This paper explores the intimate connections between race and nation in East Africa. It sets out to examine what the history of East Africa’s minority South Asian populations can tell us about attitudes towards race, ethnicity, and nationhood during, but also leading up to, this period of decolonisation. As Africans and Asians came into contact in the Indian Ocean world, it examines how groups described themselves in relation to one other, and how they mobilised along ethnic and racial lines in order to invoke claims to citizenship. Traditionally, the history of East Africa’s minority South Asian populations has been viewed through the prism of class and economic relations. While recognising the value in doing so, this papers aims to readdress the balance somewhat by exploring these categories alongside the social worlds of interracial interactions.