Sheldon's Experience and Views on Colonization
Sheldon’s experiences in Africa shaped her world view that native Africans should be treated with respect rather than outright violence and that previous explorers were overly zealous in their efforts to subjugate them.
Analysis:
In Mary Sheldon's foreword, she writes that she disapproved of the actions of many other would-be colonizers. She felt that her experience in Africa ran opposite to the caricature of Africa that other explorers, settlers, and adventurers painted in order to justify their brutality towards the native inhabitants:
Here, Sheldon talks about her reasons for cataloging her travels and compiling them into the book. She says that she wants to let her readers know the truth of the peoples and culture in Africa. She wants them to know that the people living there do not deserve the harsh treatment given by other explorers and that their cultures are not as bad as they were portrayed as. By calling the Africans friends, Sheldon breaks boundaries between the two different peoples. This is not to say that Sheldon saw them as equals. At one point along the journey, when there was a problem with discipline, Sheldon wrote, " I must demonstrate to these mutinous, half-savage men that I would be obeyed, and that discipline should be enforced at any cost," (Sheldon, 173). Here Sheldon shows that she was not in the mindset that the Africans were her equals. Part of this comment could be ascribed to the fact that she was paying them, but the "half-savage" gives the reader the impression that she thought that they still needed to be "civilized". This being said, later she speaks of being generous with her medical supplies and medical treatment. When the men started suffering from blisters, Sheldon took measures to stop the problem. "I issued an order to give each man a certain allowance of carbolized grease to apply daily to his feet." (Sheldon, 162) This was uncharacteristic of white explorers who normally would hoard supplies to themselves.…it has been with an aching heart I have completed the work [Sultan to Sultan], endeavoring with fortitude to do my best to make my readers better acquainted with the possibilities of the natural primitives whom I am proud to call my friends and be called friend by, and to demonstrate that if a woman could journey a thousand and more miles in East Africa, among some hostile tribes, unattended by other than Zanzibari mercenaries, without bloodshed, the extreme measures employed by some would be colonizers is unnecessary, atrocious, and without the pale of humanity. (Sheldon, 6)
Another scene portraying Sheldon's aversion to unnecessary violence was on the steamer taking her to Africa. When the captain of the steamer seems to kick and berate a drunk man to the point of murder, she calls him out in anger and makes a scene only to find out that it was all a staged prank. Though the man and the situation may have been false, her reaction of "uncontrollable horror and indignation" was genuine; her outrage at the captain for his unnecessary violence against what she thought was a native African supports her preface of condemning other colonizers (Sheldon, 54).
An example of her travels affecting her world view are evident in chapter 3 of the book. Here she is interacting with white men from the IBEAC (Imperial British East Africa Company). While talking to them, she thinks to herself that they all live such boring lives stuck in their offices, doing paperwork all day. She on the other hand says that she can only think to explore the continent and to learn about the native inhabitants. Spending more time in Africa only strengthens this notion. “…my curiosity became keener and keener to study the native Africans, and I was most eager to get fairly at my work.” (Sheldon, 66) This explains that she wants to, not necessarily integrate with native culture, but get very close to it. Learning things changes the way people look at things and Sheldon wanted to learn all that she could about Africa.
