The initial writings, usually from ethnographers like Charles Dundas and
Gerhard Lindblom, on Kenyan history provided the foundations of how the past
would be conceptualized, classified, and defined for many years. We can only
wonder if we are trapped by existing structures, worldviews, and categories for
analysis. V. Y. Mudimbe calls attention to this problem in his book, The Invention
OfAfrica: Gnosis, Philosophy, and the Order of Knowledge, where he states:
“Western interpreters as well as African analysts have been
using categories and conceptual systems which depend on a
Western epistemological order...My own claim is that thus far
the ways in which they have been evaluated and the means
used to explain them relate to theories and methods whose
constraints, rules, and systems of operation suppose a non-
African epistemological locus.”20
J.D. Fage reminds us that “the writing on African history is as old as
history itself.”21 Moreover, African people have had a long history as one of the
oldest civilizations on record. Overtime, African scholars from inside and outside
of Africa attempted to shift and reset the conversation by providing their
interpretations of historical accounts. Often these scholars challenging the
Eurocentric views found themselves caught between “correcting” African history
and showing how African accomplishments measured up against Western
structures. The varied viewpoints represent a disconnect that dominates the
current historiography on Mau Mau.
Despite obstacles, there are many opportunities to create a narrative
rooted in a new level of understanding of Kenyan civilization, especially as it
relates to the historically significant Mau Mau war. In 2003, the Kibaki
20 V. Y. Mudimbe, The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy, and the Order of Knowledge, (Indiana:
Indiana University Press, 1988), x.
21 J.D. Fage, “The Development of African Historiography,” in Methodology and African Prehistory, vol.
Iof UNESCO General History of Africa, ed. Joseph Ki-Zerbo (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1981), 38.
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