Grogan's Epic Walk

 

A review of Crossing the Heart of Africa – An Odyssey of Love and Adventure by Julian Smith, Harper Collins, NY, 2010

 

Readers, if any, of this blog will recognize that I enjoy books about travel in Africa. This is an interesting one. Author Smith’s gimmick is that he retraces the epic 1898 journey of Ewart Grogan, who walked from Cape to Cairo in order to secure the hand of the woman he loved. Smith too parallels Grogan’s quest, not only the route up the spine of Africa but with reflections on his relationship with the woman he is soon to marry.  I was not smitten with Smith’s romantic musings, but I did enjoy the alternating segments of what Grogan endured (and wrote about) and what Smith encountered. Obviously much had changed, especially in terms of transportation – Grogan walked while Smith used public conveyances – bikes, buses, boats, planes, which were much, much faster.  Smith’s journey is fleshed out by sporadic conversations with Africans that shed light on topics of the day whereas Grogan’s encounters with locals were often threatening, dangerous, and ultimately resolved through violence.

After Grogan succeeded in his quest (Smith stopped short), he did marry his beloved Gertrude (Smith married his love too). The Grogans moved to Kenya where the two became notable personages in the settler community. Grogan was a thorn in the government’s side, but a successful entrepreneur both in business and agriculture.  Among his efforts were vast sisal plantations in the area around Taveta on the Kenyan/Tanzanian border.  There he built an imposing house, dubbed Grogan’s castle, on a barren hilltop.  I was stationed in Mombasa from 1981-84 and visited the abandoned and dilapidating “castle” on several occasions.  It was indeed testimony to a vanished era and a monument to a remarkable man.

A sordid past of racism and paternalism

 

A review of Empires in the Sun by Lawrence James,Pegasus Books, NY, 2017 

This is an interesting history of Africa told from the perspective of the colonial powers. Even though events on the continent are clearly the focus of the record, author James relates how European nations viewed and constructed their empires, and then saw them dissolved.  Much of their considerations for empire were justified by “mission civilsatrice” but the underlying reasons were purely political and economic arising from inter European competition, not just for global standing but also for validation of their respective national cultures. For most of the several hundred years covered by the book Africans were depicted as sub-human, ignorant, pliable, savage, etc. Yet throughout James cites how Africans were progressing in defiance of such stereotyping.  And stereotyping it was. I was intrigued by the accounts of how popular media – newspapers, personal accounts, novels, films, comic books, expositions, etc.- shaped European popular views of backward Africans and how such media supported and endorsed governmental aspirations and policies to subjugate the continent.  It is an astonishing portrait of racism.

The history begins in the fifteenth century and progresses into the independence era. It deals with discovery, partition, colonialism, the awaking of independence consciousness, the impact of two world wars, the cold war, wars of independence and finally the end of apartheid.

I found several small errors of fact, but was dismayed by the cover map which neglects to depict the nation of South Sudan. In 2017, the date of publication, South Sudan had been independent for over five years.

This chronicle is detailed, sometimes too much so. The narrative jumps around from place to place in Africa and from year to year. Certainly, a reader needs already to have a solid background in African history to appreciate such convolutions.  That being said, I found the book readable and provocative because it does indeed elaborate on a long missing perspective on the history of the continent.