revolt, an anti-colonial war, a resistance movement, a class struggle, a peasant
uprising, and movement of cultural renewal, an ethnic revolt, and a civil war.”11
However, at the very end of this list of descriptions, Clough powerfully adds that
“the memoirs indicate that [Mau Mau] was all of these things.”12 Although there is
no single definition of Mau Mau, for the purpose of this dissertation, the definition
of Mau Mau follows both Clough’s and Odhiambo’s definition acknowledging that
it was many things all together. Therefore, Mau Mau can be defined as a
movement, a war, a revolt, a revolution, a rebellion, a freedom struggle, a
liberation movement, and a nationalist struggle and much more.
The Problem of Mau Mau Historiography
The discussions surrounding Mau Mau are far from over. From the very
beginning of the war in October 1952, details and facts have been blurred and
polarized with tales of African savagery spreading among British populations in
the colony and in Britain. According to colonial perspectives, the oath and related
activities are shaped in the shadows of savagery and barbarism. F.D. Corfield’s
1960 Colonial Office study, Historical Survey of the Origins and Growth of Mau
Mau, claims that “Mau Mau was a violent and wholly evil manifestation.”13 The
discussion has been widely shaped by the perceptions created by the first
writings and images invented by the colonial administration.
11 Marshall Clough, Маи Май Memoirs, History Memory & Politics (Boulder, CO.: Lynne Rienner
Publishers, 1998), 241.
12 Clough, Маи Май Memoirs, 241.
13 Frank D. Corfield, Historical Survey of the Origins and Growth of Mau Mau (London: H.M. Stationary
Office, 1960), 5.