The oathing statement meaning can be described on different levels. In
several interviews, participants were questioned about the general meaning of
oathing compared to ethnic specific reasons for the oath.74 The results revealed
that there were general meanings associated with the oath: to end colonial rule,
to liberate people, to self rule, to gain freedom, to unite, to gain back land, and to
seek independence. 75 However, for some ethnicities the oath also meant to
retrieve their livestock and property, to receive equal wages, to restore their
stolen land, to expel the Europeans from Kenya, and to end European
beatings.76 The statements show only slight differences in meaning.
The general and ethnic specific meanings presented show that there were
common themes, and the Mau Mau movement was powerful enough through the
oath experience that it united many Kenyans under one Mau Mau movement
creating the foundation for Kenyan nationalism.77 In general, the meaning
beyond the oathing statements was variable and dynamic, and in some ways the
meaning may only really be interpreted by considering the entire oathing
experience together. This includes the combination of all elements of the oath
components because all of these things worked together as a system.
74 See Berman and Lonsdale, Unhappy Valley: Conflict in Kenya and Africa, Books One and Two,
(Oxford: James Currey, 1992), 316-317, for background on this topic. The deeper meaning was similar to
what he states succinctly as the African desire to have their land and civic virtue.
75 See Interview notes from J.M. Wambua, D.M. Mulwa, S. Kakie1 P. Musuo, and J.M. Malei, January
2009, Machakos District.
76 See Interview notes from J.M. Wambua, D.M. Mulwa, S. Kakie, P. Musuo, and J.M. Malei, January
2009, Machakos District.
77 Berman and Lonsdale, Unhappy Valley, 316. Civic virtue means conducting honorable community and
cultural deeds to preserve the self as honorable.
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