jure. Ann Arbor: The University of In: Dirks, N.B. (ed,) (1992) Colonialism and cult Michigan Press:209-45, 208 1 Coleniaien and Cult ingarice i southera Inia, sue Pamela G. “Resouroes aed Rule in Zam indaci Southern India, 1802-1903: Siyaebgat and Resimad as Kingdoms wader the Rai" (PhD. diss, Universi Wisconsin, 1979) OF parscular terest is | her disewsion of sucenniop afomtes hep. 5, 152-79) Colonizing Time: Work Rhythms t and Labor Conflict in i Colonial Mombasa Frederick Cooper Colonizing space was ont question, colonizing time another, Britain, France, and the other colonizing posters seut their armies across the Afvican continent at the end of the nineteenth century, concentrating forces sufficiently to subdue Kingdoms and intimidate villages into acknowledging the soversignty of a distant power, The content of that sovereignty, however, remained problematic, At the time of conquest, industrial eapitalism in Europe had reached a stage of great complexity land considerable—if hardly unchellenged—self-confidence: Europeans ‘thought they knew what kind of economic steuctuzes would lead to [progress in the colonies ss well as at home. ‘This article is about the effort of a colonial power to induce Afvican workers to adapt to the work shythms of industria) capitalism: (0 the idea that work should be steady and regular and carefully controtled. tt focuses om two moments when a colonial state—Kenya—made @ cor ‘cetéed alfempt to impose such a modet of time on a particular social cnilicu, one at the beginning of the colonial era, the other at the eu. In the frst round, the Kenys governiment successfully asserted its power lover the wide spaces of portion of Aftica, but could not impase its vision within tie workplace of its most valuable and vulnerable port In the second, the colonial state—with considerable difficulty —imposed its work thythins on a tiny proportion of the Kenyan work foree, but, as it did so, ir helped to shape a discourse om Aftican society that separated—more starkly chan ever before—the restructured milieu fom the undisciplined work cultute outside it. Remaking time in the 1940s and 1950s also remade space, not in the 208210. Colonisline and Cuteure sense of a broad imperialist sweep across the continent, but ix the sense of compartmentalizina Africa, Once dock work demanded a regulas, fulltime commitment from workers and once its rewards made a job too valuaple to sive up, dockworkers' life chances besame sherply dis- ‘Snwsished from the wosking population that did not have access 10 such jobs, and svose exowing presence in the cities officals could not prevent. Meanwhile, the very process of thinking through « polisy toward sucts workers led officals increasingly to dichozomize the "modern" world they thought they "were creating from the “traditional” world they thought they were separating it from. Dualism became a defining car acteristic of social analysis within the colonial burcaueracy, and in the social sciences concemed with Africa a¢ well. The important changes in the iscms of international discourse on Africa reflected not just the evolution of acadetnic disciplines and world potites, but the effects of Jocal transformations and global frustratioas ia the late colonial era." “The sigulficance of the question of time in the development of indus- trial capitatism was the focus of a now famous article by B. ®, Thompson (1967), He argued that, at one time, European cultivators and peasants shared with people in parts of the world now desgribed as undeveloped fan attitude toward time and werk discipline vastly different from that ‘which came to.dorminate European society. t was not that people worked tess of ith less motivation, but that their notions oF aiseipline were lneatéd around the notion of “task time:” When something had to be tdqne, it was, and co effort varied seasonally and in other ways, while work thyths were integrated into patterns of social life. The work rhythms of modern Eurape—elock time”— ere not natural charac teristos ofa particular cultute, but historical developments, consequences ff the rise of wage labor and the imposition of discipline from above. ‘The capitalist bought his laborer’ time and insisted that he get his previse clue. The notion of clock time was vigorously insinuated into daily Life: som the highly visible clock to the factory bell to the commercialization fof timepieces to the regular rhythms of schoo! periods to the practice fof clocking-in, as workers? arrivals and departures’ were coded onto a ard, When workers started to demand extra payments for overtime tt twas @ sign that they “had accepted the categories af their employers and fegened 10 ht back within them. They had learned their lesson, that time is money, oaly too well” (Thompson 1967, 86). Mote recently, some scholars, while acknowledging the overall trend, hove argued that Thompson treated itn too linear a manner, The estab- Colositing Time 7 218 san f werd soutien ptr nds imc vars. Brake macbm, end barging, asin cee nde, orves Wore mete Successful in maintaining ask oretation and pata eontel ove work organzncion than Thompuon alos. Toe clock—au te dichotamy of sk ese sh ae it he of any ad comnts lin hs conn to eo (i fi y ies mune ye ep Nevertheless lee tha sess of lesen notions of ime ao work sie inthe cent Gf ealnzaton, patel ws cer tole eans ted wo hares che labor powe ofthe close, Kelso Atkins (965) as arsed tat Zaewoskers in miinten-cenary Soh Ala nad ap iene non sutne, oly hes nt the werk cake of te white conquers and employers The contrition a ttentvecopceptions of work se, however, was ead ty whe som rests a bere of he Arce Tas th the comesion ovr ine Ws, et @ OnE one cucone had deternsed by the forma postion of coin ru tha here were moe than wo arta ways of orga ate the Wong Gay and he working ie and Ace workers explored iv daly ana toll, a sees of new fr et he almat impostien of the Colona constacton of time Usitine n the dks of Mombasa was ingined ty eouph the acowing ofthe spats rena toch ‘npfied; and tha fil changing notns of tie and pace ia Teller ars as much a her scsi, ‘Time and Work Discipline in Coastal Kenyan Slave Society Time ane work were contested before the advent of colonial conquerors snd manages. A pereulary important ste of contortion was the coast of what is now Kenya, part af a bels of fei territory often no tore than cen miles desp, with (in places) a range of fils fetlowed by ‘an atid region on one sie, and the Indian Osean on the other. Coastal society gazed toward the isteior of Avice and out 10 se2. The regional language, Swati, shared its basic sirustuce with the largest language sroup in Arica, but included a substantial component of ioanwords, mainly Arabic, init vocabulary . The seaborne commercial linkages of che coast provided the starting point for the large-scale development of export agriculture using slave labor curing the nineteenth century. Acab immigrants and indigenous212 / Colonialism and Catere ans of atl ws ok atest ius, Sabi speaking Inhabitants scm Se opr, in es ama at ha pd veogeet ads ond tag sve, grin an db : . Han Ocean-wide system of exchange, In coastal Kenya, laree plan- sane sree wth hundreds af sles, ere fused y people fm ‘Prat ofa aed int sondage lates om send Malin fv Mobs ith a er Pops 8 Eos end a anger met of wt fe, he xan Sra! pas oo eso sale a ss se le SESS ns mmr ot pln ey sve spine Seat us some ce top of Sees me 8 Vn nan yc eo on he eon he ranma eeched up oben occasionally And overs Coane 197; Shei 1S). _ gee hoe eae an eat of Mina et op snresin te ss ea peel, Research contacted Tague ser aes coon eine lis fey 30? Soe eins ot ames and saves Bre Soe ssjomary expectations and limitations placed on field labor, but ‘Nino con tans ead em ge MOR 7 {oat hr sve ered eungh nae hw operon Acrcy of thst Seat he nner Ty ante thee smart faye ws he nave ae tet 2 se oe se to ete 8 pro rou Bot they dase SONS GU Siang ar ve take te centanof fe Poe Soca a tb sens ses ste i Shy Wha coe ein he a seein 4 after the actual experience, the transmitted memories were still sharp Grong for pete to disagree? een SEUSLGSR ec wus ie aye asc ae ta i es eer Gus soe given all sls om whi ty S001 Sines fas nd pow te som fod er Moma, own ee ise egvnly hve themselves ont poet ares SOR: Suan yoves, panne ea a of tn ee Be owners, farn-of-the-centusy Sand registers reveal that snany Saves ow 4 Siw a ata ba rine ery 68 ee arog te ay intimacy of power BO IBC 2 ence CCooper 1977, es-8, 228 Coloniing Time ¢ 233) "formants of slave descent remembezed that discipline on plantations was enforced with the kidoko, a whip made of hippopotamus hide; {infortanis ftom formerly slaveholding communal groups gencrally claimed thet planters were fentent and—in gccordance with Islamic norms—benevoient, but do not deny that slaves were punished, Where ‘oasial slavehotders dered from their Western Hetnisphere couzerparts was in the Weakness of coercive capabilities beyond