Of Mule and Men: An Engineer, Beasts of Burden and Personal Servants at the Construction Sites of the Central Railway in German East Africa

Abstract This article investigates beasts of burden and personal servants as significant protagonists of the colonial everyday at the Central Railway’s construction sites in German East Africa. The self-narratives of the railway engineer Clement Gillman are the main source. The diaries of the Anglo-German engineer make evident that Gillman used his mule regularly for his daily work tasks, which contradicts the assumption that sleeping sickness, which threatened to kill any beast of burden, prevented significant use of mounted animals in German East Africa. His diaries also reveal that riding along the tracks was a source of joy and recreation for Gillman and enhanced his capacity for work. The article also shows how his qualified and experienced personal servants, who performed reproductive labour, enabled the Anglo-German’s daily engineering work in the first place. The cooks’ meals were not only a calorie supplier but also a source of enjoyment. Besides assisting the chefs in serving the food, the servant workers took care of the entire household of the colonizer and acted as firefighters, labour recruiters and guides in the unknown territory. They also taught Gillman Swahili, the local lingua franca, and cared for the mule. Colonizer, personal servants and beasts of burden were thus intertwined at the construction sites of the Central Railway. Not only was the colonizer dependent on mule and men, but these interactions reveal the protagonists’ power to act within the asymmetric colonial working environment.