Godfrey Mwakikagile

Life under British Colonial Rule Godfrey Mwakikagile

This work focuses on life under British colonial rule in Tanganyika and Southern Rhodesia. An African from Tanganyika, now Tanzania, shares his experiences. A British administrator who worked in colonial Tanganyika and in Southern Rhodesia also shares his. It is a work of shared memories although a generation apart - the British administrator being old enough to be a father to the African colonial subject who remembers not only the good times but also some of the injustices he and others suffered during that period. Godfrey Mwakikagile also addresses the enduring legacy of colonial rule and the lasting impact the colonisers had on the colonised. He contends that imperial conquest affected the personality of Africans and its impact is still felt today. He goes on to argue that conquest of the mind was the worst form of imperial subjugation and provides an analysis of the problem from a pyschological standpoint and in the context of cultural imperialism during colonial rule and in contemporary times since independence. Both perspectives, of the African colonial subject and the British administrator, complement each other and shed some light on how life was in colonial Tanganyika for the indigenous people and for the British settlers and colonial rulers as well. It was a critical period in the history of Tanganyika and for the future of the country which came to be known as Tanzania after uniting with Zanzibar in 1964. It was also a critical period in the history of Southern Rhodesia which tragically descended into war only a few years later because of the injustices Africans suffered at the hands of their rulers: the white settlers who monopolised power. The work is also important in another respect. It is a primary source of information. The two individuals who have written about their experiences during those days were witnesses to history. They lived in those countries. They know what happened. And they have written about it for others to know how life was during some of the most critical years in the history of British colonial rule in Africa.