African people. As a result, the Mau Mau oath is presented as a way of providing
secrecy and movement allegiance to members. Njama states, “...it demanded
strict secrecy as well as total commitment and the oath was altered to meet these
requirements.”21
One aspect of this work is the detailed interpretation of the Mau Mau oath
as an “Oath of Unity”:
"...this Oath of Unity was an elaborate initiation ceremony, with the initiate
becoming at one and the same time a member of the Movement and a full-
fledged, and in a sense reborn, member of the tribe...The ceremony itself was
a modern synthesis incorporating various and often modified features of the
traditional initiation ceremony (e.g. passing under the arch, sipping a
distasteful mixture of symbolic elements and uttering sacred vows) and
customary oaths and curses...together with the element of Christian
symbolism...and modern political objectives contained in the vows and
instructions calling for a return of stolen lands and freedom, which were held
to be achievable against a hostile white community only through an
UnbreakabIeAfrican unity.”22
In this account, the Mau Mau oath is portrayed differently from earlier accounts
by showing it had meaning, purpose, and cultural connections. The words used
as outlined above paint a different narrative of the oath. Njama and Barnett also
pick up on the unity theme of the oath, defining the oath as a unifier that bound
Africans together in their struggle for land and freedom. With these accounts, the
Mau Mau oath is painted in a much different light and is not minimized to random
acts of savagery and madness.
Njama and Barnett also explain the Batuni Oath - a type of oath which
was referred to in the earlier periods as the worst form of the Mau Mau oath.
However, Njama and Barnett treat this oath type by explaining the factors that
21 Donald L. Barnett, and Karari Njama, Маи Май From Within: Autobiography and Analysis of Kenya's
Peasant Revolt (London: MacGibbon and Kee. 1966), 55.
22 Njama and Bamett, Mau Mau From Within, 59-60
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