Kikuyu Land

On the vast rolling tea estates of Kenya, it’s as if slavery and imperialism never ended. Which, for the women who pick tea leaves on the estates of Lipton and others—as well as those whose families used to own and tend the land before the advent of colonialism—is perilously close to the truth. The women have little agency, are not allowed to leave the farms, and are subject to the whims of the ‘field managers’, while those seeking redress through land claims find themselves subject to an endlessly bureaucratic process. Kikuyu Land documents the attempt of one man to claim restitution for land that was taken from his family during the colonial period and which is now owned by multinational corporations. While the film offers few answers to counter the political weight of these companies, Kikuyu Land remains an illuminating look at how an entrenched exploitation of the poorest of the world’s poor is at the heart of the modern economy.