Into that Heaven of Freedom: The impact of apartheid on an Indian family's diasporic history

by Mohamed M Keshavjee

Overview

Through the story of one family, this book captures the history and experiences of the South African Indian pioneers from 1894, when an Ismaili, Jivan Keshavjee, left Kathiawad (Gujarat) and arrived in South Africa, to 1994, when the country attained its multiparty democracy following the release of Nelson Mandela. Keshavjee describes vividly, with a dash of humour and pathos, life in urban South Africa under apartheid and the long struggles for human rights. Using historical sources and numerous remembered anecdotes, he highlights Mahatma Gandhi's early work, which led to the formulation of Satyagraha (Passive Resistance), and Gandhi's interactions with the Indian families that are remembered to this day. The book ends by describing the lives of the exiles in independent Kenya and Uganda-where they were forced out by Amin-and their arrival in Europe and North America.

With 60 historical photographs, a family tree, and a facsimile of Mahatma Gandhi's letter to Velshi Keshavjee in 1938, this unique account is not only a multigenerational family history but also a history of the Asians of Africa over a hundred years.

With a Foreword by Ahmed Kathrada, leading anti-apartheid activist in South Africa.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781927494639
Publisher:	Mawenzi House Publishers Ltd.
Publication date:	09/01/2015
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Mohamed M. Keshavjee is a second generation South African of Indian origin. He is a graduate of Queen's University in Canada and attained his LLM and PhD degrees at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn, London. After leaving South Africa in 1962, Keshavjee lived in Kenya where he went to school and later practised law. For the past 30 years, he has lived in France working with the Aga Khan Development Network. He is a specialist in Alternative Dispute Resolution in cross-cultural contexts with a special emphasis on diasporic communities. He is a member of the EU team of International Family Mediators and has travelled extensively throughout the world. At present, he lives in Britain where he lectures at various universities.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ix

Foreword xi

Prologue 1

Incredible Bombay 4

Chotila: Dates and Ghee 11

Kathiawar in the Nineteenth Century 20

Racism in South Africa in the Late Nineteenth Century 31

Voyage to a New Future 43

Gandhi in the Transvaal 61

Tolstoy Farm, Gokhale and Accord with Smuts 71

Early 1920s: Emigration and Consolidation 82

The Great Depression, Forerunner of the Apartheid State 110

The Turbulent Forties 118

Stirring of the International Conscience 130

March towards Apartheid and Defiance 140

Snapshots of Marabastad in the 1950s 152

Our Encounters with Apartheid 163

Wind of Change 175

Uhuru na Umoja 183

Britain in the 1960s 196

Smelling the Soil of Africa 221

A Tsunami Named Big Daddy 231

A Home at Last 238

Whither the Rainbow Nation? 254

India and the Diaspora Rediscovered 270

Meeting Destiny Head-on 276

Notes 287

Works Cited in the Text 288

Bibliography 289

Family Tree (insert) 96

Family Reunion, Toronto, 2009 (insert) 97

Editorial Reviews

'A highly readable narrative on the Khoja Ismailis of Africa, woven around the history of the author's family, and the people among whom they lived at a very interesting time in Africa's colonial and post-colonial era. He captures beautifully the winds of change and how they propelled people to new horizons, giving rise to yet another Diaspora.'
—Farhad Daftary, author of A Short History of the Ismailis

From the Publisher