the plantation, Maltadi—wnere work routines were the most demanding—had ony tiny earrison of mercenary soldiers under ax. ofl espresenting the Sultan of Zancibar. The collective authority of slaveloldersaiso had is limitations While within « town hke Mombasa er Malindi the siaveoldecs fiom dif- fering comesunal groups respected eacs other's rights in human property, tte same was not rue of x number of maverick potentates wo had moved avay from the towns with their followers and slaves. Rival communi woups even armed their slaves for thelr periodic conflicts. The need to ‘count or slaves a8 more than field hands limited the extent €0 which coe «ive sanctions could be the ultimate bess of plantation dissipline (Cooper 1977, 126-80, 190-92}, As in all slave societies, the vulnerability of slaves followed from the fact (hat they had been alienated from the places and communities of birth (Paticrson 1982). In coustal society, anyone without & place, how. ‘ever lowly, in @ recognized communal group was in an anomalous ard \angecous situation. The other side of this dependence was the efoets of slaves to counier i: escape 100% place frequently, but it had fo have a eol- lective element to It, Runaways created maroon villages ia the hiaterland behind the fertite coastal bei: others joined the entourages of potentases hostile to the Suitanace of Zanzibar; others, by the 1870s, led to Chris. ‘an missions, where chey entered & new sort Of community and anew sort of discipline, For slaves who did not escape, there is evidence that ruany Fesisted the cultural onslaught of their owners, keeping up the dances, the initiation tite, and other practices of theic home societies, and maintain ing—even sixty-five years alter abotition—a form of sei-identifeation that countered the idea thal they could only be Inferior members of soastal society: Warousa. This was 2 generic abel, after the Lake Nyasa ‘esion from which the majority had been taken, and in its airmation of a hinterland identification negate the eualities of slavehokder hegemony: Muslim-pagan, clvilized-heathen, coast (Cooper 1981), Had Nyase identity developed over time and across generations, the horizontal tes among slaves could have become closer than the verticalaad ¢ Coloniaios and Culture ties with theie owners. This accounts for a strong tendency among Saveholders to manuinit second-generation slaves or to find special roles for them within the entourage: as overseer as a trader on the Tnaster’s behalf, a5 autonomous Worker oF artisan paying oseasione money 0: fealty f0 the ovsme:, That meant chat the labor force had to be reproduced by che continual importation of slaves.’ Most of the men and women who were clearing an ngwe per day, five days & week, in Matind’s fields had been fore in far-away parts of Africa and had themselves experienced the trauma of the slave trade Colonial Conquest, Emancipation, and Work Discipline ee te wadeavors (Cooper 1980, 1989). cot Se ml more abet te omnes of Colanising Time 4 215 fey are apt to breek loose, loot shops and shambas [farms} and commit all sores of excesses," ‘The Kenya government—heving taken pawer in 1895 after a British chartered company had ineflecwally administered the coasts! zone since 1885—hesitated. A rebeliion by one of the dissident coastal communal groups Gwin its entourage of clients, ex-saves, and slaves) made offcais even more uncertain that the colonial state wee sttone enough ‘9 superintend abolition, So it was not until 1907—ten years after Savery was abolished in the closely connected British colony on Zonzibar—that slavery was finally ebolished. ‘The Zansibar Precedent ‘The Zanzibari experience had a great deal to do with how emancipation procezsed in coastal Kenya. ‘The largely Arab slaveholders of Zanzibar hhad achieved a near monopoly of the world’s supply of cloves by che mid= hnineteenth century. After the British takeover in 1890, ofheias did wet ‘question thas slaveholders should rerain die property rights in land and productive tees that they hed under Islamie faw, Nor did they question ‘the need for a managerial class to superintend production: the option of allowing ex-saves to cultivate on their own, as peasants, was not seriously considered. Under the Zanzibar emancipation decree of 1897, slavehold= ‘es were paid compensation money to ease their transition froma slave to wage labor. The decree attempted, howeves, to make 2 compromise between the radical implications ofthe British view of slavery—that labor be “free""—and the conservative implications of officials’ view of class— ‘that order and production reguired a class of landowners and managers, Ex-saves, under the decree that freed them, would lose the pfots of lend they had and be declared vagrant unless they agreed t & contract with a landowner, tested 10 in court. Ofieials used the intimidating atmosphere of the courts where freedom papers wete granted t0 impose model con- tracts: ex-slaves would work three days per week (wees the customary five of slave days), all year, t= exchange Jor a subsistence plot and & place to build @ home. In fact, exslaves agreed to the contracts and did not, Jn generat, do the three days labor. Taking adivancage of the new possi. bilities for mobility among plantations, for filing vacant, nosslove fam, or for casual labor in towas—while planters could no longer reproduce ther labor force via slave imporis—ex-staves were able to reach an under- sanding with Langiords that gave thens access te lend in exchange for216 / Colonial and Cree gue respons wo do some work and Ye pa of he lanowoes “peool (Cooper 180, cap. 3) ne, Tndowsers desperate for some Kind of sway ves ovale cnt tative ey street ats coma They odo sehse ox fly apecte obgaons and regular wor The? : Sls to bad reneged on prevows coma ar Brit oe Tene coesive power to Undertake massive evitions a0 ete wvincoons. Tis inability tefoeed landowners enesy Se ain move familar norms: 10 ciate longterm le of “dependency rather than contractual obligations. These ties mede Brit. SS viws of relay and hei hat te “sencton of he 6 Soule mans itor Sipe mas reves, Wain a ex wois of atancpacan, av of) was, pea lamenting, Stead hliar wont ie ist what your save or fee slave likes sey rh nmar cove output a ae 2 Yes iit aston of anes wate act e egy of wate eon iin a Br ot a ae ol, Soriem in fom ctl aie Sane lnc (oho hed been marginale by te save sone en tock ones, working for ony fon Weeks cash Yar. Long SS ngams fom Gear Aare the end of the se ae, sch seg men oe Tonya, and overage hase forms in Wh {eure as began a coe opis foc thes ye, weg fi in the crevices. So mesa throughout year Plas Be i Tee prodionacumly son, svc 96 afl amatsd the 6a OD sore wat done ‘Land and Labor in Pestabolision Kenya “This precede established in Zanaibar reduced che Kenye goveromet’s wiugnest 19 try tO supetintee diet transition from sive fo wae fabor By 3907, however, the slaves had already gone # Jong way 19 themselves, They took advantage of the British presence :0 undermine the subtle relations of dependency of a slave society. The end of the Save trade meant that the slave population cotid no longer be repro- duced; the Pax Britannica meent that peorle could leave plantations ‘without fear for cher Lives; ralway construction and other colonia! proj his createdaleraative employment, Te slow bu steady exodus ef Slave fabor meant a readjustment of labor conditions for those Who stays Colomisog Tine 237 saves devoted mote time (and space} te their own cullivatioa and less to the landowners’ elds ‘Wher abolition came to Kenya in 1907—allowing slaveholders to claim ‘compensation for slaves whose services they lost—it in effect ratified the freedom slaves tad already effectively claimed, while lesitimating the ‘efforts of landowners to get the slaves of other landowners to squat on their land, The reality of the situation (en both sides of 1907) was that a tied iabor system was giving way 10 competition between landowners for increasingly mobile workers, and squatters paid only a modest rent oF provided vaguely specified labor services. People who lived in the binferland behind the move fertile coastal belt—belonging to nine distinet political and communal groups later collectively knows as Mijikenca ‘nine viliages)—bepan to Join ex-slaves as squatters on coastal estates, ‘Near Mombasa, bath ex-slaves and Mijikenda established a symbiosis between urban and eural activides, seeking casual labor, mainJy on the docks, which would provide cash for a day's work but which would aot ‘compromise participation in agriculoure (Cooper 1980, chap. 5) ‘The planters hist! Tost their once efective control over labor. Land was ‘another question. In 1905, as an offial Land Comraitte sat, the coast promised to stand alougside the Highlands as one of the win poles of ‘8 Europeen-dominated economy, The committee—ansious to legitimate private ownership of land—did not wish t0 flout Islamic Jaw as it did