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ERIC Number: EJ1347851
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022-Mar
Pages: 19
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-2041-6938
EISSN: EISSN-2041-6946
Ruin of Empire: The Uganda Railway and Memory Work in Kenya
Aselmeyer, Norman
Journal of Educational Media, Memory and Society, v14 n1 p14-32 Mar 2022
This article is concerned with the memory of the Uganda Railway in Kenya. Built during the heyday of British imperialism at the end of the nineteenth century, the colonial railway has been a highly contested infrastructure. Drawing on museum exhibitions, public speeches, and publications, the article argues that the main narrative of the railway line as a tool of oppression began to change when the railway infrastructure gradually deteriorated in the mid-twentieth century. I show how three distinct groups (white expatriates, Kenyan-Asians, and Kenya's political elite) were involved in creating a new public memory that popularized the Uganda Railway as a cornerstone of the postcolonial nation. Their uncoordinated but simultaneous efforts toward a new reading of the past all aimed, albeit for different reasons, at reimagining the nation. The article thus shows mechanisms of coming to terms with the colonial past in a postcolonial nation.
Berghahn Journals. 20 Jay Street Suite 512, Brooklyn, NY 11201. Tel: 212-233-6004; Fax: 212-233-6007; e-mail: journals@berghahnbooks.com; Web site: http://www.journals.berghahnbooks.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Uganda; Kenya
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A