The Comorians in Kenya: the Establishment and Loss of an Economic Niche
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THE COMORIANS IN KENYA: THE ESTABLISHMENT AND LOSS OF AN ECONOMIC NICHE Gillian Marie Shepherd A dissertation submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the London School of Economics 1982 1 ABSTRACT This study deals, not with the kind of bounded group anthropologists usually prefer, but attempts to document a shifting category, whose ethno- graphy involves an understanding of complex historical processes, and knowledge ranging through time and space. I aim to show what happened, over a long period, to a category of individuals originating in the Comoro Islands (Ngazija in almost all cases) who migrated first to Zanzibar and then on to mainland East Africa in search of employment. Comorians, like the Swahilis of the East African coast, are of mixed Arab/Bantu African origin, and they speak languages which have diverged from a common KiSwahili origin. The islands formed part of the same trading network as the small Swahili city-states until the twentieth century, and their sultans were related both agnatically and affinally to the Swahili sultans. Comorians thus had much in common, historically and culturally, with the Swahilis among whom they went to find employment. However, once there, they established for themselves, and had estab- lished for them by circumstances, a niche which was compounded of social class, 'race' as defined during the colonial period, and type of employment, which differentiated them sharply from the Swahilis, and which they came to regard as defining their personal as well as their public identity. When external factors changed after the Independence of the East African countries, the public-identity which Comorians had enjoyed became , less and less tenable. They had not only to make new economic choices, but also to make a personal adaptation to the fact that the high esteem in which they had previously been held (which depended upon the presence of Europeans) had gone. The effect this had on their private sense of identity, and on their preferences in such matters as residence, marriage and indeed ultimately nationality, are traced out here. 2 CONTENTS Introduction 7 Fieldwork, and fieldwork difficulties 10 A note on usages 13 Acknowledgements 14 Section I: Public identity: The Comorian employment niche 1840-1970 17 CHAPTER 1 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF COMORIANS IN ZANZIBAR 18 1.0 Comorians in Nineteenth-century Zanzibar 18 2.0 Comorians in Zanzibar 1903-1939 33 3.0 Comorians in Zanzibar 1939-1963 51 4.0 Revolution and after: Comorians in Zanzibar from 1964 onwards 61 5.0 Conclusion 66 CHAPTER 2 THE STRENGTHENING OF RACIAL BOUNDARIES 68 1.0 Introduction 68 2.0 Kenya and the Comorians 1900-1930 71 3.0 Kenya and the Comorians 1930-1945 80 4.0 Kenya and the Comorians 1945-1963 99 5.0 Conclusions 122 CHAPTER 2 PART 2 EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES IN KENYA 1926-1963 125 1.0 'Others' 125 2.0 Employment until 1930 127 3.0 Changes in employment patterns between 1926 and 1948 128 4.0 Changes which resulted from the Second World War 132 5.0 Wages - the pre-War period 138 6.0 Wages - the post-War period 141 SECTION II: Private identity: Themes in and variations upon Swahili—Comorian kinship patterns 148 CHAPTER 5 KINSHIP AND MARRIAGE AMONG EAST AFRICAN SWAHILIS AND THE COMORIANS IN NGAZIJA 149 Introduction 149 3 2.0 Swahili and Comorian kinship conceptions 151 3.0 Types of kinship unit among Swahilis 161 4.0 Comorian kinship 173 5.0 Supra-local kinship: the patrilineage among Swahilis and Comorians 188 6.0 Age as an organising factor 197 7.0 Marriage 203 8.0 Divorce 211 9.0 Conclusion 213 CHAPTER 4 KINSHIP AND MARRIAGE AMONG COMORIANS IN EAST AFRICA TO 1970 215 1.0 The flexibility of bilaterality 215 2.0 The choice of marriage partners 223 3.0 Divorce 234 4.0 The nature of the two Comorian wazalia categories in Kenya 238 5.0 The importance of women 245 6.0 Fictive kinship 255 7.0 Conclusion 262 Section III: Employment, kinship and the potential for change 264 CHAPTER 5 PATTERNS OF RESIDENCE, HOUSEHOLD COMPOSITION AND EMPLOYMENT AMONG COMORIANS IN KENYA, 1973/1974 265 1.0 Limitations of the data 265 2.0 Residence patterns 267 3.0 The household: size and composition 280 4.0 Employment 307 5.0 Conclusion 312 CHAPTER 6 ADAPTATION AND CHANGE 319 1.0 Public and private Comorian identities 319 2.0 Choices 329 3.0 The use of Comorian networks in East Africa by Comorians in Ngazija 358 4.0 The limits of kinship 363 5.0 Conclusion 374 4 CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSION 375 1.0 Frameworks for identity 375 2.0 Ethnicity 377 3.0 Kinship patterns through time 379 4.0 Conclusion 381 BIBLIOGRAPHY 383 APPENDIX 1: Swahili and Comorian kinship