African systems of land tenure, yet i feared that confusion over tithes ‘ould meke productive investment tov risky. As a result, the government Set ut to establish the fegzt structure for capitalist development: it called forthe systematic survey and adjudication ofall claims te land ownership in the coastal belt, and i insisted thar all ansactions be regiiered, Behind the legalistic approach lay another assumption: that the (air ‘operations of the marker would result in the transfer of considecable [proportian of the land to the most ecient producers, who were assumed carried out between 1910 and 1922, discriminated in Fevor of chose wich rian deeds or oral evidence of contiqued ownership from established leadeis from the former sleveholding community. The people who lost most Were those whose claims derived from membership ‘na communal group or from a relationship such as clieniage or indeed, Savery, While slaves had formerly been allowed to use smail plats on their owners' estates and people who were converted io [slain and became Personal followers of an established Muslim had been given sigitts 10218 1 Colomiatism and Cnt picces of the patron's land, such bases of claims to land were consistently fejected, They were ths to be landiess and their Tabor power, im theory became eveilable to old and new landowners who wished to purchase Buropeaus did acquire substantial tracts of land by purchase from ‘plante:s who could no langer plant or ag concessions from the govern rent, but members of the ald aadowning, groups of Arab or local origin still cetuined tne ta the Targest portion (Cooper 1989, chap, 3). The European plantation experiment, meanwbite, proved a Sasco, Land spec ‘lation was based on the potential of rubber, and a a number of estates ‘were started, but even at their peak, well under a zhird of the plantations” laud was placted, Then in 1912, the rubber Peom collapsed (largely Dpecause of the siceess of Malaya's rubber plantations), amd with it the British hopes that a coastat plantation zone would flourish. Even in its productive phase, European plantations were unable te eceuit local labor, despite numerous aitempis and considerable pressure from colonial offcials, Coascal people would seek to become squatters fo they would work for indigenous landowners, who made no demas about length of service, European planters insisted on a contract of at feast several months duration, and commitment ro fulltime, carefully monitored Tabor for that leogth of time would have jeopardized what jas mast important: acquiring long-term, seoure access to land, a8 squat sess on the coast plain or as members of @ communal group in the hinterland, Far labor, the plantations had to look upeountry, where denser European seitlement and a higher level of intimidation. was push ing labor out (Cooper 1980, 244-48), ‘What collapsed on the old plantations was nor so much agricultyre ‘as she British fentasy of agricultural wage labor. Regional exchange— ‘netweea different parts of the coast and beiween Mombasa and the rural ‘areas sround it—became more intense, core varied, more ramified. Exports wete more modest, but coconul products and grain continued. to be sent forth. But the people who sorked had gained at the expense bi the people who owned. In most cases, landovriers could only extract fh modest rent and # shaze of the harvest of coconut tees on their «plantations; they could sot control the production process, Squatisss few and cirectly sold madest surpluses of grain. The tension in the relationship of squatters and landowners came out in the issue of planting hey crces, expecially eaeomuc tees, Landlords lacked the cash co pay faborers for en investment that Would take years to pay off and did act Colonising Time / 29 want tenants to plant Yor fear that, under coastal customs, the tenant ‘would acquit righis to Oe (eee: squaters, for their part, Teared that ‘making permanent improvemests inthe land would only encourage land owners fo evict them. So an uneasy standof eusued Offsials periodically expressed displesure atthe squatters aud never fecognized che contribution they were making to the regional sad export sgricukore. They feared thelr presence would compromise the system of individual land tenure and discourage new purchasers of land, pact ularly Europeans, Even squattes who were reviving grain procuction on former plantation lends were accused by the governor of leading a "use- Jess and degencrate existence."* In the goveraument bluepring, the cosstal one was for private ownership ane wage labor agricultue; the Mijikenda nigvans belonged in sir ioierland Homeland—now Inbeled a seserve” —and shovld only come forth when they bad a definite arrange ent to work, A government attempe +0 evict squatters from a fertile fegion north of Malindias late as 1914--resuleed in & major rebellion 40d a famine that officials were obliged to relieve. Shoeily sbereatter, squatters returued to the area where their huts had Deen barged and fis descrayed, and chis time ofcals gave up: the renewed presence of squatters —welcomed by the hapless Arab landlords of the area-—teralded 8 modest revival of grain exporis (Cooper 1980; Braatley 1981). Urban Labor: The Virtues and Dangers of Casual Labor “The urban labor market of Mombasa developed relatively sunocthty in the «re of emancipation and expansion, while the rural labor market did not. Un the days of slavery, urban slaveholders frequently had their slaves seek clay labor; employers gaverhe slave apiece of paper with their earnings on {to inform the owner what he or she should expect the sleve 10 turn over: thio practice gave the Swahili name (o day iabor that remains with it 0 the resent: kau! ya kibarva (work of the litte ieee). The labor market of Mombasa adjusted well because employers wil- ingly accepted tsbor power in the units fn which coastal Africans wanted 0 provide it: by the day. Even as the tonnage of steamers entering Mombasa doubled between 1903 and 1913~accelarated by the eompiction of the railway 10 Kisumu in 1901—casual workers were geiting the Jo’ one. The work was herd and the hours long, bus casual workers in the port could ears as much in ten days as unskilled contract workers— Wwho had co control over when they wocked—couid earn in a month.2201 Coluniliow and Culture Exslaves and Mijikenda found that periods of urban casual labor in the city complemented squatting and cultivating in rwral areas. ‘Employers. aiven the Muctusting salure of shipping, sound day labor served their interests (0: they could adjust dhcir wage Bill to eetval niyeds. But officials fele the sane unease that cheir brethren in London hnad in regard t@ casual labor there (Stedman Jones 1971}, and their ansicties appear in the preamble to a 1888 vagrancy decree chat aicafed) al checking, mot omly the influx into the town of Mombasa Of idle and erjsvinal runaway slaves, but also of disceputable free | people of all sors, who come to get an “odd job” om the ratinay, then Ouow up their work when tired of il, or are discharges, and “cake «0 drink and rioting, Thus augmenting to an undesirable extent “the disorderly floazing population of Mombasa." ‘but it would only be in the late 1540s that @ serious attempt would be rate to change the system of casual labor ‘Nonetheless, dey labor represented a dangerous standoff for both sides, ‘Too fen workers and ermplosers risked being unable to meet emands on busy days, too many workers and the laborers risked being runable to work enough days co get through each moath. During World War I, the escalating demand for Aftican workers led shortages it the port. Officials sine ghe solution in “systematic tabour (without days off whenever they feel inclined) while any man not working at the port "would be evsilable for werk elsewnere.”