period forming new relationships to gender, crime, and purification that did not
exist prior to the 1950s.
This study centers the oath as the object for historical analysis through the
investigation and documentation of African rituals, beliefs, and memories. The
past is reconstructed from oral tradition, personal narratives, ceremonial re-
enactments, survey data, archived documents, ethnography, and myths. The
sources reveal that Mau Mau oathers had their own imaginations, dreams, and
objectives associated with the restoration of their stolen land and freedom. These
varied perspectives demonstrate colonial contradictions juxtaposed with African
oral accounts and memory. This study offers a fresh way to look at the contested
Mau Mau past through the lens of the often misunderstood and misinterpreted
oath. It intervenes with a new African Mau Mau story of reinvention, renewal,
and power.