The name is absent

sources to provide context. The problems with studying the oath to date are
highlighted and a new historical treatment of the oath in Kenya from the pre-
colonial to colonial period is presented. The ensuing discussion shows the need
for a new approach to understanding oathing by looking at the interior structure
and meaning of the oath.

Chapter four provides a detailed study of the Mau Mau oathing model as a
solution and approach to understanding the dynamics of the oath. It explores the
oath as an object grounded in beliefs of the past but renewed and customized to
fit present situations. The argument is that the Mau Mau oath is an evolved,
sophisticated, elaborate, and modern system of relationships and structures. The
chapter shows that the oath reveals both the national and international African
awakening and consciousness. Evidence for this treatment comes from a
combination of oral field interviews, field surveys, archival data, court files,
ethnographical accounts, and secondary literature.

Historiographically, this chapter traces an integrated development of the
kithitu oath over time as a rare space to capture the inner meaning of oaths,
symbolism, and group ideologies to question what we really know about African
cultural continuity and power. The chapter is organized around the Mau Mau
oath model as a means to uniquely identify an instance of an oath event; the
design shows the complexity of the oath and offers scholars a new approach to
examine the past.

Chapter five explores power from the perspective of the colonial
administration that sought to detain and hang Kenyans suspected and accused

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