Description: This study of Asian agency in colonial Nyanza provides a blueprint to understand the persistent insufficiency in sugar production in post-independence Kenya. This book brings to light issues in broader Kenyan economic history, such as the undercapitalization of peasant farmers...
Review Quotes:
"Godriver Wanga-Odhiambo has written the definitive history of the Asian farmers involved in the sugar industry in the Kibos-Muhoroni locations of Central Nyanza, a district in colonial Kenya. . . This book is authoritative, comprehensive, and scrupulously documented." --American Historical Review
"This well researched and richly detailed book is the first to examine the history of sugar production in colonial western Kenya. This analysis makes significant contributions to knowledge with regard to sugar growing and refining in Kenya, which are subjects of much contemporary importance and controversy." --Robert Maxon, West Virginia University "Godriver Wanga-Odhiambo traces the role of Asians in the establishment of the sugar industry in Kenya and effectively evaluates the dynamics of sugarcane farming and sugar production in colonial Kenya. The book is rich in historical detail, extensive in statistical data, and rigorous in critical analysis. It is highly recommended for anyone interested in issues of agrarian development in a colonial setting and the implications of the same for the political economy of the post-colony." --Wanjala S. Nasong'o, Rhodes College "Godriver Wanga-Odhiambo's book offers an erudite analysis of a political economy of sugar production in a racialized Kenyan colonial economic system that favored European commercial interests. Wanga-Odhiambo illuminates the organized political struggles and perseverance of Asian entrepreneurs in defiance of European settler colonial economic injustice in Central Nyanza. She provides a compelling interpretation of the ways in which European settler colonialism adversely affected Asian engagement in Central Nyanza sugar production. Wanga-Odhiambo's robust analysis and interpretation of archival documents richly captures the racial dimensions of the political economy of sugar production in Central Nyanza. This pioneering and articulate work is an important resource for both scholars and students seeking a deeper understanding of the foundation of early sugar production in Central Nyanza, Colonial Kenya." --Onek Adyanga, Millersville University