Manufacturing Modernity in Africa - How Industrialisation Transformed Late- and Postcolonial Societies, Politics and Economies (Kenya, Malawi and Zimbabwe, 1940s-2000s)

forthcoming

This interdisciplinary project investigates the long-term history of factories built by the multinational company Bata in Kenya, Malawi and Zimbabwe in the late colonial period and still operating today. This research addresses the under-studied area of industrialisation and manufacturing in Africa, particularly the lack of comprehensive understanding about the local impact of these factories, and the mechanisms behind their influence. The project’s innovative approach combines historical anthropology, geography, global history, and quantitative economic analysis to bridge the gap between micro-level factory studies, meso-level political and business histories, and macro-level development scholarship. By focusing on these Bata factories, MAGIC aims to explain how manufacturing facilities have both shaped and been shaped by colonial and postcolonial contexts, adapted to and transformed local communities and environments, while giving rise to competing visions of modernisation and economic development, and show what measurable impacts these factories have had on local economic indicators. MAGIC's interdisciplinary methodology integrates qualitative and quantitative methods, bringing together diverse disciplinary perspectives on African industrialisation and development. As the first historical in-depth study of manufacturing, shoe production, and Bata's activities in Africa, the project will generate groundbreaking empirical evidence to challenge existing narratives about African industrialisation. It will generate groundbreaking empirical evidence challenging existing, generalising narratives about African industrialisation and informing future policy debates on sustainable and equitable development in the Anthropocene. The interdisciplinary research design will pave the way for a whole new field of inquiry, the industrial history of Africa, and advance theoretical debates and the way in which we understand and study industrialisation and development more broadly.