Waseem Kasim

Both a transnational and transregional project, my research, entitled “Sanitary Segregation: Cleansing Accra and Nairobi, 1908-1963,” is a comparative history of African cities. It demonstrates how public health and ecological factors drove the planning and development of Accra and Nairobi, the respective capital cities of the British non-settler Gold Coast Colony (Ghana) and settler Kenya state. By focusing on colonial capitals, the urban sites which reflected the political economy and power structures of the two colonial regimes, my research transcends the differences historians and political scientists often ascribe to the states. Scholarly studies of race and culture often reinforce these perceived differences by showing settler colonies as distinct from their non-settler opposites. However, spotlighting sanitation in settler and non-settler capital cities uncovers a narrative of profound similarities. My research proves that sanitary-driven urban planning, grounded in global scientific findings on contagious diseases, manifested in residential segregation by race and class and set Accra and Nairobi on parallel development trajectories. Residential segregation transcended “color.” Whether based on race or social class, privileged and underprivileged places manifested through sanitation and the lack of it. Thus, my research shows that dividing colonies into settler and non-settler states is a matter of perspective. Residential segregation followed the logic of race and class. 

In the twentieth century, Accra and Nairobi attracted foreign capital and waves of migrants from within and outside Africa, expanding their populations and geographic boundaries. Colonial officers and experts applied the “modern” city and urban planning concepts to remake the cities along sanitary lines without regard to the political economy that gave rise to the ideas in Europe. As the socioeconomic bases of the colonies could not support the transformative and explosive growth, unsanitary and congested neighborhoods emerged. While colonial administrations designated the neighborhoods as slums and approved their demolition, many neighborhood African urban residents adapted to fulfill their personal and community needs. Still, the destruction often coincided with the economic and racial self-serving interests of the state, municipality, and the privileged while marginalizing other residents. The reappearance of the same slum conditions, which demolitions aimed at removing, shows that colonized Africans amended planners’ vision of the layouts of the cities. 

As urban planners and public health officials strive for sustainable cities, my research shows the pathways and futures available to local and central governments, development and urban health experts, and non-governmental agencies in the twentieth century. Understanding how colonial urban projects failed to improve lives and livelihoods in African cities can improve the chances of creating livable African cities for many people in the contemporary era.