Kingdoms, Politics, and State Formation in Pre-colonial Kenya

Abstract

The problem of state formation in African history is one that remains difficult to contextualize. Eurocentric historiography has often postulated the argument that state formation is “un-African” in the sense that in pre-colonial Africa there were no societies that developed advanced institutions and structures to qualify to be recognized as states as understood in Western society (Swai, 1984, p. 15). Such arguments are often based on the erroneous view that African societies have always been static and unchanging until external agencies in the form of Arab and European intervention provided the momentum for change. The question of whether state formation took place in pre-colonial Africa is a subject that has attracted increased attention with the growth of nationalist and post-colonial historiography. Post-colonial historiography has embarked on the project of the indigenization of African history, and one aspect of this endeavor is to legitimize the existence of pre-colonial states in Africa. The outcome of these endeavors has been the production of extensive literature across Africa on the existence of complex social, economic, and political formations that were the product of African agency. Although this approach, as Swai (1984, p. 15) notes, may have the tendency to glorify the African past at the expense of objective and authentic history, it has provided a rich body of knowledge about African societies that were previously glossed over by Eurocentric historiography.