The name is absent

Mau Mau. Prior to the period, oathing was not a criminal act but one that worked
in conjunction with the judicial system.

Chapter six interrogates how the intermingling of gender, oathing, and the
Mau Mau emergency impacted ethnicity and consciousness. It also offers insight
into the broader notions of ethnic identity as a product of changing political,
social, and cultural developments. Similarto the discussion Ofcriminalization, this
chapter explores the new gender relationship created as a result of Mau Mau.
Pre-colonial oathing was the sphere and business of men, especially in rural
societies. The Mau Mau rebellion was an event that created a redirection and
recasting Oftraditional gender roles to respond to an urgent colonial situation.

This chapter argues that changed gender roles during Mau Mau, as
demonstrated in the oathing ceremonies, forged a new consciousness and unity
that crossed gender lines. This position is supported by archival evidence prior to
and during the Mau Mau war, oral interviews of mostly elders, survey results, and
secondary literature that show gender role transformations used to combat
political, economic, and social inequalities (from women forming new
associations, registering for classes, and engaging in colonial criminalized
activities, to joining the Mau Mau movement to fight). Complex relationships are
revealed between the varied dreams, imaginations, freedom, and justice that
crossed gender and ethnic lines. This study contributes to existing historiography
by treating the complexity of Mau Mau, gender, and the oath as an example of
the sophisticated and modernized nature Ofoathing during the Mau Mau period.

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