this is not exclusive to Africans.25 In times of turmoil, societies may turn inward to
practices and beliefs that are rooted in their culture; and this affinity to “own”
practices and beliefs while mixing in other desirable elements (foreign or simply
contemporary changes) will be important in understanding how Africans react to
colonial change in this research.
The documents of Hobley1 Dundas, and Lindblom are the products of
European research on ethnic groups in Africa that dominated the early 20th
century to facilitate and justify the political, social, religious, and economic
changes that would impact the African “landscape”. These early works are
priceless because of the descriptive detail they provide as a repository for
modern questions about the Kenyan past.26 Old sources still carry messages,
stories, and truths about the past.
Research Questions
The following questions frame this dissertation study: What was the role and
importance of the oath in the making of Mau Mau? How was oathing a source of
African power? How has the Mau Mau story been shaped as a result of the
different perspectives? Why is the history of the Mau Mau oath so contested?
What was the relationship between oathing and the nature of the Mau Mau
movement? How was oathing understood across time and space? What was the
25See Appendix Table 2 on the survey result. Field research also confirms that respondents report that
100% of survey participants hold that “culture is important” 95.8 % attest that “rituals are important”; and
91.7% state that “knowledge of old ways are important”.
26 “Landscape” as defined by E. S. Atieno Odhiambo and David William Cohen in Siaya the Historical
Anthropology of an African Landscape (Nairobi: Heinemann Kenya, 1989) landscape is defined as “the
physical land, the people on it, and the culture through which people work out of the possibilities of the
land,” 9.
14