The name is absent

lead up to this second oath that was given to warrior age men and the
rationalization for it.²³ The oathing statements invoke God and the need to shed
blood in the fight for land, along with cursing statements that pointed to virtue.

From a historiograghical perspective, this work is significant because it
offers a new perspective of Mau Mau - one from the inside. Readers are able to
witness Mau Mau struggles and the peaks and valleys of the movement. As the
historiography shifted to a desire to understand the Mau Mau oath from the
voices of those that oathed, this memoir serves as a key source. It is also
important because it represents the oath as a unifying agent rather than
something that is despicable and irrational.

Perspectives of Rosberg and Nottingham

Rosberg and Nottingham offer their interpretation of the Mau Mau oath in
The Myth of “Mau Mau“: Nationalism in Kenya. This work is important because it
offers a post Mau Mau interpretation that challenges the European notion of Mau
Mau. The authors write:

“In our view, the outbreak of open violence in Kenya in 1952 occurred
primarily because of a European failure rather than an African one; it was not
much a failure of the Kikuyu people to adapt to a modern instructional setting
as it was a failure of the Kikuyu people to adapt to a modern institutional
setting as it was a failure of the European policy makers to recognize the
need for significant social and political reform. In suggesting that the
European conception of “Mau Mau” constituted a myth, we maintain that “Mau
Mau” was indeed an integral part of an onging, rationally conceived nationalist
movement.”²⁴

²³ Njama and Bamett, Маи Май From Within, 67.

²⁴ Carl Rosberg and John Nottingham, The Myth of “Mau Mau Nationalism in Kenya (Frederick A.
PraegerPublishers, 1966), xvii.

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