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Garma
Garam More |
Heritage |
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The Asian African Heritage Identity & History A
Photo exhibition organised by:
The Asian African Heritage: Identity and History was co-organized by the National Museums of Kenya and the Asian African Heritage Trust in year 2000. The exhibition has been supported by the National Museums of Kenya and by voluntary participation and contributions. The exhibition is founded on the concept (1) of Dr. Sultan H. Somjee, till recently, Head, Division of Ethnography, National Museums of Kenya. The curator of the exhibition is Dr. Somjee. The photographs have been researched and supervised by Akbar Hussein, and the text of the exhibition and his brochure is by Pheroze Nowrojee. INTRODUCTION
The presence of peoples from the Indian sub-continent in East Africa goes back well over three thousand years. The presence of peoples from Eastern Africa in India is also of long duration. (2) This exhibition focuses on the Asian African presence in Kenya, and relatedly East Africa, in a more recent period-the last two hundred years. Many Asian African families have been settled on the Coast, Lamu, Pate, Malindi, Mombasa, Pemba, Zanaibar, Bagamoyo and Dar-es-Salaam from the 1820s and earlier; but the development of our Asian African minority as we know it today emerges from the 1880s. It was the building of the Uganda Railway (now Kenya Railways), from 1896-1901, and the establishment of the British community in the Kenya. How does our history record them? As Dr. George Abungu, Director-General, National Museums of Kenya, has reminded us, “The Asian Africans were a part of the making of Kenya, and their heritage is representative of this”. Earlier, Dr. Mohamed Isahakia, then Director-General, in initiating the organization of this exhibition stated: “Almost 34 years after Independence our National Museums here has no part of its entire exhibitions focusing on any aspect of Asian history. This must be corrected.” (3) The need for us of know more about each other than we do at present is critical, given the dangers of ethnic-based politics. This knowledge affects how we address those serious issues. It is equally critical for the future, given the fact that Kenya is composed not of one or two different minorities, but of 44 different minorities. It is therefore important for us as Kenyans to examine all our stories, all our heritages, all our struggles for our freedom, and all our culture, from every part of our country. And thereby, most importantly, ourselves write, record, sculpt, dance, paint, and teach our history, the ideas that move us, and our aspirations.
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