A01=Mickie Mwanzia Koster
Author_Mickie Mwanzia Koster
British African relations
Category=JPFN
Category=NHH
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
history of Kenya
international relations
Kikuyu war
Mau Mau oath
Mau Mau oath criminalization
Mau Mau rebellion
nationalism
war history
Product details
- ISBN 9781580465465
- Weight: 568g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 30 Jun 2016
- Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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Opens a fresh conversation on the study of the Mau Mau rebellion and Kenyan history by arguing that Mau Mau was a nationalist movement rather than a Kikuyu war.
Through a critical examination of the Mau Mau oath used to initiate and unite fighters, The Power of the Oath opens a fresh conversation on the study of Mau Mau and Kenyan history. It argues for a historiographical shift inthe framing of the Mau Mau rebellion as a Kikuyu war. Instead, Mickie Mwanzia Koster suggests that Mau Mau was a nationalist movement, embraced by non-Kikuyu communities like the Kamba ethnic group. Incorporating a creative blendof primary sources, including testimonies from ex-Mau Mau participants, survey analysis, archival data, Mau Mau court cases, ceremonial reenactments, and folklore, The Power of the Oath demonstrates how and why the movement was spread, embraced, and internalized. Mwanzia Koster traces the evolution and structure of the Mau Mau oath, examining the British criminalization of the oath, its gendered use, and the purification associated with it, in order to reveal how Mau Mau unfolded in Kenya.
Mickie Mwanzia Koster is associate professor of history at the University of Texas, Tyler.
