Negotiating Hinduism in East Africa, 1860-1960
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Abstract
This paper describes how Hindus in East Africa developed from ‘South Asians in Africa’ to ‘Asian Africans’ between 1880-1960. It shows how the Hindu community in East Africa realised their own geographical spaces and areas of interaction. The various cultural encounters of Hindus traders and businessmen with African, Arab and European communities may have been economically profitable, but they harmed cultural pillars of Hindu identity, like notions of caste, purity, food habits and marriage patterns. Obviously, this was not a harmonious process, but one with conflicts in which painful decisions had to be made and legitimised. For others, however, it was an opportunity to free themselves from the burden of religious patronage. The research is based on the history of more than twenty Hindu Lohana families who have lived in East Africa for three generations or more.
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References
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Guha, R. (1996) Dominance without Hegemony, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Hannerz, U. (1996) 'The World in Creolisation', Africa 57(4): 546-559. https://doi.org/10.2307/1159899
Herskovits, M.J. (1938) Acculturation. The Study of Cultural Contact, New York: J.J. Augustin.
Keesing, R.M. (1976) Cultural Anthropology: A Contemporary Perspective, Canberra: CBS College Publishing.
Lewis, B. (1997) "The West and the Middle East (history of relations)", Foreign Affairs January: 1-21.
Lodhi, A.Y. (2000) Oriental Influences in Swahili. A Study in Language and Cultural Contacts, Göteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis.
Mamdani, M. (1973) From Citizen to Refugee: Uganda Asians Come to Britain, London: Frances Pinter.
Markovits, C. (2000) The Global World of Indian Merchants1750-1947. Traders of Sind from Bukhara to Panama, London: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511497407
Mehta, M. (2001) "Gujarati Business Communities in East African Diaspora. Major Historical Trends," Economic and Political Weekly, 19 May 2001: 1738-1747.
Nagar, R. (1996) "The South Asian Diaspora in Tanzania. A History Retold," Comparative Studies of South Asia and the Middle East, 16(2): 62-80. https://doi.org/10.1215/1089201X-16-2-62
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Oonk, G. (2004) "The Changing Culture of the Hindu Lohana Community," Contemporary South Asia 13:(1): 7-23. https://doi.org/10.1080/0958493042000209843
Oonk, G. (2004) '"After shaking his hand, start counting your fingers". Trust and Images in Indian Business Networks, East Africa 1900-2000', Itinerario 18:(3): 70-88. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0165115300019847
Oonk, G. (2006) 'South Asians in East Africa (1880-1920) with a particular focus on Zanzibar: Toward a Historical Explanation of Economic Success of a Middlemen Minority', African and Asian Studies 5(1): 57-89. https://doi.org/10.1163/156920906775768282
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Palgrave, W.G. (1865) Narrative of a year's Journey through Central and Eastern Arabia, London.
Papastergiadas, N. (2000) The Turbulence of Migration, Globalisation, Deterritorialization and Hybridity, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Pearce, F.B. (1967 [1920]) Zanzibar: Zanzibar. The Island Metropolis of Eastern Africa, London: Frank Cass & Co.
Pearson, M.N. (1998) Port Cities and Intruders. The Swahili Coast, India, Portugal in the Early Modern Era, Baltimore and London.
Ramchandani, R.R. (1976) Uganda Asians. The End of an Enterprise: A Study of the Role of the People of Indian Origin in the Economic Development of Uganda and their Expulsion, 1894-1972, Bombay: United Asia Publications.
Redfield, R., Linton, R. and Herskovits, M. (1935/36) 'Outline for the study of acculturation,' American Anthropologist 38: 149-152. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1936.38.1.02a00330
Ruette, Emile (ed.) (1998 [1886]) Princess Salme of Zanzibar and Oman, Memoires of an Arabian Princess, (Zanzibar: Gallery Publications.
Salvadori, C. (1997) Two Indian Travellers: East Africa 1902-1905, Mombasa: Friends of Fort Jesus.
Sheriff, A. (1971) The Rise of a Commercial Empire: An Aspect of the Economic History of Zanzibar, 1770-1873, Ph.D. thesis, University of London.
Vertovec, S. (2000) The Hindu Diaspora. Comparative Patterns, London: Routledge.
Voigt-Graf, C. (1998) Asian Communities in Tanzania, Hamburg: Institut für Afrikakunde.
Burton, Richard F. (2003 [1872]) Zanzibar, Elibron Classics.
Burton, Richard F. (1869) Lake Region, London.
Chaudhuri, K.N. (1985) Trade and Civilization in the Indian Ocean. An Economic History from the Rise of Islam to 1750, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107049918
Chaudhuri, K.N. (1990) Asia Before Europe. Economy and Civilisation of the Indian Ocean from the Rise of Islam to 1750, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Christie, James (1876) Cholera Epidemics in East Africa. An account of the several diffusions of the disease in that country from 1821 till 1872, with an outline of the geography, ethnology, and trade connections of the regions through which the epidemics passed, London: Macmillan.
