The Nature of British Propaganda in Their African Colonies during World War II

Abstract This article examines the changing nature of colonial government propaganda in Kenya during World War II . It contends that colonial wartime discourse was not constant and static, but eclectic, always changing to reflect the major issues of the war. When the war began, the propaganda focused on announcing the war in a way that could help mobilize the support of the British colonial African subjects, and, as the war progressed and changed, so did the colonial propaganda for the Africans to sustain that support. By examining the changing patterns of colonial wartime propaganda in Kenya, this article contributes to our understanding of the major issues in the colonial propaganda during the war, how and why the issues kept changing, and how the colonial powers tried to keep up the pace with these changes in their propaganda in order to maintain the support of their African colonial subjects during the war. An examination of the changing nature of colonial propaganda also provides some context for understanding why many Africans became disappointed with colonial powers after the war and started fighting against colonialism in Africa. Finally, based largely on archival materials, the article also helps supplement the existing literature on colonial propaganda in Africa during World War II .