterness of the African is confined to a few. To the question of power she replies by pointing to the official majority in the Legislative Council.

Here we are back again at the assessment of the value of the Legislative Council and the influence of the settlers. Miss Perham raises the point of representation and Mrs. Huxley agrees that the African representation is incomplete and imperfect, and that the time is near for an African member, but it must be admitted that there is some force in the argument that the Government stands as the trustee of the African.

When we come to deal with the question of the future in the last section of the book there are indications of welcome agreement. It is perhaps open to question as to whether Mrs. Huxley is wise (from the settlers' point of view) in putting forward Mr. S. V. Cooke's view of the prospects of constitutional development as something that might be the seed of progress and co-operation. It is characteristic of the suspicion engendered in the Kenya controversy that Miss Perham counters with Major Cavendish Bentinck and other leaders. Clearly there can be no agreement between the controversialists about the political future so long as there is uncertainty as to who speaks for the settlers. When Mrs. Huxley puts forth a liberal feeler Miss Perham tramples upon it with a quotation from what she regards as an authoritative intransigent. The general criticism one is forced to make is that Mrs. Huxley is probably unduly optimistic in estimating the changes already developed and like to develop in the European attitude: Miss Perham seems open to the opposite criticism that she is unable (possibly because she unduly emphasises the past) to recognise that there is some ground for Mrs. Huxley's construc- tive ideal of a state based on co-operation--even though she cannot share her hopes for the immediate future.

This is a serious book and a serious contribution to a complex problem. It was well worth while for these gallant opponents to attempt to find a solution. Who will blame

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I42 AFRICAN AFFAIRS

them if the reader puts the book down with the feeling that the complexity has been revealed and that he is not much nearer the solution ?

H. S. SCOTT.

African Conversation Piece. Sylvia Leith-Ross. With a Foreword by Sir Harmnns Vischer, C.B.E. Hutchinson. 132 pp. With 13 illustrations. I6s.

Mrs. Leith-Ross has turned from the study of a comparatively primitive section of the Ibo-speaking peoples (the results were printed in her book African Women), to the largest of the Ibo towns, Onitsha, on the Niger. There are, as she explains, two Onitshas: the older one, now called Inland Town, where the rich, respectable families dwell, a sort of African Belgravia; and the bustling, modern, upstart Waterfront, born out of trade in Chartered Company days. Mrs. Leith-Ross lived in both towns. She rented a house-- one of the smart, high-toned "upstairs"--and settled in to observe the vigorous life in high flood around her. But she soon decided that the usual methods, the careful ques- tions, classification and checking, would lead nowhere. She decided to abandon the stand of scientific detachment and to live the life of Onitsha instead of merely observing it. This book is her diary: a record of day-to-day events, brief summaries of long conver- sations, random reflections, remarkably vivid miniatures of the scene and the people whose lives, for a short time, marched with her own.

The result is an unusual, sensitive and entertaining book, which conveys in a remark- ably graphic way the odd, extravagant and strangely touching quality of these African townsfolk. In them we see our own failings and foibles, our own social customs, all a little distorted, as in a mirror at a fair. (The intense materialism and desire to parade wealth; the snobbery of the clerk towards the farmer; children learning to sing English nursery rhymes with meaningless English gestures; Jane Austen old ladies in flowered prints primly sipping tea with crooked little fingers.) But we see also the strength and vitality of Africa: the dances, so much part of living that the Government clerk who was the writer's landlord ran, in his spare time, a sort of ballet of Ibo girls; the complex but rational marriage arrangements that conflict so oddly with Christian dogmas; the all- powerful desire for children; the belief in witchcraft, so little dimmed that the sudden death of an ex-Government schoolmaster was universally put down to the curse of an offended father, and sounds of angry drumming broke out almost before the earth covered a Christian grave. These two strands, African and pseudo-European, are every- where woven into a fascinating, garish and slightly crazy tapestry, with the writer's friends picked out in colour-Ibeze, the Government clerk cum ballet-master; Mrs. Macaulay, lamenting over the teacups the decline of young girls' morals; Amede Odili, head of the Co-operative of Aboh and also of the fishwives; and many others.

How far do Mrs. Leith-Ross's observations apply only to these Onitsha Ibo, or have they a general application to town-dwelling West Africans-indeed, to urban Africans anywhere ? Such questions are always hard to answer, generalisation such a cunningly baited trap. The Ibo, like other peoples, have their own special characteristics, but (to spring the trap) the "detribalised", semi-educated African seems, as it were, to shed the layers of his tribal peculiarities, replacing them to some extent with European ex- ternals, while he retains the core of his African-ness, which underlay his tribalism and now underlies his Europeanism. There seem to me to be more significant resemblances than differences between the Onitshans and, say, an urbanised Kikuyu or Baganda far away on the other side of the continent.

If this is so, then Mrs. Leith-Ross's observations deserve an audience wider than those interested only in Nigeria, or in the oddities of the exotic. For while British officials and others often have an instinctive sympathy with the simple man of the bush, as a rule we find it much harder to get under the skin of this new kind of African with whom we shall have, more and more, to deal. This writer reminds us how much of European "civilisation" is taken in at second or third hand, perhaps through half-trained native teachers themselves taught by other Africans-very few Africans have actually been in close personal contact with an intelligent European. There is the language, too. "Africans almost invariably give the impression, probably quite unconsciously and without the least wish to deceive-for they are under the same impression themselves-that they know far more English than they do. It is only those who have talked with them a good deal who realise how little they understand."

It is small wonder, then, that the veneer of our civilisation often wears thin. "What have we done to you?" Mrs. Leith-Ross apostrophises Africa. "Change of some sort would have come anyhow, but have we, the white men, done our best that this change should be good ? . . . What would matter would be, if we had hurt your souls; if we had too quickly put burdens upon you that you could not bear; if we had created such

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