Abstract

Nairobi’s Eastleigh estate has come to prominence in the last two decades due to its transformation into a global commercial hub, a transformation catalysed by a refugee influx from Somalia in the late 1980s and early 1990s. While most focus has been on patterns of mobility connected with the collapse of the Somali state, Eastleigh has a much longer history of migration. This paper draws out these earlier migration patterns that drew people to the estate from Europe, the Indian Subcontinent, the Horn of Africa, northern Kenya and neighbouring Nairobi estates. By doing so, it shows how Eastleigh has long been marked by connections to elsewhere, and that these other patterns of migration and diaspora are also important in understanding its remarkable transformation.