* They devised @ registration scheme intended to deave the necessary dichotomy between a worker and a nonworker: wages would be fied and men could lose their registration for Taiing 10 work. Bus the scheme can up agalnst a reality rather different from the anarchic and anomic images suggested by the term casual fabor. The ‘work gangs and the gang leaders had no interest i a registration schemes the companies wese 100 anxious abost their ties to gangs and 10 the imeermediaries who presented them with preconstituted work groups— and ‘who could withdeaw entice gangs—co cooperate fully in a scheme that would necessarily antagonize the independent-minded dockers. They ‘partiipated in a variety of evasions of the registration system. At bottom Tay the fear that doskers—with access t0 ntonwage resources and @ wider aswai labor market in Mombasa as well as some forms of collective Colonieng Tame 72 organization—would withdraw their fabor altogether. Im the end, the scheme failed, aad only increased daily wages Kept the port going.” ‘Tn the 1920s, the casual labor masket wrned in the opposite direction: mote upcountry migration, the stapnntion of coastal agriculture, and the modest pace of expansion mieamt that deckers were less Likely 10 find work whew they scugit it. Tensions surfsced between cogstat and upeoun: try workers, alhough the importance of networks t0 constituting work gangs maintained coustal predominance ia dock labr. Complaints of labor shortages in Mombasa cessed even before the depression of che early 19393. But that did st lessen the other dimension fof the casual labor problem: the kind of work situation and society casual Iabor entailed. In 1930, the Momhase Times editoriaized sbout he threat of workers, who “in virtue of che very easual sature of chie job, relapse into that erime that is so easily absorbed from surroundings whieh are as casual as the labour itsel?” The “loose living and evil sssvciations of casual home life” contrasted with the cleaner life, {he Giscipline, the counter aturaction of a well-ordered existence" that seemed the more appropriate virtues fer an Aftican labor force. Officials also wrote frequently about the lack of “discipline,” and about the dangers of “an almost featureless mass of humenity" roving inte and out of Jove Only later would officials realize that their imagery was all wane. ‘Casual labor was, in fact, quite erganized, but not by employers. Shin= ting companies id not hire directly but developed relationships with men Kknowa as serangs, usually (rom the Swanili-speaking community of the coast, who in turn developed selationships with a group of men, The serangs thus supplied empioyers with a seady-made wore eang, and in ‘many phases of dock work they suzervised the gang on the job, The games were often paid as « collectivity in accordance with the weight of cargo they moved, dividing the money among themselves. They thus had every incentive to work rapidly. The gangs were relatively stable, and the sole idterity was reinforced by participation in Uke Beni dance societies typical ‘of colonial cites in eastern and centsal Africa. In Mombasa, tnese dace ‘oops were organized, often by serangs, azound the work gangs and they competed each Sunday. Although not exclusively worker organizations, the Ben sovieties—especiatly wo called Scotchi and Settla—were closely associated with dockworkers. Seita's “admiral.” in 1984, was chief ser- ang for the shorehandling company in the post. These societies, as thei names and officers’ tiles suggest, cartied out # Klad of mocking coo222) Coleman one Culbare mentazy on the power structure of colonial society, oven as they provides resteational outlets and vehiies for cementing relationships among city dwellers (Ranger 1975; Cooper 1987, 34-40), while ts overall labor markst of Mombasa was affectsd bY UD ‘he dock labor gangs and countcy migration, the social cohesion of the dock Ie the dock work culture Kept port daily labor fargely inthe hands of ‘coastal people, Excslaves, Mijikenda, the tess well off elements of Momibasa's Swahili speaking population, and Swahil-speakg migrants from he: coasal toons conibed the eajority of the dookes "were far from the anonymous an (Cooper 1967, 40), The work gangs ce eNtncing uses of obo power suagexte by he we esl bor ‘Time and the Limits of Conquest sone eine dino 4c the tsk of toring & pie TRE Sotu concer of time? The temporality f the Tor oes vac aves Yee snsfomed by te developmen: of shan avery ee Selnacana ne ums of diapine™wee a question 0 Bom Wer cele power fade in the decade bette formal abso, eines edened sain, Ashe sonal epme ough 4 cake thos moe deton, exes sought 10 femake fo ano and ceaeing, cop producion, shortest earl abo and tan “aeAl aber all bea pur af «comple tein of tw Sims ad Schning ot new expetauent among exans, exlawode, Mi Kena, pouty mugs aed clonal ofa "he acne of mort fre fly depen: 00 wage englomt an ib foie dane aed he apt of thse a> ae tag foreach en ave, ded etn ake fee chretrins of cli capalom, Casi! abret, mist work (Goo tates eomaned a ce au les ad ages ‘aout was pedued the owe food dd not hae la be pa WBE iter pa eos of ther ov sprint np noe Seen cae peor nao ns nymembers esi the ony Seiwa aver velo emboic Tn expot ops (Mellsoos Toy, Sut an epetation omes lone fo eng unl munications network capable of organizing collective getion, The distiet ollcials, however imperfect thelr understanding of how the 1934 strike ‘was organized, had latched onto a significant fact: the mobilization af ccaswal labor was a social process, andi the relationships and the culture! forms to which it gave rise were being developed by workers themselves in ways that companies and officials could not control. The gangs and the serangs would one day be a focus of the port companies” efforts to reas- sert control. * ‘The Beni dance societies do not appear to ave been a factor in the general stcike of 1939, The strike refleered the common experience of being a worker ia Mombasa. It iranscended individual workplaces, and drew much ofits strength from the residential area where most worke:s lived, Majengo. It began on July 19 with a sitedows strike by workers in the Public Works Department, which was settled when effcisls quickly granted chem a three shillings per month housing allowance Bott che strikes and the solutlon then rolled through the city, afecting cone enuployer after another. On August 3, it reached the part, where the casual gangs ere agcin instrumental, and the entire port shut downs "bands of strikers” circulated jn Malengo. On August 3, work crs began to dift back. The one large segment of the working pop- ulation that did not strike was the relieay workers. They were unique in having housing provided for them, a fact Ukat not only made thesn less vulnerable io the rapidly escalating cost of a room, but implied that they risked a home as well as a job should they strike and that they were ot part of the vibrant life ef Majengo (Cooper 1987, 45-50), Housing became the prime culprit of an administration that had been badly frightened. In their correspondence and in the report of the Com= russion of Enquiry that followed, affcials began to think ieir way Uough the fragility and danger of the cheap labor system. [F the imme- diate grievance could be palliated wich a housing allowance, resolution demanded that scarce housing resources he devoted to a working Pop: Ulation that getvally worked. Only days after the strike, che Principal Labour Officer suggested that “the regulas worker should be substituted forthe inregulac workers” and the District Oficer insisted, “casual labour,226 + Coluntaira ond Cudence «ste dants pitta London, Feaih Pasa ting Sarin the tna tte sete solin in nl Eoeyean motes ot abo treatin io Atta, afore losg aM Ace il hae To shnge ceaaly se) idely=tom Sow gras bot ae Tom Stages to soning mosh nee te sanded of European aa Iran tes Europea aur’ nage” Te Scr of Se fr the Colo aad a ae eta he ther ao! develo fore comics eficeny and bet pa abo fre Was epee secre ee om thee “The Commision of Engi des consusins cat tabo in he port sould be soluhed. Tet egumet eer coeeaed te rede ty of esul above wat nt an semen tou Work tu aot worker The ted (Hep 2 poo of smile in town uaderned “re of song the owsng nh he "ir and "on whom The Commision med the she Ss not be dining Fm tunes workers Rept erplomens, rod bang nd msi Shpton wee ail neeary worst soavl (Rea 199.1 is Stn ie comin hope has ws parila spacehe oy ot Monies lave ive could be contol "ie compris wre ne yet ey so ove Te seveoriag Arms staipy ieee seesslenton, ning Ua por bot acs y econ Bur uly the shrcanling company sened HO nores Gro tn tem. Wore jl were 208 (9 come, Asn mich of Bish Aft, Woes via ys peed fener aber soi, aed ya ee tan, shales nd anon soneeon to Ae rhe A seets of short ses tlle rapidly trough Monbave fn 382, a Siti tnelysveed genera skein iD, A pata sens of Creat a eommistons me ns wi nel oa of Uving bones th ieee aawanee of iret vrs, ote ting 0 pe et fis inthe ligt ofan ecg of ti seeds and eetve deer Tao a Ising sanded Bata the eal of te bale! af Tho sgl Altean worker wen ony te eeu wage neti followed tpatern of ation (Cope 5, 57 “sng ty «commie ead by Arts Pie, whose pint sponte owes geese io 4S de th we atons srg b ent Fret tame come fo pap th the “Cay ta eat mad he tte aed In orsbana venoms tele nat anal orton eset, parley nh ava. Goleniing Time 227 hhad worked for the same employer for years. Yet it also found that the ages ofthe overwhelming majority of workers lustsred near the bottom ‘of a limited job hierarchy. While policymakers kept thinking about the “saw migrant." 