Chapter 2 Mau Mau Oath Conversations: Perspectives,
Interpretations and Challenges
Introduction
The Mau Mau oath remains a point Offascination, myth, and controversy.
From the beginning of the war onward, people writing about Mau Mau have
struggled with understanding, defining, and conceptualizing the Mau Mau oath.
The literature on the topic reflects a wide range of perspectives, interpretations,
and meaning that have made study of the oath interesting but challenging. This
chapter explores the literature on Mau Mau oathing to understand how it has
been explained and imagined by various interpreters over the last fifty years.
The different perspectives on the topic provide a window into the political and
social moment as these conversations changed over time. But the text generated
has had a lasting impact. Through the different accounts, we are able to see the
problems with interpreting a past with many windows. Although narrowly defined
views created knowledge from a specific space, a larger Mau Mau oath picture
remains unclear. This chapter argues that despite the vast scholarship on
oathing, the Mau Mau oath has not been treated in its own complex terms as a
central object of historical analysis. Scholars have often limited their
conversations to the descriptions of ceremonies, origins, and types without taking
a broader look at the oath architecture and structure.
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