The political economy of famine ecology and history in Machakos District during the colonial era
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Date
2014
Authors
Matheka, Reuben M.
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Abstract
The study documents food problems in colonial Machakos
in the context of the changes wrought by the development of
capitalism in the area. The paradigm of articulation
of~10des of production is therefore applied to the analysis
of food crises in their particular historical context. Each
food crisis is examined in the light of social, political,
economic and ecological changes emanating from the interaction
I between aspects of pre-capitalist Kamba system of production
and the capitalist mode of production.
The process of articulation between the two modes of
production was initiated by merchant capitalism in the late
nineteenth century and intensified by colonial capitalism in
the twentieth century. The basic concern of this study is the role
of. the colonial state (and therefore colonial capitalism)
in the transformation of the Kamba society, and how that
transformation featured in food problems. For example, land
alienation caused overcrowding and overstocking which engendered
lover-cultivation, over-grazing and soil erosion. Land
degradation was further aggravated by monetisation of the
economy, which bred commodity production and wage labour.
This socio-ecological transformation was not accompanied by
technological advancement and therefore the society's margin
of security against climatic variability was progressively reduced.
Thus, after the ecological disasters of the late
1890s, the Kamba economy recovered to the extent that the
society was able to resist large scale 'proletarianisation'
until about 1930. However, the impact of land alienation,
drought and locust invasion in 1928-29, and the Great
Depression (1929-35) greatly eroded the economy's dynamism.
The 1930s therefore witnessed increased proletarianisation
and ecological degradation, processes which culminated in
severe food shortages during the Second World War. Despite
its pervasion, the post-war development programme did not
provide immediate solutions to environmental degradation and
food crises. On the whole, the study asserts. that c.limatic
factors notwithstanding, the colonial state's policies on
land, labour, taxation, public expenditure etc intensified
the frequency and intensity of food crises in Machakos District.
Description
Masters in Arts-Department of History, Archaeology and Political Studies, 100p. February 1992.