Out ofLuck
In the forward to this series of firsthandcolonial era accounts, editor A.H.M. Kirk-Greene notes it was notfashionable to discuss the British colonial experience immediatelyafter its collapse. Recent popular films, television dramas, andbooks, he suggests, indicate there is now a strong interest inBritain and her former colonies in understanding the colonialencounter. Out of this renewed interest in the empire has emergedthe "colonial memoir," a genre built around the private papers andrecollections of members of the Colonial Service that until now wererelegated to stories for grandchildren.
Michael Crouch's account fits thisdescription well. The memoir style allows him to focus on thoseevents he chooses and insulates him from criticism for those he doesnot discuss. Crouch is neither apologist nor critic of Britishpolicy; he does not question the colonial system. This memoirdescribes his early life and his career in the last days of theempire.
Like many of his peers, Crouch was Britishonly by passport; his nationality was "British expatriate." Until1966 when he sailed from Aden, and the Colonial Office closed, Crouchwas a dependent of the colonial system. He was born and raised inKenya, Sudan, and Egypt where his father was a colonial servicephysician. He spent only his college years in England, thenreentered the colonial system as a player. Once selected for acolonial appointment he spent a year in training at Oxford, whichincluded a modest language course. Crouch recalls much of theinstruction, especially classical Arabic, as inappropriate to hisassignment as an assistant adviser with no policy responsibility.
The colonial service was a web ofinterconnections. Both Crouch and his father married the daughtersof colonial service officers. When he was faced with the withdrawalfrom South Arabia, it was not England that beckoned, but places builtby the empire - South Africa and Australia. By the time he reachedhis post in Mukalla the empire was in its waning days. He spent nineyears in the Aden colonial service. His discussion tends heavilytoward those incidents in which he played a major role. Inrecounting them he focuses on his actions and those of hisassociates, almost exclusively colonial service and militarypersonnel. Many antics, foibles, and defects of the latter arethoroughly drawn.
Since memoirs are selective, what canreaders interested in Yemen glean from this volume? In some ways,this book offers very little. Crouch does not place his activity incontext. Readers unfamiliar with South Arabian history or thecolonial structure will not be informed by this work. He notes butdoes not elaborate on the different ways the Eastern and WesternArabian Protectorates were administered. He spent almost all hiscareer in the EAP, based principally in Mukalla. However, we learnlittle about the place.
Yemenis have virtually no role in thisaccount and certainly no identity. This includes those Yemenis whoopposed the British and those whose loyalty was in the end theirundoing. For example, the local partisan legions are referred toonly by their initials. We learn nothing about local leaders, theirrelations to the colonial government, or their relations with otherYemeni. This does not mean Crouch did not have contact with localfigures. He reports that he did, and that his Arabic fluencyincreased, and he includes a photo of himself in a futah. He mournsthose Yemeni friends and acquaintances killed during the push forindependence, but he does not elaborate on his relationships withthem.
Crouch assumes his readers, many of whom maybe former colleagues, are less interested in place than references topeople they knew. He focuses on the out of the ordinary, dramatic,and amusing - the components that make a good story. As a result weare not given much sense of Crouch's job or daily life in Arabia. Occasional references to development work, such as road and healthprojects, or dealing with oil companies suggest there was more to thecolonial officer's life than paper shuffling. The reader is led tobelieve, probably correctly, that the life of a colonial officer waslonely - indeed the isolation may have led to breakdowns among someofficers - and dull, punctuated by moments of great and sometimesterrifying activity.
Apart from the focus on increasing danger,Crouch often seems little affected by events. But his depictionbelies the truth. The collapse of the colonial system and itseventual replacement by an independent state were difficult enoughfor Crouch that he, and other ex-colonials, returned to united Yemento lay to rest the ghosts of their past. This suggests a deeper,emotional involvement in South Arabia and the empire than he iswilling to reveal.
When I picked up this book at the conclusionof another Yemeni war, I was hoping for some insight into thecreation of South Yemen and its bearing on the present. No clues arefound in this book, and it was probably unfair to expect them. WhileI find little to commend about this reminiscence, those researchersseeking to flesh out moments in the colonial era may find usefulpoints on incidents and personalities in this work.
| |