Spacing forgetting: the birth of the museum at Fort Jesus, Mombasa, and the legacies of the colonization of memory in Kenya

Linehan, Denis; Sarmento, João

Spacing forgetting: the birth of the museum at Fort Jesus, Mombasa, and the legacies of the colonization of memory in Kenya

Files

Fort_Jesus.pdf(592.13 KB)

Accepted Version

Date

2011-04-15

Authors

Linehan, Denis

Sarmento, João

Publisher

Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

Published Version

10.1007/978-90-481-8945-8_17

Abstract

This chapter discusses public memory in Kenya through an analysis of the restoration of Fort Jesus, Mombasa, Kenya, and the contemporary role of the fort as a site of memory. Drawing on the political uses of erasure, fiction, and omission, the authors reveal continuities in the production of memory at Fort Jesus that have been politicized in colonial and postcolonial contexts. An analysis of the British and Portuguese motives in converting the fort into a museum shows how the transformation supported their imperial projects in Africa in face of growing calls for decolonization. The chapter also analyzes the resistance to the restoration led by two figures in the Kenyan anticolonial movement, Tom Mboya and Pio Gama Pinto. Although reaffirming how their resistance to the museum provides a critical alternative to the nostalgic narratives currently in vogue at the site, the authors conclude that the memory work around Fort Jesus actively neglects the colonial experience.

Keywords

Kenya , Mombasa , Museum , Memory , Postcolonial geography , Fort Jesus , Tom Mboya , Pio Gama Pinto , Cultural geography

Citation

Linehan, D. and Sarmento, J. (2011) 'Spacing forgetting: the birth of the museum at Fort Jesus, Mombasa, and the legacies of the colonization of memory in Kenya', in Meusburger, P., Heffernan, M. and Wunder, E. (eds.) Cultural Memories: The Geographical Point of View. Dordrecht: Springer Science+Business Media B.V., pp. 305-325. doi: 10.1007/978-90-481-8945-8_17