80 pervent of che lower pul workers the gomumitie exat lined were married and more and more unskilled workers were aspiring tO ‘2 “civilized standard of living" The commictee thought lc was observing, the “emergence of {an} urbanized working class," ang it feared “the beginnings of clest-consciousness, complicated by race-conssiousness"™ (Kenya 1945, 49, 53, 65) ‘The “system of ‘cheap’ Migrant Labour” the committee srgued, was dangerous and it was not cheap, The system pushed ail workers ‘nto similar conditions ia which collective action was ely to spread: |e brought the effects of rors] malnutrition into the urban workplace; and it immunized workers against the “sanction of the Sack.” Tae only way of buileling an orderly and productive working class was to insure that its reproduction Cook place within the city, under tke aeais of a capitalise economy and a colonial sate. Tike commitiee cook the ‘word that had long expressed colonial officials’ misgivings about takiag Afticans out of rural society and seversed its implications: “There seems to be no escaping the fact that the evils which aze commonly attibuted to “éetribalsation’ can oniy be cured by more complete Aetribalisation" (Kenya 2945, 50, ‘The government did Phillips the homer of suppressing his reports the ‘onsreie result of fits effort was a thicty-ive shillings per month wage increase. But Motbasa’s workers were willing 1o teach mote tessons. La January, 1947, they shut dow the entire city for ewelve days in a general strike involving some 15,000 workers crossing the divisions between ‘casual and longterm workers, coastal people, and wpeountry migrants. ‘Azcin, no trade union was involved, and cellectve action stew out of the social networks of Majengo, which the colonial government did act understand, and expressed itself during the eourse of the strike in daily ‘meetings in 2 football field. Renamed Kiwania cha Maskini, ‘the feld of the poor’ this location became the organizational and syusbolie focus of ‘the strike: thousands of people gathered each day. There, ducing the ‘oust of the strike, was boon the Aftican Workers Fedcrstion (AWE), ‘This organization, in the moaths after the stsike, attempied to give coier- ‘ence and Jeadership t0 Une mass unity that had developed: cejecting any ‘concessions that favored only some workers, it sougltt te become @ union of all African workers. Its leader, Chege Kibachis, addressed weekly228 1 Cofomieios and Culture meetings of up 10 2,000 people at Kiwanja ela Maskini and attempied (o extend the movement beyond Mombasa (Cooper 1987, 78-88). ‘That was what érightoned officials more than anything: the masses, Jed, might prove even more effective than they had wishout format ganization. But the repression of the AWE did not bogin undl is Ipase was undercut, The uswal poststrike tribunal and wage increases began at last {© pay the costs of fostering a diffeweatiated working class. The first installment applied only to 5,000 monthly worksrs—a point with which the AWE took issue—and ahe second, while it was broader, sought to ssparats out a cotps of long-term workers by paying bonuses to workers with six thomhs experience and higher wages (9 those wih five years continuous service to one employer. The AWE seemed taken aback by the complex award and-ssticking 10 ite vision of 9 unified working claas—failed (o develop a coherent politics around the fact that the aware was a material and symbotic victory fer strikers. ‘Attendance at its weekly mectings fell, and in August the state was ready to attack: Kibachia was arrested and deported £0 @ part of Kenya where there was 0 working class 10 onganize.'® ‘There were, thus, two sides fo the government’s reaction to the challenge of Mombase’s workers, the repression of the AWF being ‘only one. The other was to seek to fracture the uiban mass that hed made ‘he general stcike general and the AWF a mass organization: tas meant restructuring the meaning of @ Working life. dilerentiated ‘yorking class could only exist if African workers were identited with particular occupations over their entire working lives; they could sot ‘move into and oUt of obs thal provided them with no security and tno future. The two arguments came together in the contention of ‘Kenya's Trade Union Advisor that, under Chege Kibachia’s segis, "You could be a baker @ tailor or @ candlestick maker, it didn't matter ‘what your orcupation was, 3f you wanted to join, The African Workers” Federation would only be too pleased to accept you."'* Ansthing but ‘an occupationally structured trade union was thus condemned. But it vvas ptetisely the uid world of work as it actually existed chat the AWE was trying 1 address, Cascal Inbor—in Mombasa’s most vite! ‘ciivity—was incompatible with officials’ underlying concept of work. Mincaney, Cultine, and che Case for Restructuring Labor ‘The evitique of casual labor in Mombasa, in fact, became she entering wedge for 2 wider evitique of migrant labor. This discussion has bees Golonizing Tine ¢ 229 analyzed elsewhere (Cooper 1987, chap, 4}, and can only be summarized haere. The crux of the case against casual labor was that it preclude the sosislzation and acculturation of African warkers—issues that were even moce central then those of training and skill development. The urban masses were dangerous as well as inefficient, and if enough bad workers could nor be safely packed inco eties, he question of how to make good workers became acute, Casual workers, however, could not be disciplined by the “sanction of the sack,” and they sever stayed wround long enough to be sceulturated. Instead, they undermined, by their deily choice between toil ane idleness, che lessons being taught the more stable ee iments of the city’s working class, Toe azeumenis ef officals were both reformist and guthoritasian: a compact body of workers should be given the benefits of improved wages and betier housing; they should be closely supervised, expected to provide high levels of output; and evervone else should be expelled ftom the eit. ‘The szgument soon became one about African culture: the repro duction of urban workers within the precapitalist economies of rural Aftica was reproducing the wrong kind of African working class. The argument began with sutrition—inadequats food i childhood, a con- sequence of ignorance a5 much 25 poverty, ruined African workess fOr life. African women, above all, hed t0 be taught atodera idess about food. The influential “Aftiean Labour Bfliciency Survey" of 1947 extended the concern into a condemnation of African society in an industrial age: “He (the African worker} is inetestive in many industri rechigues by the very nature of his birth, his upbringing, and hi nacive cultare.” The study expressed fith thal a transformation coulé be effected, but it required a total remaking of culture. It thus implied the redefinition of sims on and off the job: elliciency became a question of how to influence the conuct and effort of men in respect of cher life awork:” Within the werkplace, the idea of time diseipfine had to be cage “The East Aftican has not been bent under the discipline of organized work. In his primitive economy, the steady, continous labor is eartied cout by women... Though the tasks he performed wore proscribed by tribal law anc custom, he could do thers in his own way and at his fons speed, for to him time had na economic valve. ...To work steadily and conticuously atthe winl and direction of snother was one ff the hard lessons ke had te leara when he began to werk for Europeans. (Northcott 1943, 7, 12-13, 15)200 / Coloniaiom and Culture * These arguments were debaced by officials and setters in the Leefslarive (Cauneil from the late 190s to the mid-1050s, White farmers did not Fave much faith im the possiblities of lifetime socialization, and they id not want to pay the cast. Top officials. particularly im the Labour Department, remained convinced that productivity and order both demanded restractaring, but they were willing to focus their arguments where the risks of disorder seemed iighest and the milieu the most demanding —urban and Industral labor. There, what was needed was fn entirely new work ethic, and that implied the total separation of the Afvican industrial worker from the milieu of his upbringing. As the Committee on African Wages argued in 1954, work discipline required suoh nears "as will induce the African ro sever Hes with tal lite and virtually start aftesh in a nev environment... We cannot hope to produce an elective African Ikbour force untit we have first removed the African from the enervating and retarding influence of his economic: ‘and cultural backgcound!” (Kenya 1954, 11, 16). Dualison hed come 10 the fore in colonial socéology: the interplay of luvban ask! rural mies intsinsie to casuat and migratory febor had 10 five way 10 their stark separasion im space and in the way time was used in each, Such a separation would have its costs. The Secretary of Sate for the Colonies, Oliver Lyttleton, accepted the Ica that wages hed to cover the costs of Bringing up new generasions of workers ia the city, and he rejected the old system of paying “bachelor” wages that forced the costs ‘of reproducing the working class onto rural Afzican societies, He insisted that “even where the *bachelor’ wage stil represents the supply price of labour, it may be below che level of wages necessary to secure efficient production."