Barbara Adair on Indian Kenyan Communities and Nairobi's Architectural Heritage

What do buildings remember long after the people who built them are gone? In this episode of the Books in Africa Podcast, Tracy Ochieng speaks with South African writer Barbara Adair about her new book, The Art Deco Buildings of Nairobi, which documents the city's architectural heritage and the stories of the African Asian families who shaped it. Through conversations with residents and descendants, Adair uncovers how Indian Kenyan communities transformed Parklands and other parts of Nairobi, blending Art Deco design with Indian traditions and creating homes that reflected migration, prosperity, and belonging. The discussion also ventures into difficult questions around heritage, identity, colonisation, migration, and who gets to claim space in a changing city. As Nairobi's historic homes disappear beneath high-rises, this episode asks what is lost when buildings vanish—and whether stories can preserve what concrete cannot. Because walls do have ears.