Rupert Watson

Culture Clash Rupert Watson

On 16th August 1946, round the edge of a cattle collecting ring in the Loita Hills, the Narok District Commissioner, Hugh Grant, and a young man named Karambu Ole Sendeu, disagreed over the fate of the Maasai's favourite bullock. So Karambu killed Grant, and early the following year was hanged in Nairobi prison for having done so. Culture Clash is the meticulously researched story of this tragic incident, and its aftermath. Beginning with an overview of Anglo-Maasai relations and brief biographies of both the principal characters, the scene is then set with a description of the cattle purchase policy that it was Grant's duty to enforce. The events leading up to Karambu throwing his spear are then described in detail, as is his trial for the DC's murder. The book concludes with some even-handed afterthoughts on the whole affair.