The name is absent

All of the writers on the Mau Mau oath during this period offer insights.
Interestingly, those that wrote from an insider’s perpective do not reveal the
ceremonial details like those portrayed in the previous years. It is unclear if these
details were purposely surpressed because of secrecy, shame, complexity, or
the fear of the oath curse. However, because of their positions as oathers and
oath administrators, many of these individuals intimately knew the Mau Mau
oath.

The Mau Mau Oath Literature: 1980s, 1990s, & 2000s

Oath Perspectives of the 1980s

In the 1980s oathing continued to find its way into Mau Mau
conversations. During this period Mau Mau was being re-evaluated, with
scholars making much more focused writings on different aspects of Mau Mau
and also situating it within a historical and social framework. David Throup, in
Economics & Social Origins of Mau Mau 1945-1953, approaches the study of
Mau Mau from the perspective of the colonial office policy makers by focusing on
the period before the outbreak of Mau Mau.

As the title suggests, this study analyzes the developments from the social
and economic perspective. In terms of oathing, Throup traces the origins of the
Mau Mau oath to extensive conflicts from 1941 to 1950 in the African settlement
at Olenguruone which supports the oath origins of Wachanga in 1975.³⁷
According to Throup, these Kikuyu settlers from the White Highlands transformed

³⁷David Throup, Economics and Social Origins of Mau Mau (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1987), 120.
David Throup, “Origins of Mau Mau,” African Affairs, 84.33 (1985): 399-433.

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