Social Control and Social Engineering: African Reserves in Kenya 1895–1920

Abstract

The establishment of African reserves in early colonial Kenya is examined in an effort to analyse the motives of the colonial state in the formulation of its social and spatial policies. It took time to develop a reserves policy. There was even debate about whether any land should be set aside for Africans. Ostensibly, reserves were established to protect African-held land from encroachment by European settlers. However, it is apparent that there was a deeper motive: spatial segregation was part of a strategy of indirect rule and thereby lowered the cost to the state of social control. Furthermore, officials soon learned that by altering the size and pattern of reserves, aims of changing African society could be pursued by limiting land availability and forcing change in African land-use and trading patterns. The manipulation of space became one of the most important tools of colonial control and social policy.