Caroline Elkins
Encyclopedia
Caroline Elkins is a professor of History
at Harvard University
. She studies the colonial encounter in Africa
during the twentieth century, and the British treatment of the Kikuyu in Kenya.
She was a Policy Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government in the Carr Centre for Human Rights Policy, Harvard University
in 2006. Her work, Imperial Reckoning, presents information held at the Kenyan National Archives of the conditions in Kenyan concentration camps.
from Princeton University
. She received her Master's and Doctoral degrees in History from Harvard. She teaches courses on modern Africa, protest in East Africa
, human rights in Africa
, and British
colonial violence in the 20th century.
David Elstein has also noted severe shortcomings in Elkins' methodology and conclusions. Elstein contends that her casualty figures are derived from an idiosyncratic reading of census figures and a tendentious interpretation of the fortified village scheme.
Elkins' Harvard colleague Niall Ferguson
, who praised Elkins for her research which he described as "painstaking", nevertheless described her book as a highly "sensationalist account of the rebellion". In 2007, the demographer John Blacker writing in African Affairs demonstrated in detail that Elkins' estimates of casualties were grossly over estimated.
The Kenyan historian Bethwell Ogot, from Moi University
, has written a critical review of Elkins’ book, “Imperial Reckoning”, noting that Mau Mau fighters:
Contrary to African customs and values, assaulted old people, women and children. The horrors they practiced included the following: decapitation and general mutilation of civilians, torture before murder, bodies bound up in sacks and dropped in wells, burning the victims alive, gouging out of eyes, splitting open the stomachs of pregnant women. No war can justify such gruesome actions. In man’s inhumanity to man there is no race distinction. The Africans were practising it on themselves. There was no reason and no restraint on both sides, although Elkins sees no atrocities on the part of Mau Mau.
Journal of African History 46, 2005, page 502.
The historian Susan Carruthers from Rutgers University
has written in reviewing Elkins’ book, “Imperial Reckoning” that:
In her determination to redress imperial propaganda’s stereotypes of Mau Mau savagery, Elkins leans into unintended condescension, lauding the Kikuyu’s ‘sophisticated’ appreciation of British hypocrisy. (Why wouldn’t those most thoroughly dislocated appreciate the character of European colonialism better than anyone?) Conversely, Elkins’ settlers and colonial administrators are cartoonish grotesques: ‘These privileged men and women lived an absolutely hedonistic lifestyle, filled with sex, drugs, drink and dance, followed by more of the same’.
Twentieth Century British History 16, 2005, Page 492.
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. She studies the colonial encounter in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
during the twentieth century, and the British treatment of the Kikuyu in Kenya.
She was a Policy Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government in the Carr Centre for Human Rights Policy, Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in 2006. Her work, Imperial Reckoning, presents information held at the Kenyan National Archives of the conditions in Kenyan concentration camps.
Biography
Caroline Elkins graduated summa cum laude with a major in HistoryHistory
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
from Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
. She received her Master's and Doctoral degrees in History from Harvard. She teaches courses on modern Africa, protest in East Africa
East Africa
East Africa or Eastern Africa is the easterly region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. In the UN scheme of geographic regions, 19 territories constitute Eastern Africa:...
, human rights in Africa
Human rights in Africa
Human rights as a legal concept is a relatively recent notion in Africa. The United Nations System, international law and the African Union have certainly all contributed to the establishment of a human rights system in Africa, which has positively and indispensably influenced the advancement of...
, and British
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
colonial violence in the 20th century.
Works
- Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in KenyaImperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in KenyaImperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya written by Caroline Elkins, published by Henry Holt, won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction. -Commentary and Criticism:...
(Henry Holt/Jonathan Cape, 2005) - Settler Colonialists in the 20th Century: Projects, Practices, Legacies (Routledge, edited with Susan PedersenSusan Pedersen (historian)Susan Pedersen is a historian, and James P. Shenton Professor of the Core Curriculum at Columbia University. Pedersen focuses on 19th and 20th century British history, women's history, settler colonialism, and the history of international institutions.-Life:...
, 2005)
Criticism of Elkins' work
James Mitchell , in a highly critical review of the book, said 'I shudder for those of her students who expect academic rigour: Elkins doesn't let facts stand in the way of a good rant.'David Elstein has also noted severe shortcomings in Elkins' methodology and conclusions. Elstein contends that her casualty figures are derived from an idiosyncratic reading of census figures and a tendentious interpretation of the fortified village scheme.
Elkins' Harvard colleague Niall Ferguson
Niall Ferguson
Niall Campbell Douglas Ferguson is a British historian. His specialty is financial and economic history, particularly hyperinflation and the bond markets, as well as the history of colonialism.....
, who praised Elkins for her research which he described as "painstaking", nevertheless described her book as a highly "sensationalist account of the rebellion". In 2007, the demographer John Blacker writing in African Affairs demonstrated in detail that Elkins' estimates of casualties were grossly over estimated.
The Kenyan historian Bethwell Ogot, from Moi University
Moi University
Moi University is a Kenyan public university located in Eldoret, western Kenya. It is one of seven fully fledged public institutions of higher learning in Kenya...
, has written a critical review of Elkins’ book, “Imperial Reckoning”, noting that Mau Mau fighters:
Contrary to African customs and values, assaulted old people, women and children. The horrors they practiced included the following: decapitation and general mutilation of civilians, torture before murder, bodies bound up in sacks and dropped in wells, burning the victims alive, gouging out of eyes, splitting open the stomachs of pregnant women. No war can justify such gruesome actions. In man’s inhumanity to man there is no race distinction. The Africans were practising it on themselves. There was no reason and no restraint on both sides, although Elkins sees no atrocities on the part of Mau Mau.
Journal of African History 46, 2005, page 502.
The historian Susan Carruthers from Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
has written in reviewing Elkins’ book, “Imperial Reckoning” that:
In her determination to redress imperial propaganda’s stereotypes of Mau Mau savagery, Elkins leans into unintended condescension, lauding the Kikuyu’s ‘sophisticated’ appreciation of British hypocrisy. (Why wouldn’t those most thoroughly dislocated appreciate the character of European colonialism better than anyone?) Conversely, Elkins’ settlers and colonial administrators are cartoonish grotesques: ‘These privileged men and women lived an absolutely hedonistic lifestyle, filled with sex, drugs, drink and dance, followed by more of the same’.
Twentieth Century British History 16, 2005, Page 492.
- John Blacker, 'The demography of Mau Mau: fertility and mortality in Kenya in the 1950s: a demographer's viewpoint.' African Affairs 106, Number 423: 205-227 (2007).
Awards
- 2006 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-FictionPulitzer Prize for General Non-FictionThe Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction has been awarded since 1962 for a distinguished book of non-fiction by an American author that is not eligible for consideration in another category.-1960s:...
for her book Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in KenyaImperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in KenyaImperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya written by Caroline Elkins, published by Henry Holt, won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction. -Commentary and Criticism:...
. - 2010 Guggenheim Fellowship
External links
- Caroline Elkins - Colonial War Crimes in Kenya: Prospects for Reconciliation (2005, video program)
- David Elstein on Elkins' methodological shortcomings
- David Elstein on Elkins' errors
- Ofcom report on complaints against the documentary "Kenya: White Terror"
- Mau Mau UprisingMau Mau UprisingThe Mau Mau Uprising was a military conflict that took place in Kenya between 1952 and 1960...
- Fitz R S de Souza