The name is absent

relationships to the Mau Mau oath and present more supporting details on the
complexity of the oath and the sensitivity of oathing to the modern situation.

Beginning with Chapter five, the next three chapters are examples of
unique new relationships created based on the reconstituted Mau Mau oath.
Chapter five focuses on how the oath was criminalized during the Mau Mau war
by the colonial administration. The chapter questions the notions of justice in
colonial Kenya. Law making during this period in Kenya was a process usually
designed to support colonial interests and domination. Although oathing was
never a criminal activity prior to the 1950’s, Mau Mau oath suspects were
executed by hanging for their association with Mau Mau oathing. This was the
colonial response to curbing such activities and halting the spread of the Mau
Mau movement. Criminal court cases are examined to show the details of how
the oath was criminalized and the issues with colonial justice during the Mau Mau
frenzy. The colonial Mau Mau fight took place in the courts with each execution
leaving stacks of papers as evidence of the evil and wrong doing of Mau Mau
oathers. Mau Mau files contained colonial "proof’ that the movement and oathing
practices were barbaric, irrational, violent, and deplorable. Therefore, in the eyes
of the colonial jurist the harsh and brutal executions of convicted oathers were
justified.

Chapter six considers a different type of oath relationship created during
the Mau Mau period that was, this time, initiated by Kenyans. This chapter
examines the relationship between gender and the Mau Mau oath. Although pre-
colonial oathing was traditionally the business of men, during the 1950s women

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