The name is absent

modem response to African grievances, discrimination, and victimization. The
oath was the true power behind the Mau Mau movement and was rooted in a
system of oathing long used by Kenyans as a response to social, environmental,
and economic threats. This research uncovers the historical significance of the
oath, reveals the inner workings of the oath, and highlights its ability to find its
way back into modern Kenya.

The study commences in Chapter two by analyzing the Mau Mau oath
historiography. This chapter places the oath in the middle of contested literatures
on Mau Mau. The key finding is that studies on the Mau Mau oath movement
have failed to treat the complexity of the Mau Mau oath. The chapter reveals that
scholars have not been able to effectively address the varied Mau Mau oath
meanings and interpretations. This is also the case in studies of Mau Mau in
general. A focused study on oathing has not been conducted even though it has
always been associated with Mau Mau conversations. The most significant
observation from this chapter is the power in how print is used to make and
shape what is known or unknown about the past. As a result of the invented
discussions on Mau Mau, it was important to look beyond the scant archive files
and literature and investigate the inner structures and meaning of the Mau Mau
oath as a window into this powerful movement.

Chapter three argues that although oathing, in general, is a practice that
has existed throughout time and space, scholars have failed to truly understand
its complexity, cultural implications, and continuous nature as a result of not
investigating its structure and symbolic meaning, which is the purpose of this

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