Caroline Elkins Longlist Author Interview

How does it feel to be longlisted?

Amazing! To be included among so many distinguished authors who I read with enormous admiration, and awe, is a humbling experience like none other. It’s also one that is incredibly affirming. I lived with this book in my head for nearly fifteen years and, I must confess, it was very difficult to write at various points, pulling all of the narrative threads through. To have this work recognized in this way makes me feel that the research and writing journeyhas wider meaning.

How did you conduct your research?

It was a global enterprise that eventually became a virtual one. Over the course of a decade, I travelled to four different continents, where I spent considerable time excavating archives, interviewing those who had lived experiences during the period of British colonial rule, and experiencing the places that would become major parts of the book’s narrative. History is about people, and it’s also about creating a sense of place for the reader, so I needed to accumulate that evidence in my research. Over time I also amassed my own virtual archive. Having collected document images and analyses, photographs, ethnographic observations, and interview testimonies, I began putting them into a virtual format that grew over time. I’m glad I did as this virtual archive was crucial for me once the pandemic began, rendering all of my research instantly accessible regardless of where I was.

To what extent do you feel that modern Britain is still shaped by narratives of empire?

One of the reasons I love being an historian is because the past does shed light on how we’ve become who we are in the present, and also gestures to what possible futures might look like. So, – from monuments and street names to heroes and narratives of past glories, these are part of parcel of Britain’s national fiber.

Do you think Britain owes reparations for the damage it caused across the globe?

This is an enormous question currently hanging in the balance, with demands coming from various parts of the former British Empire. I do believe that, at a minimum, efforts at repair need to be undertaken. We now have considerable evidence documenting the systemic nature and impact of British colonial violence and economic extraction. Acknowledging this past, and apologizing for it, would be one step forward. I was reminded of the importance of both of these elements when I was expert witness for the Mau Mau case in London’s High Court. The claimants – who had suffered considerable personal loss and torture in Kenya’s detention camp system – wanted, first and foremost, for the British government to recognize that these events happened and, in turn, for the government to undertake acts of repair. It was an incredibly powerful moment for me to see the impact of the cases’ settlement – which included acknowledgment and repair – on the elderly Kikuyu claimants and it continues to inform how I think about the question of reparations.

What are you working on next?

I have come to think of my work on violence and the British Empire as a kind of trilogy. My first book sought to establish as fact that systematic violence, on a massive scale, took place in 1950s Kenya. Legacy of Violence is an effort to understand how and why this violence evolved and spread throughout the empire, and what are the legacies it left behind. My next book is focusing on the Mau Mau case in London’s High Court. I’m interested in the ways in which the past was put on trial in a London court room, and the implications that it has had on how we think about repair and moving forward into a different future.