? For this Conservative minister, even the dictates of the labor market fad to give way before the imperious necessity of shaping land reproducing the right sort of Aftican working class. Making the working day productive and safe required reshaping the working life ‘The Decusvalization of the Docks Implementing such a program was a complex, conttadictory, and cone ‘hctuat process, Involving not only an esfott to separate the lives of urban ‘workers fom rural Aftiea but ax attempt to build a differentiated work- ing class within the city, At the most general level of government policy, the new poliey was implemented by instituting an urban minimum wage Golonizing Time (252 for “adults” 1.67 times what became called the “youth” minimum. Wage—which was supposed to apply 10 nev, presomabiy unmarried workers, Te higher minimum wage, in offkials’ eyes, would embody the comrsitment to the reproduction of che werking clas." ‘This was obviously not acing very far. The key was how particular ‘occupational structures were to be redefined, and the main test—Hke the ‘most dramatic African challenge—was already underway in Mombasa, ‘The deeasualization of dock labor represents @ remarkable case of a rogram of social engineeting that was actually implemented. Ic trans= formed the way dockers worked, turning the working day into the work- ‘ng month, and—ultimately—into the working life, In trensforming the ‘meaning of work time for dockers, it trausformed their retatiouship 10 fother Africans involved in the complex interplay of Mombasa and its hinterland, of wage labor and ferming, of dock work ané other urban activities. A docker became a docker. And in so doing, dockets life situation was slowly sepacated from that of the rest of the people of ‘Mombasa, with whom they had recently made common cause. Al the ‘same time, the port companies remade the sieueture of supervision in ‘the deckyards, uadermining the role—ari hence the powet—of the labor gangs and the gang leaders, creating & pattern of top-down authority. The rst step was simed, above all, at enabling officials to expel the fie from Mombasa. In 1944, dockers were made 10 tegisteg with the idea that this would allow authorities 19 identify people wham it would ‘ot expel. Ia the event, suthortis iacked the cosreive capacity af thei South African counterparts to Keep expelled people from drifting beck ‘And the registration scheme, al that stage, was not used to enforce a ‘ew patiern of work discipline on the dockers. Some 4,000 men were regiscered to insure that an average of 1,500 dackers would be available ‘each day, and when post usage increased, 50 190 did the pool—to over 6.500, Officials feared that (oo rigorous standards of performance woutd cause indspendent-minded dockers 19 abandon their rade ailogether, so that dockers were only called on to work ten days pec month in order 0 retain their registrations. Dockers native t9 the coastal resion—the ‘majority—were considered particularly prone to eave anc were treated With particular difidence: they could retain their registration even if they only worked five days per month. Steady work had never been 2 demand of the dockworkers; better pay for day labor, the cad of arbitrary discipline, and more recognition for tong service within the framework of work routines ace the demands22 Goloniatins and Calture that cmenge from such sources asthe testimony to the post-1947 tribunal ‘And officials sao even their sentative registration schemes faced with ‘veobborn resistance” fro port workers.” ‘Meanwhile, however, te shorshandling ri increased. ita monthly ciaployees from 970 to 1,212 between January and September, 1947, The Stevedoring fems, however, respond to labor shortages by swelling the casual labor pool. ‘Finally, in zhe midst of a crisis over port congestion im 1952, the tovernment Labour Department decided to act. The rezistration sequire ment Was raised (9 fifteen shifis per month, then fo twenty 18 mext yea, Between 1952 and 1954, officials forced unsteady workers Off the list despite 6 “spate of protests," In 1954, the hiring of casual workers ‘wus centralized and the pool divided between stevedores and shorehan ‘leis, each of whom was called on vis a single quewing aystem. In 1957, ddochers began ro collect a seal attendance bonus whenever they reported for work but fours! that none was available (Cooper 1987, chep. 4). ‘And so at last, the working behavior of dockworkers bewan te change, ay table I reveals. By 1954, then, the large majority of "casual dock: workers were putting in the characteristic work month of advanced cap- italism. Those wio did aot were subject to dercgistration, and by 1958, 99 percent of those sill on ste fos were doing their twenty shifts. By then, many were doing more: some 40 percent of the stevedores and 35 percent of the shorehandlers Worked over thirty shifis jn Uke month of Joly, 1958.2 | AS castal labor ecame less casual, 1he companies dispensed more ahd mote with the bother of the daily hiring process. Table 2 shows the shift from daily to monthly terms in the 19505. Such workers were eligible for setzement gratuities based on seniority, and ty che late 1950s the ‘question of pension plans for regular workess was ox the agenda of the Kenya government. The choice facing dockworkers, wherever they came TABLE 1 Working Pavers of Casual Workers a Woiked pos Mowe paca Dae Ue se OvnD Sepeniter, Py «oR Spur, ” p a » Septemiee 588 Pn 3 » oR SAMY SE Se Mana Ls Reem ean Soloniing Time 7235 TARE 2. Casual and Monthly Docknorer, a6 of December 31 es Wemyss ea San aio 35a sant thao ‘Sn (ais Disetom Aaaaa aipe™ (SA, TABLE 3. Compasaon of yest Wage Ras a shins ae Exar Sh Be Sega meg SSL oo ous SPE 2 Sa ca eee ‘Sm Masa Seal Sty SE 7H age fo ea HT Nn Da ed sete non genoa ge, “Pe ig), Sod ee oar wih wee, we re Hom ad whew hey wan, was bene working sesulely oF nat working at all.” feng smal Tes ort consis an he Labour Depermen a created tine seater hy wees fe wre novo sir nok rest yada wages, Fr dhe that eee was ong xen ret To Tec aa whole, howe tc idea of a family wage sufficient to wean workers from the “exer ating” samence of rl lena less ns Whar tenes out abe ll ithe warton dock poston fom ti mie oft macow wore Dlerarsy the pot an cpanel one. As ble} sgt th) ee polite wel lsd of eer ovcament and aspon workers ‘The new work rls in fs foe asa workers ern more tt abit to wade mney forte wa ake aay. Workers coset scot he tequenent could sarn wll above the standard fo eter anal Werks the 40 person of does wo orbed ks at ST in 1988 woul have earad ovr Sh 228, Wher Kexsa became Indepenten:n TW he fob wage for ochworkers was Sh 29413 er rom ate average wan 350 the inet alll minum Su ge Moms, Aba ine, 9 ee fall ores "he poo be se ie growing cifeniaon of te Aan2341 Colonists and Culture was time And ey wet long mth Faktering eathoriy [the Workplace itself, Centralized hiring of casual workers eliminated the a Gta he con ovr te and ve he tnbor proces tha ad Colonizing Time £235 i and officals were not sure tha it had, in fact, increased (Kenya 1959, Cooper 1987, chap. 5). ot the state had succeeded in still another way—in demarcating a narrower terrain of contestation, The wildcat stzikes, to be ste, weve vnexpested ond undesited, and the Dockworkers Union, founded in 1954, slowly proved to De rather more effective than expected in setting, orth swage claims, although it had a mixed record in coming ‘© grips with the conflicts over the labor process that 40 upset the zank and fie. But all these uncertainties were confined to the decks In 1955, before the union was efecive, wage gievancesin the docks hed Jed 0 a strike that almost spilled into other industries, mainty in the port area of Mentbasa. But the young trade unionist Tora Mboya had come to town from Naizobi. He chastened the workess—at a mass meeting that seemed fo echo the style of the 1947 general stike—for siciking without authorization from a union or following proper calletive bargaining pr0- cedures. The crowd nearly roughed bim up for his pains. But he was able to convey the sense of macs threat—which made a deep and personal jimpact on him—to the previously recalcitrant management se, and the dispute slowly entered the arena of buresueratie structures and caredully prepared memoranda in which Mboya knew how ta eperate, Along the ‘way, negotiations focused exclusively on dockworkers, leaving the other workers of Mombasa to fen for themselves. The 30 percent raise Moya eventually won convinced ihe dockorkers tha his syle of rade unionism hha someting 10 ad to thelr own mst tadition, an, mis aftermath, Moya belped zo organize the Dockworkers Union an a more stable and lafectve basis. Bur rhe 1955 seke cepresonted aeritical transition: i came iw the mids of a parting of the ways between dockers and te zest of the Mombasa workiug clss, and the weight of the new definition of jebs, of the new wage structure, and