Imperial Ark? The Politics of Wildlife in East and South-Central Africa, 1920-1992 By Jeffrey Schauer A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor James Vernon, Chair Professor Tabitha Kanogo Professor Thomas Laqueur Professor Michael Watts Spring 2014 Imperial Ark? The Politics of Wildlife in East and South-Central Africa, 1920-1992 © 2014 By Jeffrey Schauer ABSTRACT Imperial Ark? The Politics of Wildlife in East and South-Central Africa, 1920-1992 by Jeffrey Schauer Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Berkeley Professor James Vernon, Chair The dissertation examines the “politics of wildlife” in British colonies in East and South-Central Africa during the colonial era and after independence. By conceptualizing that “politics” around the institutions, individuals, and interests that took an interest in wildlife matters, the dissertation attends to the emergence of and changes in wildlife policy as they were shaped by the characteristics of colonial rule and a broader set of regional, imperial, and global developments, including decolonization and post-Second World War internationalism. It also attends to the influence of Africans on shaping colonial wildlife policy, whether as farmers, nationalists, or local officials. The central discovery of this dissertation is that wildlife policy moved from being the preserve of an imperial lobby to a policy sphere governed by the concerns of various sectors of local colonial society. After the Second World War, security concerns combined with a strengthened international preservationist movement to effectively internationalise Africa’s wildlife. This occurred alongside Africanization, a policy pursued by newly-independent governments in order to shore up their own control over policymaking, and the arrival of international scientists, who sought to introduce their own priorities to the wildlife sector. In this seven-decade contest between those interests which were local, colonial, or national on the one hand, and those which were imperial, international, or global on the other, a surprising array of interests sought to capture East and South-Central Africa’s wildlife sector for ambitions related to economic development, anti-colonial campaigning, preservationist advocacy, scientific inquiry, administrative supremacy, and colonial and national security. Over time, struggles for the control of this sector reflected broader trends at the global and local levels, marking the ascendancy and eclipse of colonial empires, and the rise of a neo-colonial order. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS IMAGES AND TABLES ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii INTRODUCTION. The Politics of Wildlife in East and South-Central Africa 1 CHAPTER ONE. Unrepentant Butchers: Ugandan Elephant Control and the Making of Central African Wildlife Policy, 1924-1944 21 CHAPTER TWO. Governing the Game: Expertise, Authority, and Administration in Northern Rhodesia’s Wildlife Sector, 1925-1960 48 CHAPTER THREE. Government Cattle: Anti-Wildlife Politics in East and Central Africa, ca. 1926 to 1960 81 CHAPTER FOUR. Deferring Uhuru: Decolonization and the Coming of the Global Wildlife Preservation Movement 113 CHAPTER FIVE. Salvation Through Science? Ecology, Culling, Bureaucracy, and the Contradiction of National Parks in East Africa, 1952 to 1972 142 CHAPTER SIX. After Uhuru: The Post-Colonial State and Wildlife in Kenya, 1972 to 1992 173 EPILOGUE 204 BIBLIOGRAPHY 212 i IMAGES AND TABLES Images Image 1: Africa after the First World War 5 Image 2: Contemporary Africa 5 Image 3: Tusks in Zanzibar, a centre of the ivory trade for much of the nineteenth century. 11 Image 4: Map I from Pitman’s Northern Rhodesia report, showing the course of his survey. 40 Image 5: Map H from Pitman’s Northern Rhodesia Survey, showing distribution of fauna in Barotse. 41 Image 6: Map J from Pitman’s Northern Rhodesia report, showing population density at the level of the sub-District. 43 Image 7: Game Ranger Les Vaughan with an unnamed Game Guard. 61 Image 8: The evacutation of Tonga villages in the Gwembe Valley. 103 Image 9: Hastings Banda (Malawi) and Julius Nyerere (Tanzania), two post-independence leaders whose comments about wildlife by turns frightened and heartened preservationists. 136 Image 10: The Royal Navy helps to count Tsavo’s elephants. 158 Image 11: Wildlife propaganda by the Northern Rhodesian Game and Tsetse Control Department. 