The Politics of Tea & Robots: The Legacy of British Colonialism and Responses to Automation in Kenya’s Tea Industry

Abstract:

The history of political economy suggests that technology is a politically disruptive force. While the literature focuses on Western countries, this study fills a gap by examining automation within an emerging economy with a different political history—Kenya. Investigating the attitudes of displaced and still-employed tea pickers towards the political system, particularly government trustworthiness and perceptions of outsider exploitation, I isolate the impact of automation at the individual level. Results reveal that displaced tea pickers harbor significantly more negative perceptions of the government and external influences than their nondisplaced counterparts, suggesting a heightened sense of disenfranchisement. Interviews with various actors reveal that responses to automation engage with the colonial origins of multinational tea companies operating in Kenya. From protests and break-ins rooted in land theft narratives to legal actions seeking to redress injustices, the response to automation intertwines with a complex web of historical grievances. Overall, automation has played an exogenous, revealing force, disrupting a longstanding equilibrium based on the promise of jobs, housing, and education and laying bare the contradictions embedded within the postcolonial state.