In highlighting the perceived developments made by the British in East Africa, Introducing East Africa (No. 2) represents pre-colonial Africa as ‘primitive’. ‘The people were primitive’, the voiceover explains, there were ‘warlike pastoral tribes’ and ‘war and disease levied their toll on East Africa’. In contrast, the film shows modern Nairobi, which is ‘barely fifty years old. Yet it has grown into a modern city, with broad streets, fine buildings, up-to-date hotels, and stores and shops for every kind of merchandise’.

Further British developments are emphasised. Britain has brought technological advances. ‘To-day’, a voiceover asserts, ‘it takes only 36 hours to cover by train the journey from Mombasa to Lake Victoria which took Joseph Thomson three months less than seventy years ago’. The importance of European industries and investment is also shown – ‘without such capital the natural resources of this rich capital will remain untapped’. The film then shifts from an assessment of 19^th century Africa, to a consideration of how the British can work with the Africans in the future. The film promotes continued British assistance at a time when calls for independence were growing: ‘Fifty years of British government had certainly brought tremendous changes to East Africa. But what has been done was only a beginning’.

The film acknowledges changes within East Africa – in particular the greater responsibilities now handed to Africans – yet it still emphasises the role of the British here. For example, when chiefs visit a reservoir, which is being built by their tribesmen, the voiceover emphasises that this is carried out ‘under the supervision of experts in the government service’. The film depicts an African surveyor building the council chamber, yet notes that he was ‘educated at Makerere College’ under British tutelage. The collection of the census indicates how the African workers have gained ‘experience’ from the British, which will help them in the future. The organisation and scientific approach of the British – ‘neatly docketed on these shelves is the information which, correctly used and interpreted, is vital to the future of East Africans’ – further illustrates the supposedly ‘British’ set of skills still required within Africa.

The film also promotes continued British involvement through its ethnographic shots of a still ‘undeveloped’ Africa. It shows African parents treated as children, sitting at classroom desks as they learn about making ‘better, healthier homes’. Furthermore the voiceover explains that ‘the simple African … must not lose their African way of life and the dancing that is so much a part of it’. The ethnographic shots maintain a distinction between the British and Africans – referred to as ‘them’ and ‘us’ – and offer a further validation of continued British involvement within East Africa.

Introducing East Africa (No.2) reiterates arguments presented within other COI films. For example it highlights the need for Makerere to produce a ‘more highly educated class’ to assume leadership, and, in particular, emphasises that any changes must be gradual: ‘simple changes are the most effective at this stage’. Ultimately both Introducing East Africa films serve as a justification of British colonial policy, presenting the historical role of the British in Africa – ‘only in the past half century has the East African started learning how to live’ – and highlighting the continued role of Britain in developing Africa’s future. This is evident in the final shot, as the voiceover talks of ‘two East Africans living side by side: One is of the ageless past, the other of the future’. The future is represented here by an African child who hands a book to a European woman, emphasising the continued role of the British in educating and guiding Africans.

Tom Rice (May 2008)