Race, Resistance and the Boy Scout Movement In British Colonial Africa

339 Pages·2004·3.11 MB·English

by  Timothy H. Parsons

Race, Resistance, and the Boy Scout Movement
in British Colonial Africa

t i m o t h y h . p a r s o n s
Race, Resistance, and the
Boy Scout Movement
in British Colonial Africa
OHIO UNIVERSITY PRESS
ATHENS
Ohio University Press,Athens,Ohio 
© by Ohio University Press
Printed in the United States of America
All rights reserved
Ohio University Press books are printed on acid-free paper Ī
             
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Parsons,Timothy,1962–
Race,resistance,and the boy scout movement in British Colonial Africa /
Timothy H.Parsons.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN ---(cloth :alk.paper) — ISBN ---(pbk.:alk.
paper)
. Scouts and scouting—Great Britain—Colonies—Africa.. Great Britain—
Colonies—Africa—Administration.. Great Britain—Colonies—Africa—Race
relations—History. I.Title.
HS.AP 
.''—dc

To Ann Parsons and Frances Marx
Kate,Julia,and Elizabeth Parsons
and to the memory of my father,George Parsons

Contents
LISTOFILLUSTRATIONS ix
PREFACE xi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xvii
CHAPTERONE
Introduction 3
CHAPTERTWO
Scouting and Schools as Colonial Institutions 30
CHAPTERTHREE
Pathfinding in Southern Africa,1908–45 72
CHAPTERFOUR
Scouting and the School in East Africa,1910–45 113
CHAPTERFIVE
Scouting and Independency in East Africa,1946–64 146
CHAPTERSIX
Scouting and Apartheid in Southern Africa,1945–80 191
CHAPTERSEVEN
Independence and After 237
APPENDIX
The Scout Law and Promise 259
NOTES 261
SELECTEDBIBLIOGRAPHY 299
INDEX 317

Illustrations
2.1 Woodbadge Training Course,Lexden,South Africa,. 56
2.2 Kenyan Scouts learning their knots,ca.. 57
2.3 Baden Powell’s illustration of Scouting’s egalitarianism. 59
2.4 The Kenyan Scouts who performed for
Queen Elizabeth II in ceremonial “tribal”dress,. 68
3.1 Pathfinder badge,interwar era. 87
3.2 Bechuana Wayfarers,s. 102
3.3 The Lubwa Pathfinders,. 108
3.4 Pathfinder warrant certificate,interwar era. 111
4.1 The Scout belt. 144
5.1 Chief Scout of the Empire and Commonwealth
Lord Rowallan greeting Scouts in Kenya,ca.. 152
5.2 Organizers of Kikuyu rally at Rowallan Camp,. 168
5.3 Members of the “inter-racial”Kenyan delegation
to the World Scout Jamboree. 183
6.1 Blind Transvaal troop greets Lord Rowallan,
Chief Scout of the Empire and Commonwealth,ca.. 197
6.2 South African “inter-racial”Scout rally,ca.. 202
6.3 Integrated South African contingent to the
World Scout Jamboree in Britain,. 206
6.4 Mack Omega Shange invests King
Cyrian Bhekuzulu Nyangayizwe as a Scout,. 224
6.5 Registered African Scouts by year. 232
ix