161 Table Table 1: Size of Personnel and Area of Wildlife Departments in British/Former British Africa, 1961 177 ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It is immensely gratifying, at the end of one journey and the beginning of another, to be able to reflect on the large number of people who contributed to making this historical investigation proceed smoothly. Needless to say, while they may take credit for any of the strengths in what follows, I reserve the right to myself to claim responsibility for its ills. Research funding is critical for any historical study—particularly those which are conducted in part abroad. I am grateful to the Centers for British and African Studies at UC Berkeley. The former provided a travel grant, a pre-dissertation grant from the Anglo-California Foundation, and a Berkeley-Pembroke Exchange Grant, which allowed me to spend a semester at Pembroke College in Cambridge. The Center also provided a lively and generous intellectual community. The Center for African Studies, under the tireless leadership of Martha Saavedra, kindly administered Rocca pre-dissertation and dissertation grants, and the opportunity to present work and discuss field methods, as well as many wonderful events. The Department of History and Graduate Division provided further funding, and I must thank Gina Farales in the Grad Division Fellowship Office for her help. Without this financial support, what follows would have been impossible. The History Department at UC Berkeley provided a happy institutional home for six years. Much of this has to do with the incomparable Mabel Lee, who so far as I can tell has never met a question she couldn’t answer or a problem she shouldn’t solve, an invaluable quality in a large, bureaucratic institution, and one made all the more priceless by her warmth and kindness. I benefited enormously from the guidance, whether in coursework or GSI work, of Ethan Shagan, Abena Osseo-Asare, J P Daughton, Jonathan Sheehan, Stefan-Ludwig Hoffmann, and Alan Karras. Joseph Omwamba gamely provided Kiswahili lessons in a Dwinelle basement during summer months, and Africanist Librarian Jason Schultz has been of great assistance. Tom Metcalf not only co-taught my first course at Berkeley, but has provided leads, advice, and feedback since. Jeff Romm, from the Environmental Sciences, Policy, and Management Department led a wonderful graduate seminar and provided guidance for my qualifying exams, on which he sat as a member. I arrived at Berkeley from UC Irvine, and Doug Haynes has continued to be a source of advice and support. Laura Mitchell hosted a wonderful African Studies multi-campus research group at Irvine, served as a member of my exam committee, and has kept her inbox open to questions about the field, the academic world, and miscellanea as they poured in from Berkeley, Britain, and Africa. My fellow-travellers in the graduate program, in my cohort and in the British Studies world and beyond, have made the experience that much better. Penny Ismay, Riyad Koya, and Caroline Shaw first shepherded me on a tour of the Berkeley campus when I visited, and have been supportive ever since. Chase Arnold, Nora Barakat, Angelo Caglioti, Chris Church, Jon Cole, Graham Foreman, Rob Harkins, Katie Harper, Radhika Natarajan, Carrie Ritter and Tehila Sasson constituted a support-group in Berkeley, and I had a number of helpful conversations with Louisa Lombard about wildlife politics in Africa. Work abroad and in the archives requires the support of a great many other people. At Pembroke College, Becky Coombs and Loraine Gelthrope allowed me to slip into a productive research routine. The Centre of African Studies at Cambridge, and Felicitas Becker and Emma Hunter in particular, provided a welcoming community. Bill Adams at Cambridge and William Beinart at Oxford offered insights and advice. Stella Brecknell (Hope Library), Ellie Davies (Empire and Commonwealth Museum Library), Carol Davis (Kendal Museum), James Hatton iii (Natural History Museum), Michael Palmer (Zoological Society of London Library), and the staffs of the Pembroke College Library, the University Library (Cambridge), the British Library, Rhodes House Library (Oxford), and the British National Archives all provided wonderful assistance during repeated visits to Britain. With James Vernon, David Anderson and Megan Vaughan advocated for the opening of the records of the Nuffield Unit of Tropical Animal Ecology at the University Library of Cambridge, and I am grateful to Claire Castle, Jane Acred, Michael Akam, and Jacky Cox for facilitating that opening. Megan Braun was a good hiking buddy and provided many an interesting conversation; Alethia Alfonso provided friendship and a place to stay in London; and it was always a pleasure to run into Berkeley people at the British Library and Kew. In Kenya, the staff at the National Archives were always welcoming and enthusiastic in rendering assistance. Richard Ambani, the patron saint of researchers, can dig up the most obscure documents. Peterson Kithuka and Philip Omondi have also been of great help. The YMCA on State House Road has been my home-away-from-home in Kenya over several visits, and I am grateful to Antony, Fred, Freddy, Rose, Consolat, Priscilla, Jacky, and all the other staff for making me feel so very much at home, and to Tom for the breakfast conversations. It is a particularly great pleasure to return to Kenya to catch up with David Gathoni, Ken Owade, Felix Onditi, and Mike Sang. In Uganda, the staff at the Makerere Library, the National Library, the Uganda Management Institute, the Parliament of Uganda, and the Uganda Wildlife Authority provided assistance.