Africa During the Scramble: The Rebellion that Didn't Happen

[Gary Oswald]

Discuss this article here

 

[Charles EP M.]

Re the Masaii in popular imagination, I do remember them coming up in reprints of Willard Price's [BLANK] Adventure books as a strange but noble tribe of warriors you had to respect (cow blood came up) or another Mau Mau Rebellion could start. So years after they got shuffled away, they seemed to hold some imaginations before the end of empire.

 

[Thande]

Re the Masaii in popular imagination, I do remember them coming up in reprints of Willard Price's [BLANK] Adventure books as a strange but noble tribe of warriors you had to respect (cow blood came up) or another Mau Mau Rebellion could start. So years after they got shuffled away, they seemed to hold some imaginations before the end of empire.

The Masai are definitely the "African tribe" everyone (in the UK at least) pictures first when someone uses those words, even more so than the Zulu I would say.

Gary, is the way you've spelled it here considered the 'correct' transliteration nowadays? I know a lot of renderings have been changed since the imperial period but I don't recall seeing it that way before.

 

[Gary Oswald]

Gary, is the way you've spelled it here considered the 'correct' transliteration nowadays? I know a lot of renderings have been changed since the imperial period but I don't recall seeing it that way before.

God knows, I found it transliterated in like 30 different ways in different books, so I just copped out and used what Wikipedia uses.

 

[RyanF]

You always do well to dispel monolithic understandings of Africa in these articles, be it African cultures or colonial governance.

Not sure if you plan on doing another on Kenya/East Africa, but reading this one I found myself thinking how post-World War One British control of modern Tanzania might impact things here.

 

[OHC]

Re the Masaii in popular imagination, I do remember them coming up in reprints of Willard Price's [BLANK] Adventure books as a strange but noble tribe of warriors you had to respect (cow blood came up) or another Mau Mau Rebellion could start.

I loved those books as a kid and had forgotten who wrote them or what the titles were, thank you! I didn't realize how old they were either. (I bet I'd notice some telltale signs if I read them again.)

 

[FriendlyGhost]

is the way you've spelled it here considered the 'correct' transliteration nowadays?

I found it transliterated in like 30 different ways in different books, so I just copped out and used what Wikipedia uses.

Wikipedia seems to have it correct. Maasai is how the Visit Kenya website spells it (https://www.visitkenya.com/the-people/) and below is a quotation from a site dedicated to them (https://maasai.com/conservation/maasai/):

Maasai (not Masai or Massai) is the correct spelling of this noble tribe: it means people speaking maa.​

​

Gary, I don't often comment on these articles because my knowledge of the subject is woefully lacking, but since I'm replying here anyway: thanks for this series - it's a fascinating look at the impact over decades (centuries?) of decisions made by people in Africa (both natives and colonisers) and people elsewhere.

 

[Gary Oswald]

You always do well to dispel monolithic understandings of Africa in these articles, be it African cultures or colonial governance.

Gary, I don't often comment on these articles because my knowledge of the subject is woefully lacking, but since I'm replying here anyway: thanks for this series - it's a fascinating look at the impact over decades (centuries?) of decisions made by people in Africa (both natives and colonisers) and people elsewhere.

Cheers, lads. Appreciate it.

Not sure if you plan on doing another on Kenya/East Africa, but reading this one I found myself thinking how post-World War One British control of modern Tanzania might impact things here.

I hadn't planned to go back to this, but the effects of the post 1918 border changes on the ground is fascinating and could easily be an article.

 

[Francisco Cojuanco]

Cheers, lads. Appreciate it.



I hadn't planned to go back to this, but the effects of the post 1918 border changes on the ground is fascinating and could easily be an article.

I mean yeah, look at Rwanda.