Claiming an Ethnic Identity in the Midst of Statelessness: Oral Testimonies Collected from Nubians in Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

This paper attempts to explore the politics of identity among the Nubians living in Kibera by analysing the contemporary oral testimonies collected from Nubian elders. The focus of this study also demonstrates how the Nubians in Kibera deal with the issues of ethnic identity, citizenship, statelessness, and marginalization in post-independence Kenya. The fieldwork for this study was conducted in July of 2011 and January of 2012 at the Makina section of Kibera, where the majority of Nubians dwelled. During the interviews, informants who identified themselves as members of the Nubian community were asked to narrate their versions on the history of Kibera. The assertion of ethnicity and representations of the past delivered by Nubians are crucial to understand their current status in Kenya. Their ethnic identifications have been multiple and situational according to the social changes in colonial and post-colonial Kenya. The Nubians’ struggles for positioning themselves as legitimate citizens of this country and acquiring the ability to exercise the right to own property are vividly described from their explanations on the history of Kibera. The “Sudanese” or “Nubian” community emerged from a military group brought to Kenya by the British in the turn of the twentieth century. This community, which was established in the colonial state, maintained a separate identity as “Sudanese”, emphasizing their foreign and “detribalized” status. In the closing stage of colonization before independence, they started to present themselves as “Nubians”, stressing that they are one of Kenyan “tribes”. This sifting notion of identity was caused by the changing political context in Kenya. The Nubians’ consolidation as an ethnic group can be understood as their aspiration to justify their presence in Kenya and to secure their tenure in Kibera which they considered their “tribal” homeland.