of the new way of conducting collective baz- _galning proved too great for the older tradition of unity to tstumph, The 1947 strike proved to be the last general strike in Mombata’s history. ‘The devasualization policy had been intended to decrease the circu- lation of workers Into anc oUt OF jobs, and the rigid structures that kept dockers at work also made it increasingly dificult for new men to enter the docks. Kenya's labor force, i the late 1950s, was increasingly divided betweea those who had stable jobs and those who stoad litle chanee of getting them. In one of the first offal recognitions ofthe unemployment probiers in Kenya, A. G. Dalaleish fel: obliged to note that even if236 f Coluriaiom and Cidbure relatively high urban wages contributed to rising vnemployment, they tncre simed “very properly, to encourage the development of the family synie as an integral feature of stabilized African labor is urban areas." "The sepuraiion of a stable working cass from the rest of Kenyan society wwas not an undesirable side effect of economic change, but its very purpose, ‘Anthropologist David Parkin, working among Giriama from coastal Kenya in the 1970s, found thet men associate security and control ove: fone’ destiny with Kadi yo moeri, a permanent joo, and look at kazi yt bbarua (daily work’) 43 uncertain. Perkin claims that “this foTk dis: tinction between preferences completely reverses the notion of many social seientsis who see permanent monthly wage employment as leading to ineversible dependency and less contel by the wage eater over his labour...” Parkin fails to note how recent this prelerence is: Girbama ‘and other coastal peoples had, even 2s late as 1958, constituted 76 percent ‘ofthe stevedores and $9 percent of the shorehsadters, and it was precisely tines werkers who had had 20 be pressured into working steadily (Parkin 1979, 214; Mombasa Social Survey 1958, 351) the evidence thet the reformed authority structure of the Mombasz docks actually increased productivity as uncertain, at least the process pave oficals —unsure of whether they really held ihe levers of power — the vonfidence that they had followed the best lessons of Western expe rience in developing the institutions requized for modern industrial cap ixalism. In labeling daily workers “casual;* employers and officials bad siven—without analyzing Uhe labor process iself—a reasoe for anxiety land concern. By labeling another form of labor “stable,” they gave themselves a reason For hope, without necessarily realizing at what sos level the stability was manifesc. Offelals looked to the day when a working class would be self-cepreducing, when new generations of Spérkers would not experience the “backward” culture of rucal Kenya. “there never was much hope er possiblity daat such polisies would atieer all Kenyans: even im theory, tle entire agricultural sector was segiegated from the stabilization policy of 1954. The application of time Uscipline and occupational discipline to the dockworkers and the tinted faray of workers like tiem meant that ther ie course mould be separated from that ef orher Kenyans, Agricultural workers, especially those who had mo access to land, often came to see the ehace—however small— Colosixing Time 1 237 of a regular, or even an irregular, urban job as more attractive than what their segment of the labor market had to ofr them. IF various social ties and economie activities crossed Chis divide, the segmentation of the lnbor market was nonetheless an important aspect of postindependece Kenya (House and Rempel 1976), Dockers lived alongside other urbanites who had fille chance of achieving their degree of job security, and, predictabiy, leaders of the Dockworkers Union began i be accused, in the early 19666, af ethnic favoritism in deciding whe was to have access to the now-valued jobs.” Access to housing sinlanly became a tense issue, and so did anotber consequence of unggual access to resources: urban erisninality. All these tensions had their roots in che ealonial state's efforts to resohe the tensions of an earlier era, when dockers moved into and out of theit {obs and shared theie residences and the experience of generalized poverty with the mass of city dwellers. The segmentation of labor was not a policy thar iudependeat Keaya, any more then the colonial regime, ‘wanted 10 give up. The alteraative of & maés labor force sharing its common misery hac been tried before ‘Dualism in Late Colonial Discourse ‘The tcamph of time discipline took place theough the natcowing of the arena that was being wansformed. The very proces of reasoning by which officials convinced themselves that an array of urban, industria, and (razsportetion occupations could be restructured also. convinced: olicisls that they could do so only by starkly separating tlie seformed zilieu from the rest of Arica, The dualism of colonial industtial soci« ‘logy in the mid-1980s was echoed in such fields as economics, In 1954, as Mombasa's casual labor post was being reconstructed and as @ yor cerament committee pondered how to separate African workers from their “enervating” cultural background, W. Arthur Lewis published his labor surplus theory of economic development, Lewis divided undeveloped ‘countries into two sectors, a backward one where the marsinal product of labor vas zero and a modern one where laber was productive. He saw development in she moversent of labor from the one 1© the ater GLewls 1954). Lewis's twe-sector model was part of the increasingly salient and harsh division in social science are colonial policy between “yraditional” and “modern.” The traditional African no longer seemed A quaint, “natural” gore, whose conservatism could remain hasmlessly238 1 Colaniatiom and Cul ‘compatible with colonial order but stood accused of being at obstacle to # progress alone Western ines that now seemed attainable. UAs the social engineers get forth their vision of a modern, aeuleural social oder for Afeiea, & biiler conflict raged in upcountry Kenya, embracing rurel areas and the seedy, desperate nzighbor hoods of Nairobi Sinere “casvalism’” still reigned. In 1952, the Mau Mau Emergency was declares in central Kenya. Kenye's rulers—convinced they were bringing ‘moder indusisial relations, economic growth, and agricultural improve nent t2 thelr coloay-—had no clear way of analyzing the arlevances of ‘people burdened by soll conservation programs or displaced irom setter farats in the midst of rationalizing production. Nor di they understand the anger of squatters, expelled from white farms, who foond in their reas of origin class of accumulating ACricans eager to shed their social fbligations. The ceots of the Man Mau Emergency were complex, but the oflcial interpretation was simpler: the Kikuyu people of central Kenya, unable to take the streams of social change, had fallen into an atexistic rebellion against progress. They had gone collectively mady teeing cach other on with a “primitive” cath 10 ceibai unity aad ter rori2ing Europeans and Christian, progressive Kenyans “The supposed savagery of Mau Mau rationalized the countersavasery of its repression, All the while, Ce firm program of rationalizing tie and disciple in urban labor ard bringing Africans inte a modem system of industrial relations served aa vivid coonterfoil forthe British consteuetion fof Mau Mat as an atavistic revolt anid forts brvtal suppression. By the time the rebellion was over, the weight of direct British inter ‘version and the burden of protecting white sestess had gro intolerable, “The dualism af 1950s t8inking on social—as well as political —cuestions - fn Africa was crucial in helping British officials convinee themselves that ney could, indeed, Gnd modem African parliamentarians, modern Att cans tade unionists, and modern African workers who could continue to promote progress, with lis attendant Jinkages to Western society and the world ezonomy, and who could take over the fesk of containing those Africans who Tad not yet made the transition.” “The dacks of Mombasa became the harbingers of 2 world of work thar was, in the late colonial and postestonial years, inceeasinsly 1288- Jated and rationalized, where unions bargained with managers, where hours and working eonditions were kept within standards familiar 10 any European indestrial sociologist. Outside of that world, the wre termed domsin—where the labor regulations, organization charis, and Caleniing Time ¢ 239 time discipline of advanced capitalism Gid net rule—came eventually 10 bbe kuown a the “informal sector” These was nothing particularly new about what went on there: in the Victorian age it would tave been called, the “residaum'” and in early ¢wentieth-centary Mombasa it was referred tw as “easualism" Like indirect rule a half-cencury previously, the infor sal sector concept of the postcolonial era attached 4 neutral label to aan vnsubdued domain. Leacers of the fragile polities of African