The name is absent

At the beginning of her book, Elkins outlines an oathing ceremony and
offers additional interpretations of oathing. Elkins writes,

“The oath not only created a new status for the Kikuyu as reborn members of
Mau Mau but also served as a moral contract...Forced oathing did not make
the pledge less binding, and in fact the bind of the oath often prevented them-
even under torture or threat of death-from betraying the movement. Just as a
Kikuyu one hundred years earlier believed he could not elude the power of an
oath, so many Mau Mau adherents believed in the repercussions of breaking
their pledge.”®⁰

Elkins confirms that based on her field observations, former Mau Mau members
still believe in the oath.⁶¹ She also adds an important statement about her
understanding of the oath when she states, “Only after considerable time living in
the field did I begin to explore the issue of oathing with former Mau Mau
adherents, and even then I only scratched the surface of its history and
meaning.”⁶² This statement reveals that Elkins was exposed to the complexity
around the oath which was most likely confirmed with lingering modern oathing
tales and beliefs. Although oathing was not central, Anderson and Elkins in
different ways acknowledge the relevance and existence of oathing to their
interpretations of Mau Mau.

Although Elkins and Anderson are discussed together for their historical
revisionist interest and criticisms of the British role in the Mau Mau war written in
2005, that same year another Mau Mau book by David Smith entitled, Kenya,
The Kikuyu, and Mau Mau appeared.⁶³ The book is based on Smith’s personal
experience in Kenya while serving as a field intelligence officer during Mau

⁶⁰ Elkins, Imperial Reckoning, 26.

⁶¹ Elkins, Imperial Reckoning, 27.

⁶² Elkins, Imperial Reckoning, 27.

⁶³ David Lovatt Smith, Kenya, The Kikuyu, and Mau Mau (Herstmonceux: Mawenzi Books, 2005).

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