terms 397 APPENDIX 2: Two marriage forms in the Comoro Islands 400 APPENDIX 3: Double endogamy: Marriage strategies among the Ngazija elite 415 LIST OF MAPS Map 1: Mombasa 269 Map 2: Nairobi 274 5 LIST OF TABLES 1 Urban Class Structure in Zanzibar by Occupation 53 2 Numbers of Comorians in the category 'Others' - 1947 126 3 Domestic employment by race and sex in 1926 and 1931 127 4 Oecupational categories by order of numerical importance in each racial category, 1926, 1931 and 1948 129 5 Occupational categories by order of numerical importance in each racial category of immigrants for the years 1930 and 1935 133 6 Male African Employees by Occupation: 1947 134 7 Chief occupations of non-native adult males in each racial category in order of numerical importance, 1962 137 8 Clerical staff pay-scales 1936 139 "9 Public sector rates, 1948 140 10 Average monthly basic cash wages by occupation - adult male African employees, 1947 143 11 Average monthly wage rates in selected types of employment, 1947-1949: non-native employees 144 12 Wages per head of population, by race: 1955 146 13 Marriage preferences of spouses in 125 Kenya-based marriages in which at least one partner is Comorian 232 14 Places of birth of Swahili and Comorian household heads 267 15 Place of birth of Comorian household heads by residence in Nairobi or Mombasa 268 16 Swahili and Comorian areas of residence in Mombasa 272 17 Areas of residence of Comorian household heads in Mombasa, by birthplace 273 18 Area of residence of Comorian household heads in Nairobi, by birthplace 276 19 Owning and renting among Comorian and Swahili household heads 277 20 Owning, renting and birthplace among Comorian household heads 278 21 Total and average number of rooms, adults and children, in Swahili and Comorian households, omitting seven households 284 22 Total and average number of rooms, adults and children among Comorian households, by birthplace of household head 285 23 Household size of all households in sample 287 24 Comorian households by type of household composition 288 6 Table 25 Swahili households by type of household composition 294 26 Swahili and Comorian household heads by age category 295 27 Comorian household types by household head's birthplace 296 30 The incorporation of individuals into Swahili and Comorian households by household heads and spouses (summarizing Tables 28 and 29) 298 31 Households where women are actual or effective household heads 303 32 Occupation levels among Swahili and Comorian household heads 1973/74 307 28 Additional persons found in 18 households with a Swahili head comprising those in household-type categories 3, 4 and 5 in Table 25 314 29 Additional persons found in 30 households with a Comorian head comprising those in household-type categories 3, 4 and 5 in Table 24 315 33 Comorian households in Nairobi 316 34 Comorian households in Mombasa 317 35 Swahili households in Mombasa 318 LIST OF FIGURES 1 Hawaiian generational terminology - Swahili kinship and affinity schematized 152 2 Hawaiian generational terminology - Comorian kinship and affinity schematized 152 3 Sister exchange and the passing of a kidani (heavy gold necklace) at ada marriages between kin 207 4 The overlapping of three households 282 5 The household of Shaikh Salim 291 6 Talib's link to his Kamba kin 346a 7 The extension of a Mitsamihuli inya to Kenya 360 8 Whereabouts of the jamaa of a Comorian mgeni in Kenya 370 9 Whereabouts of the jamaa of a Zanzibar-born Comorian in Kenya 371 10 Marriages in Ngazija and Kenya over about 45 years 380a 11 Matriclan, patrilineage and sultanate 417 7 INTRODUCTION This study does not deal with the kind of bounded group which anthropologists often prefer, but attempts to document a shifting category, whose ethnography involves an understanding of complex historical processes, and knowledge ranging through time and space. I aim to show what happened, over a long period, to a category of individuals originating in the Comoro Islands (Ngazija, in almost all cases) who migrated to East Africa in search of employment. There, they established for themselves, and had established for them by circum- stance, a niche which was compounded of social class, 'race' as defined during the colonial period, and type of employment, and which they came to regard as defining their personal as well as public identity. When external factors changed after the Independence of the East African countries, the public identity which Comorians had enjoyed became less and less tenable, and they had not only to make new economic choices, but also to make a personal adaptation to the fact that the high esteem in which they had previously been held had gone. The effect this had on their private sense of identity, and in their preferences in such matters as residence and marriage, are traced out here.