Clarence-Smith, W.G. (2001) "Indian and Arab Entrepreneurs in Eastern Africa, 1800-1914" in H. Bonin and M. Cahen (eds.) Négoce blanc en Afrique Noire : L'évolution du commerce à longue distance en Afrique Noire, du 18e au 20e siècles, Paris: Société Française.
Cohen, R. (1997) Global Diaspora. An Introduction, London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203228920
Drummond, D. (1980) "The Cultural Continuum: A theory of Intersystems," Man, 15: 352-374. https://doi.org/10.2307/2801676
Gregory, R.G. (1993) South Asians and East Africa: An Economic and Social History 1890 – 1980, Boulder Colorado: Westview Press.
Guha, R. (1996) Dominance without Hegemony, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Hannerz, U. (1996) 'The World in Creolisation', Africa 57(4): 546-559. https://doi.org/10.2307/1159899
Herskovits, M.J. (1938) Acculturation. The Study of Cultural Contact, New York: J.J. Augustin.
Keesing, R.M. (1976) Cultural Anthropology: A Contemporary Perspective, Canberra: CBS College Publishing.
Lewis, B. (1997) "The West and the Middle East (history of relations)", Foreign Affairs January: 1-21.
Lodhi, A.Y. (2000) Oriental Influences in Swahili. A Study in Language and Cultural Contacts, Göteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis.
Mamdani, M. (1973) From Citizen to Refugee: Uganda Asians Come to Britain, London: Frances Pinter.
Markovits, C. (2000) The Global World of Indian Merchants1750-1947. Traders of Sind from Bukhara to Panama, London: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511497407
Mehta, M. (2001) "Gujarati Business Communities in East African Diaspora. Major Historical Trends," Economic and Political Weekly, 19 May 2001: 1738-1747.
Nagar, R. (1996) "The South Asian Diaspora in Tanzania. A History Retold," Comparative Studies of South Asia and the Middle East, 16(2): 62-80. https://doi.org/10.1215/1089201X-16-2-62
Nandy, A. (1983) The Intimate Enemy, Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Naseem, Abdul Waheed (1975) Nature and the Extent of the Indian Enterprise Along the East African Coast And Subsequently in the Development of Kenya 1840-1905, Ph.D. thesis, St. John's University, New York.
Oonk, G. (2004) "The Changing Culture of the Hindu Lohana Community," Contemporary South Asia 13:(1): 7-23. https://doi.org/10.1080/0958493042000209843
Oonk, G. (2004) '"After shaking his hand, start counting your fingers". Trust and Images in Indian Business Networks, East Africa 1900-2000', Itinerario 18:(3): 70-88. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0165115300019847
Oonk, G. (2006) 'South Asians in East Africa (1880-1920) with a particular focus on Zanzibar: Toward a Historical Explanation of Economic Success of a Middlemen Minority', African and Asian Studies 5(1): 57-89. https://doi.org/10.1163/156920906775768282
Oonk, G. (2008) "'We lost our gift of expression". Loss of the mother tongue among Indians in East Africa, 1880-2000', in G. Oonk (ed.), Global Indian Diasporas: Exploring Trajectories of Migration and Theory, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Palgrave, W.G. (1865) Narrative of a year's Journey through Central and Eastern Arabia, London.
Papastergiadas, N. (2000) The Turbulence of Migration, Globalisation, Deterritorialization and Hybridity, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Pearce, F.B. (1967 [1920]) Zanzibar: Zanzibar. The Island Metropolis of Eastern Africa, London: Frank Cass & Co.
Pearson, M.N. (1998) Port Cities and Intruders. The Swahili Coast, India, Portugal in the Early Modern Era, Baltimore and London.
Ramchandani, R.R. (1976) Uganda Asians. The End of an Enterprise: A Study of the Role of the People of Indian Origin in the Economic Development of Uganda and their Expulsion, 1894-1972, Bombay: United Asia Publications.
Redfield, R., Linton, R. and Herskovits, M. (1935/36) 'Outline for the study of acculturation,' American Anthropologist 38: 149-152. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1936.38.1.02a00330
Ruette, Emile (ed.) (1998 [1886]) Princess Salme of Zanzibar and Oman, Memoires of an Arabian Princess, (Zanzibar: Gallery Publications.
Salvadori, C. (1997) Two Indian Travellers: East Africa 1902-1905, Mombasa: Friends of Fort Jesus.
Sheriff, A. (1971) The Rise of a Commercial Empire: An Aspect of the Economic History of Zanzibar, 1770-1873, Ph.D. thesis, University of London.
Vertovec, S. (2000) The Hindu Diaspora. Comparative Patterns, London: Routledge.
Voigt-Graf, C. (1998) Asian Communities in Tanzania, Hamburg: Institut für Afrikakunde.