Asian Business Elites in East Africa between 1800 - 2000

Modern South Asia seminar by Dr Gijsbert Oonk.

During his talk he will focus on understanding the social, economic and political evolution of the transnational migrant community of Gujarati traders and merchants in East Africa. The history of South Asians in East Africa is neither part of the mainstream national Indian history nor that of East African history writing. This is surprising, because South Asians in East Africa outnumbered the Europeans with ten to one. Moreover, their overall economic contribution and political significance may be more important than the history of the colonizers. By using insights from the social sciences, including concepts like cultural capital, family firm, transnationality, middleman minorities and cultural change, he aims to achieve a broader understanding of communities that do not belong to nations, yet are part of national states. 

Gijsbert Oonk (1966) is Associate Professor of African and South Asian History at the Erasmus School of History Culture and Communication. His major interests include: business, migration and economic history. He is particular interested in the role of South Asian (Indian) migrants and settlers in East Africa. He received his PhD in non-Western history at Erasmus University Rotterdam in 1998: Ondernemers in Ontwikkeling. Fabrieken en fabrikanten in de Indiase katoenin­dustrie, 1850-1930, (Entrepreneurs in Development. Mills and millowners in the Indian cotton textile industry; Hilversum 1998).