Germans on the Kenyan Coast ─ Land, Charity, and Romance

Diani, a coastal town on the Indian Ocean, is significantly defined by a large European presence that has spurred economic development and is also supported by close relationships between Kenyans and European immigrants and tourists. Nina Berman looks carefully at the repercussions that these economic and social interactions have brought to life on the Kenyan coast. She explores what happens when poorer and less powerful members of a community are forced to give way to profit-based real estate development, what it means when most of Diani’s schools and water resources are supplied by funds from immigrants, and what the impact of mixed marriages is on notions of kinship and belonging as well as the economy. This unique story about a small Kenyan town also recounts a wider tale of opportunity, oppression, resilience, exploitation, domination, and accommodation in a world of economic, political, and social change.

Nina Berman is Professor of Comparative Studies at the Ohio State University. Her most recent book publications include German Literature on the Middle East: Discourses and Practices, 1000–1989 and an edited anthology (with Klaus Muhlhahn and Patrice Nganang), German Colonialism Revisited: African, Asian, and Oceanic Experiences.