QUEST FOR THE JADE SEA: COLONIAL COMPETITION
AROUND AN EAST AFRICAN LAKE. Pascal James
Imperato.
Boulder: Westview Press, 1998. pp. 332. Cloth: $35.00.
The exploration of the Lake Rudolf (Turkana)
area receives little attention in studies of colonialism. The wars between
Ethiopia and Italy, Britain and the Mahdi State, and the competition
between Britain, France and Belgium over Equatorial Sudan are usually
cited as the determining factors of the colonial scramble of the region.
Nevertheless, at the end of the nineteenth century Lake Rudolf was the
subject of many expeditions which "reflected misguided colonial
judgments about its economic and strategic importance and its presumed
relationship to the Nile" (p. 2). In his chronological overview
of this frenetic activity, Pascal Imperato draws a sharp distinction
between expeditions that originated from geographical concerns (identifying
the course of rivers, especially the Nile) and those with explicit political
goals (claiming territory). He believes the first expeditions were oriented
to science and sport, although their original impetus might have been
political (e.g. the interest of Crown Prince Rudolf in the Teleki expedition,
1886-88). Only from 1896, in the enterprises of Bottego, Marchand, Bonchamps
and Macdonald, does Imperato detect clear political aims. The subsequent
1899-1900 British expedition of Harrison and Whitehouse was the first
to claim territory and draw borders. The book ends with a brief sketch
of the actual demarcation expeditions and the more recent history of
the region.
Imperato is far more confident when discussing
the personal, logistic and geographical aspects of the expeditions than
their political backgrounds. In the introduction he expresses his admiration
for these "bold, resourceful, and unorthodox" adventurers
(p. 6). His book is a straightforward and accessible account of these
"glorious ventures." Although Imperato, is a doctor specializing
in African tropical diseases, he acts here as an amateur historian at
his best. He has researched a plethora of archives, sometimes in obscure
places, and interviewed descendants of the explorers, which enables
him to reveal many colourful details about such enterprising or eccentric
men as Teleki, von Höhnel, Donaldson Smith, Bulatovich, Leontiev,
etc. His open perspective also saves him from ideological or theoretical
blindness. He thus understands colonial competition as a complex, interrelated
history. Enterprising men and indigenous powers played an important
role next to colonial powers and underlying socio-economic forces. He
gives due attention to the hesitant, sometimes indifferent position
of the British government and the expansionist policies of Menelik as
determining the political relevance of later expeditions to the Lake
Rudolf region.
Imperato's approach, however, begs for
a more systematic, critical analysis of political contexts and consequences
of colonialist exploration. It is unsettling that the author wraps up
his story at the moment of actual demarcation between Ethiopia and British
East Africa. Imperato seems aware of more profound and long-term aspects
(e.g., the changes in the demography and ecology of the area caused
by the expeditions) but refrains from elaborating upon them. His introduction
takes issue with recent, postmodern studies of nineteenth-century travel
accounts that seek to uncover Eurocentric, imperialistic attitudes and
appropriation of local knowledges. He warns against anachronistic judgments
and concludes positively that these studies have allowed us to understand
better the cultural and social references of the travellers. But in
this book, there is very little trace of even this weakened version
of a critical approach to colonialist exploration. The travel accounts
are taken at face value, so that stories of "treacherous local
traders," "deserting porters,"and "hostile tribes"
are uncritically rehearsed.
Imperato is more critical of the extensive
and enthusiastic shooting of game, particularly of the expeditions led
by Neumann (1895) and Cavendish (1897). Cavendish is also reproached
for his harsh treatment of the Boran and Turkana, but this critique
only stems from other accounts of that expedition. Imperato does not
expand beyond his archives by incorporating indigenous oral histories
of the region or by approaching the travel accounts in a discourse-analytic
way. As for the one 'indigenous' side in this book, it is useful that
Imperato does discuss Ethiopian expansionist politics and he treats
Ethiopia as a major player alongside Britain and France. But the discussion
is also somewhat rhetorically attenuating for colonialism in general.
There is a blatant imbalance between the recurrent emphasis on the atrocities
committed by the Ethiopian expeditions and the largely uncritical reliance
on the Western travel accounts. One would at least expect a contextualization
of Ethiopian politics as a reaction to European invasion, just as Britain
reacted to the Ethiopian expeditions.
In sum, I consider Imperato's book to
be a well-researched overview of nineteenth-century geographical exploration
in that little-studied region around Lake Turkana, rather than a critical
analysis of the political context of those expeditions. Its clear style
and rich details will appeal to a wide audience.
Chris Bulcaen
Department of English
University of Gent, Belgium
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