Migrant Luo rail and port workers and the cartographies of colonial Mombasa, 1902-1950s

Okelo, B.A. (2025)

Doctoral Thesis

Colonial Mombasa's landscape was characterised by a display of distinctive urban features. This outlook was the outcome of the interplay of numerous factors and influences, some rooted in century old history while others were more contemporaneous to the time. This study aims to analyse how the migrant Kenya Uganda Railway and Harbour labourers contributed to the manifestation of the defining features of colonial Mombasa in the years 1902–1950s.
Essentially, the study examines how the introduction of the Luo labourers into Mombasa’s distinct cultural space, revolutionised the town’s economic and social landscape to produce the features mapping out colonial Mombasa’s urbanity.

• Mombasa
• Port cities
• Migrant labourers
• Luo
• Kenya
• Colonial history
• Urban Africa

• All authors: Okelo, B.A.
• Supervisor: Dekker, M.; Nkwi Gam, W.; Walraven, K. van
• Committee: Barendregt, B.A.; Bruijn, M.E. de; Kaag, M.M.A.; Schrover, M.L.J.C.; Bellucci, S.; Peša, I.
• Qualification: Doctor (dr.)
• Awarding Institution: African Studies Centre Leiden (ASCL), Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Leiden University
• Date: 2025-09-09