Documentary traces colonial land theft and exploitation on Kenya’s tea estates

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Documentary traces colonial land theft and exploitation on Kenya’s tea estates

The Guardian · 1 hour ago

A new documentary, "Kikuyu Land," examines how Kenya's renowned tea plantations—worked primarily by Kikuyu people—perpetuate a legacy of colonial exploitation that continues under corporate control. Directed by Andrew Harrison Brown and investigative journalist Bea Wangondu, the film reveals how Britain's colonial authorities stripped the Kikuyu of their ancestral lands, and how multinational corporations have since adopted exploitative practices from the colonial playbook.

The documentary weaves together testimonies from a pastor-activist pursuing decades-long court cases to reclaim family land, plantation workers describing physical and sexual violence, and an intelligence officer exposing state brutality against critics. The film takes a significant turn when Wangondu uncovers a family secret: her respected grandfather was himself a perpetrator of colonial abuse, collapsing the distance between filmmaker and subjects and highlighting broader complicity in the system. The documentary ultimately urges consumers worldwide to question the origins of their tea and the human cost behind their morning cup.

  • Kenyan documentary exposes ongoing colonial-era exploitation in tea industry
  • Director discovers her grandfather was complicit in historical abuse
  • Calls for consumer accountability in global tea supply chains

Africa Culture World

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Originally published by The Guardian as “Kikuyu Land review – the colonial-era misery behind our morning cup of tea”.