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Kenyan Lessons: Post Independence Issues

Kenyan Lessons: Post Independence Issues. Christopher Witulski. Post-Colonial Misconceptions. Automatic revision of colonial policy Primacy of the state “Go-it-alone” attempts Threatened takeovers of large firms Most success with micro-economics (away from state interaction)

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Kenyan Lessons: Post Independence Issues

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  1. Kenyan Lessons: Post Independence Issues Christopher Witulski

  2. Post-Colonial Misconceptions • Automatic revision of colonial policy • Primacy of the state • “Go-it-alone” attempts • Threatened takeovers of large firms • Most success with micro-economics (away from state interaction) • Later recognition of small business • Education, training • Creation of a business class

  3. Nairobi’s Cultural Potential • Increase in population from migration • Ethnic diversity • Optimism after independence • Resulting exchange instead of isolation

  4. Early Success • Nairobi’s 1960’s promising start • Influx of musicians • Pan-African success of Kenyans • Prevalence of labels and distributors • 70’s stagnation • Failure to develop the “Nairobi sound” • Aging recording equipment • Artists could not make a living

  5. Africanization of the Industry • African takeover of foreign control • Loss of networks, social capital • Kikuyu dominance, loss of diversity • Musical stagnation without popular appeal

  6. Zaire as an Alternative • Recognition of political power in music • Government funded popular artists • International connections • Cuban rumba, strong Parisian interaction • The opposite of Kenyan isolation

  7. Causes of Informal Settlements • Not simply poor legal framework • Commercialization of low-income housing • Exclusion of urban middle class from the formal process • Results in middle class ownership of informal housing

  8. Nairobi in Context • 1899 railway settlement • Foreigners occupied private houses • Europeans in private houses • Asians in extended family houses near the city center • Africans in cramped rental quarters • Racial zoning rationalized as “the need to achieve a disease free environment with minimum of public expenditure”

  9. The Evolution of Supply • At first non-commercial reasons (squatting) for large settlements • Later commercial (illegal subdivisions, sub-subdivisions) • Racial zoning limited “free land market” • Replaced by similar class zoning

  10. Results • Mutually beneficial • Politicians - votes • Professionals with falling incomes • Legal land owners • Development “companies” • A result of a developmental context • Solutions in both more “formal” options and more distributed resources

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