Post-Colonial Influence
Define Toto and its significance in the text
The White Kenyan settler population regularly referred to African children as Totos as a way to dehumanize and distinguish African children from children in general. When arriving in Kenya, Gilmore was warned not to stop if she hit a toto on the road to avoid conflicts with locals (84).
What does Motoga mean?
Car
What is the name of the “valuable lands” set aside for European settlement?
And why were they set aside for this purpose: The name is the “White Highlands”. These were chosen to be for European settlers as the climate, landscape, and high altitudes were seen as “suitable for European occupation and development– for building a “new country”” (59).
What does the name Kekopey stand for?
Comes from the Massai word for “place that turns from green to white” (62) and describes the drastic differences from the rainy season to the dry season.
How does Kisisi reflect cultural hybridity and differ from post-colonial power dynamics?
It utilizes cultural blending in a way that equally utilizes Swahili and English. When culture blends, an emphasis is often placed on English and other colonial languages which causes linguistic inequalities.
How does Kisisi deepen the bond between Colin and Sadiki?
Helps remove the language barrier and allows them to bond through linguistic creativity and friendship.
What cultural privileges did each boy acquire as a result of their friendship with one another?
They both developed the ability to navigate cross-cultural spaces as well as develop stronger relationships with cultural practices and deeper understanding.
What was the negative result of selling Kekopey?
Though the idea of restoring land under African ownership is a principal key in Africanization, Sadiki’s family suffered. Cattle herders became obsolete and Sadiki’s parents returned to the Samburu reserve where poverty, unemployment, drought, and fierce tribal conflicts were endemic.
Define Parrhesia and its significance in the reading
“To speak freely or boldly with the implication that there was also an obligation to speak the truth for those parrhesiastes, who use this fearless speech” (91). Colin and Sadiki created their language, fearlessly employing it daily, resisting postcolonial biases, and reshaping the social structure around them in a society where their language and friendship are looked down on.
What are the reasons/ characteristics that Gilmore gave for why Kisisi “In its earliest phase of the language genesis, it reflected the simplification (pidginization) of forms typical pidgin languages”?
A restricted lexicon, unmarking, absences of copula (the verb to be), articles and inflection, preverbal negation, polysemy (many meanings for a word), and circumlocution (many words for fewer ones and figures of speech) (95-96).
Name one of the issues and privileges Sadiki faced/acquired after becoming friends with Colin and entering dominant white spaces in Kenya.
Issues: he was not invited to birthday parties, no possibility of bringing Sadiki to the Coles table due to rigid race boundaries, people still addressed them differently to keep them in their racial confines (78). Privileges: He was given a private school education, he could enter the Gilgil Country Club, Barbara Terry (preschool teacher) looked after him after the Perrys left, and overall was given educational opportunities not available to other Black Kenyan children.
What year did the Coles family sell Kekopey? Why did they sell?
After independence in 1963 President Kenyatta gave the Coles notice that they should sell Kekopey by 1980 as part of the Africanization campaign. They sold the ranch in 1977.
How does the Gilgil Baboon Research Project serve as an example of post-colonial influence in Kekopey
The Gilgil Baboon Research Project exemplifies post-colonial influence in Kekopey through its connection to colonial legacies and privilege. The project operates within a colonial scientific framework, where Western researchers extract knowledge while neglecting local voices and realities. The idyllic portrayal of Kekopey as a “primal paradise” minimizes its historical complexities and reinforces colonial attitudes. Additionally, the partnership between colonial landowners and researchers highlights ongoing inequalities, with the latter enjoying privileges that starkly contrast with the living conditions of local communities. This dynamic perpetuates socio-economic disparities rooted in colonial exploitation. (68-70)
For half the points name two of the colonial strategies used to dispossess the Kekopey people of their land. And for the other half explain what would happen to these people afterwards.
Part 1: 1)The land that was used “seasonally by its native inhabitants” that practiced “shifting agricultural cultivation or bush following” was perceived as empty, therefore the British would claim the land while the inhabitants were gone. 2) the British would militarily remove inhabitants. Part 2: Some of the inhabitants would be relocated to “ethnic reserves”, and this also resulted in deaths. (59-60)