states ‘saw tne informal sector as both dangerous and useful; international agencies eventually came ke see it a8 4 locus of cheap, labor-intensive production that could animate African economies (International Labour Ocanization 1972), ‘What the promoters of informal economies did aot understand, but which local afficials could not ignore, was that production did nov sake place in « black box— ith inputs going in and outputs emerging, st mar: ket prices—but as a social process. The informal sector was not partice larly informal: social networks tied together owners, workers, and commercial partners. The social basis of production was more varied. ‘more complex, more ramified than the direct relationship of buyers and sellers of labor power; the Jabor process generated relationships as well as commodities; and these relationships constituted both reminder that the postcolonial city did aot live up to the modernist fantasy and thar the oveners of capital and the rulers of the state id not control—or even lunderstand—the weh ef connections among the urban population (Cooper 1983, 40-43). ‘The lessons of the lace colonial era are important neve: colonial officials, faced with the strike wave of 1989-87, did nor move—for the second tae in their short period af rule—co remake tie organization fof labor because that system had failed 19 get vital tagks done. They did not calculate, with any precision, the costs of exsusl versus monthly labor, and did nol follow up the program of decasualizetion with attempts to nueasure changes in how efficiently cargo was handled. Time discipline was, in offcial eyes, a cultural and political concept Uhis was what modera capitalist organization was supposed 10 look like; this was the way in which managers could exercise contcol; this ‘was the way in which a laber force could be made predictable, che \way in which its Behavior could be kept within fansliar bounds. Casual Jabor—and the informal sector in another era—presered social, polit- Jal, and ideological dangers as well as economic possibilities. ‘What is curious about the discourses of the late colonial and early240 Gotomatism and Cltre Indpenece et ae ter ene. Te etl vs of Affiean wskes remo eed unnamed jst as tel of {Sins fee uburccnonyf Nab sth 548" Shite enol te moe win! te ston of proeston stay sre The rere belied stbiton tie hat proce the Slice as sape ty Ge nay a working cin nes Tepes, whe ies nah sien an yout fm er soo a ace Usted. Nel ofeaeesox choo eae tht en fo usr te SSS Scr or wort ana rrodaston,Pehea ofhe see STEIN Si Momons hot teen propos tae aot ff fected ull B88 di oot probe worker! fly a commanity Ieany ap nd yes mere” Peep enon brea thane) note radon, aednernatorl opnon needed Sh ac on mh is yl ie 19 ay Tne epost fone Stare of ork te lf Rood ft ‘Sroeidem ftomvol oe dvk Ino, an scr ol De aed the tema The nae othe bor ones an wet Sc ou olteat nae we gngny let meamined” ‘spe at Mots ie stra of tie seed in a sate susan i, conte the dotnet of iNGsutegeat st pote angogein oe tb Aen mri socd {Tonner clues eng epee frm a canes cara ‘Rese mae hr rorouned-e wore. Sicha eos, ate Sree imompantie win tieconete pte of eerens power ove nse) sca, butts eon te eee in wih svi poly and Covi change could be ascssed in ney Inde det tins a a tht! cunratons proved move lang sn more Beta NOTES LL inve writes elsewhere on each the erica epbodes in vie Kenyan sate’ stiamipts to transform te maine of work, and this acile brings thera sito a single framenark (Cooper 1977, 1980, 1987), The folowing abbreviations sve uasd in these notes; CP (Coast Province) and LAB {Jaboor, bath from: the 1 Kenya National Archives, Naira, and CO (Coloniel Ofice, tom the Publ Recaud Office, Lolo. ; 7. Field wosk on this opie was conducted in Mombasa and Matin in 1972- 1), There albo writen evidence. from European visitors in the 1870S ad 1880 CColonising Time 243 {confirm ihe existence ofthe gang system aod the paiera of eulivating sed fateas each €2y. See Caoper 1977, 170-71, 3. This was 1yplcal of Afvies’s geste lave establishment, wheve rulers vee rarely confident of their aby 10 cope with rigidly cefned slave cas See Meilasioux 1956 4... Tasos to Henry Binns, futy 26, 2895, Peranencary Papers 1896, 595595, p. 18; Figgowt co Hardinge, Angus 1, 1895, Foreign Omhee Confidential Prins 676, 262 ‘6. Disfet sad Consular Report on Pemba (1800), 12, 6, Beeld to Harewsrt, Mey ¢, LM, CO $35/136. +, Nareinge to Sahsbary, January i, 1898, Fortgh OMice Confidential Prince 7024, 122, 8, Captain O. F Watkins, Carvir Section, co General Saif Offcer, Decenboe 21, 915, CP 38/603, 9 See the extensive correspondence fom 1936 to 1918 in CP 38/603 and cP 38/6 10. Seombasy Times, Tanusry 29, 2930; Mombase District, Annual Report 0927, 1929, TU Bast Attica Commission 1995, 37 12, See especially Inspetior of Police to ASst, Supt. of Police, July Hy 1934; District Commissioner, Mombesa, Memorancuca on Port Strike, sly 5-7, 1934, LAB 5/25. On Wen, see Rauger 1975, |3. Principal Labour Ofer to Cnet Secretary, August 9, 1939, LAB 9/1835 Disiviet Ofices to Commission of Enauiey, September 15, 1999, in Kenya 1939, os M4 Frederick Pedler, Minute, August H8, 1938, CO $33/513/38997/2: Mal solm MacDonald en Governor af Keays, Nevemboe 18, 1999, CO 533/513/ 38357/2, 15. A pacticulacy valuable documento the history ol tae AWE is the tan Seript of the deportation heargg, found in CO $27/2109, 16. Jemes Patrick, "Memorandum on Trade Uniont--Devslopment and Pol ‘ey—Kens.” nd. (1946), Fabien Colonia) Bureau Papes, 18/L, 4, Rhodes House, Oxford Univer 1. Oliver Lyetleion, Cirelar Leer, tone 2, 1954, EST 26/26/% copy in Railway Archiver, Nairobi 18, Lepsarve Councl) Debates 63 (December 16-17, 1954), ce. 1207-2355, 19. “Cavval Labou, Mombasa," sel, LO to 1C, February 2% 1948, LAB. 971083 20, Progress Report No. 3 on Philips Report, August 24, 1946, LAB 9/ 1838; Senior Labour Officer, Cosi, 10 Labour Commisioner, October 26, 1950, LAB 5/221 Ser also the iesitiony of vacious workers co the poststvke Uibunal ia LAB 3/28 and LAB 5/232421 Colonie and Culture 21. Minutes of Mestiag of Management Commies of Post Casual Labour Scheme, Fanuary 25, 1964, LAB 9/220, 22, Mombasa Social Survey 1958. 3b. Coustal people in 1958 wads wp % percent of the eatual sievedore Pook anu 59 percent of the casuad shorehanslers (Mombasa Social Survey 1958, 35), 28, Labour Department, Anant Report 41963); Kenya 2971, 33 25. Kenya 1961, IT 126 East Ajiicar Stondurd, September 16, 1959. See ao Lev! Africen Standard, January 20 and 21, 1959, and Deputy Labour Commssones, Note fon stoppage of Wark, analy 28, 1958, LAB 10/245. 2A Dow-by-bien acroust ie found ip che 1958 strike file, allway [atchves, Nairobi, Mbosi’s own reacdons are deseribed in his repert 10 is Federation (eincd in Singh 1980, 140, 184-S9) and bis aebiography (Move 1868, 3). 128, Dale 1960, 6-8, 20-22, "23, Dennis Abus, lender of the Doskworkers Union fom 1958 (0 1965; was accused of gecting jabs for people from his ows eric group Ghe Luby Of western Kena) and disceinioabng against comstal people. Akume bad, is fact, gone to some trouble to diversify the leadersnip of the wan. Bat the fcustion was virtually inevitahle, gen the albor-etting quality tha the few thoosand jabs i dae docks fad sequred (Sandixaol 1975, M6617, 135 236; Stren 1928, 79-87, 30. The modernizing fantasy for Kenya wat spelled out mt considerable feng and in cegacd to many dimeasions of social plicy—feom urban housing tovaggarian clas strucTure—In the Report of the East Arcs Royal Commission (Lorton, 1955), writen even as the rebek were being procesta mrough foncenttation eainpi apd “cured” of thelr madness. The offkial version of ‘wan Muu a: “enti modern" in must be seid, was self-serving but not ensiely larona: Miu May ideology opposed radical pavtculaiam—with ies mythic Appeals @ ihe Kihuya past—against the claim that the savates’ dienfeas Chisereut nag 2 necessiry part of the waiversal drive (9 human progress. The ‘lash of discourses und some tooent interpretations ef Mau Mau are analyzed in Cooper 1988 SLT iasue be tea pin oy fordisoming cudy, tentatively eatied ‘pevolonizalon and Adeican Society: The Labor Question ia French and lish Afrce, 1938-1960" 1, Momiass, Social Survey 1958, Bvon in the important iaboratory where “African urban ehthcopology was developed, the Ceuteal African Copperbelt. Selous research in mupieg conanities only began arownd 1950, by which ime the decisions rgarding stabizaon bad aeeady been made and oficial fad become comfortable wile their postwar vision of favor selbem, The cacly Coloniaing Teme J 243 efforts of Copperbelt anthropologists to stusy mine owns were Nocked by the ‘hining companias (Brown #979), 3S, There ere inesigatons ina the quality of supervision and. such questions enya 1959), ut he euriostyfeom dhe management point of view About what is aow celled the police of production (Burawoy 1988. 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