government lifted the ban on Mau Mau, allowing for the first time in over fifty
years a new dialogue on the topic - this time from silenced Mau Mau veterans.22
These elderly participants can finally present their version of the Mau Mau story.
Mau Mau veterans are not only voicing their experiences in interviews and
documents, they are also seeking retribution. On June 23, 2009, five very elderly
Mau Mau ex-soldiers filed into the courtroom in London seeking justice and
openly stated their cases.23 They wanted justice for Mau Mau atrocities
committed against them by the British government. Their testimonies and
remembrances show that it is impossible to erase the lingering Mau Mau war
emotions, destruction, hardship, turmoil, and memories associated with a war of
that size, magnitude, and violence.
The Argument & Placement
This study offers another perspective to understand the making of Mau
Mau through the lens of the Mau Mau oath. In Kenya, the oath has shaped the
interpretations of history, culture, and society for the last six decades, and there
have been few studies of its relationship to power. Although the oath draws its
power and meaning from traditional structures, it is also open to being adapted
by modern conditions. Over time, the oath has been reconstituted from its former
location to one in which Africans reshape their relationship to the world. This
work seeks to investigate and document the actual voices, beliefs, imaginations,
and memories of Kenyans by centering oathing as the object of historical
22 Carina Ray, “The Empire’s Ghost Returns,” New African (AugustZSeptember 2009): 18-22.
23 Ray, “The Empire’s Ghost Returns,” 18-22.
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