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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Wartime Recruiting Practices, Martial Identity and Post-World War II Demobilization in Colonial Kenya |
Author: | Brands, Hal |
Year: | 2005 |
Periodical: | The Journal of African History |
Volume: | 46 |
Issue: | 1 |
Period: | March |
Pages: | 103-125 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Kenya |
Subjects: | veterans colonial forces colonialism History and Exploration Military, Defense and Arms |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/4100831 |
Abstract: | After World War II, African ex-servicemen in Kenya sought to maintain the socioeconomic gains they had accrued through service in the King's African Rifles (KAR). Looking for middle-class employment and social privileges, they challenged existing relationships within the colonial State. For the most part, veterans did not participate in national politics, believing that their goals could be achieved within the confines of colonial society. The postwar actions of KAR veterans are best explained by an examination of their initial perceptions of colonial military service. Indeed, the social and economic connotations of KAR service, combined with the massive wartime expansion of Kenyan defence forces, created a new class of Africans with distinctive characteristics and interests. These socioeconomic perceptions proved powerful after the war, often informing ex-askari action. Notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract] |