Kilimanjaro's Conflicting Historical Layers and the Neo-Colonialism of Tourism, Part I
The history of Tanzania's highest peak Kilimanjaro is not only one of African nature being seen through the eyes of European modernity, but involves a history shaped by a colonial and postcolonial narrative of power and conquest. Kilimanjaro is a perfect example of how European appropriations of its ''overwhelming beauty'' and the aesthetic perceptions of wilderness, shaping the mountain's attraction, lead to wider both political and economic implications through large scale tourism projects, which I will aim to explore in this and the following post, through a reading of Kilimanjaro’s melting glaciers: on the colonial and postcolonial perception and appropriation of African nature by Urte Undine Frömming.
Kibo, Kiliamjaro's largest volcanic cone, meaning ''astonishment'' for the local Chagga people, has not always been referred to as Kibo. Kilimanjaro's peaks have a long history of conflicting narratives throughout both colonial and post-colonial times, rooted in the historical problematics of appropriation. This historical process of colonial conquest is not one that disappeared with the declaration of Tanzanian independence, but that continues to be perpetuated by a large scale tourism industry bringing in international visitors to behold and 'brave' the spectacle of Kilimanjaro.
Studies of Nature in the European Gaze
The 19th century was marked by a rapid surge in scientific development, which increasingly distanced cultural and social research from nature by giving the natural sciences a priority to its study and analysis. This divide in the relationship between the arts, nature and science meant that only later was the study of nature in relation to aesthetic experience revived and considered of both scholarly and cultural value. Specifically, this becomes a crucial field of study in order to understand the consequences 19th century European appropriation of non-European (in this case East African) wilderness to local geographies and societies, which are still evident in current inequality, often highlighted in the colonially reminiscent tourism industry.
With the industrialization of agriculture and and a fall in the number of peoples working in and with 'nature', nature has become a source of emotional consumption, satisfying feelings of ''identity and homeland'' (Luig, 1997). There was a shift from seeing mountains as ''unattractive obstacles'' to survival, development and even conquest, towards a new type of aesthetic experience during the 18th century with the discovery of the sublime. Natural landscapes which, for the most part, could not be conquered or transformed by human intervention gain an aesthetic power, symbolising the sublime as something stronger than human, and in turn beautiful and unique. This also gives them cultural, economic and political significance both to locals and colonialists; which is why Kilimanjaro became a symbol associated with colonialism and eventually freedom from colonial powers.
European Expeditions and Patriotic Nomenclature
Although Kilimanjaro was described by Rebmann, a German missionary, already in 1848, the Geographical Society of London disregarded his findings, saying it was impossible for snow to occur in such latitudes. European scientists have not included Kilimanjaro in their categorization of natural phenomena until German led expeditions to Tanzania during the 1860s, which confirmed Rebmann's observations. Meyer's ascent to Kilimanjaro's summit led to its patriotic naming of 'Kaiser Wilhelm Peak', even mentioned in a 1920s guidebook promoting tourism:
Meyer's large collection of published books, many about his ascent of Kilimanjaro led to the popularisation of this region across Europe. Because of its peculiarity, Kilimanjaro became somewhat of a colonial status symbol, causing dispute over who, between the British and Germans, had ownership of the ''King of African Mountains''. The mountain was bartered over, going to the Germans and then returning to the British after WWI.
On the other hand, the million and a half people living around Kilimanjaro, an ethnic group called Chagga, were taxed for living there under the 1897 German hut-tax, while, at the same time, being forced to work on cash-crop farms, thus destroying the indigenous economy of East Africa. These conflicting histories are now a part of Kilimanjaro, but have not yet been sufficiently drawn attention to in its cultural, historical, and geographical representations.
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