scholarly journals Missionaries and Guerrilas

2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 481-495
Author(s):  
Melvina Afra Mendes de Araújo
Keyword(s):  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Mau Mau ◽  
Detention Camps ◽  
Colonial Government

To extinguish the Mau Mau, a movement driven by land issues that marked Kenya, the colonial government declared a state of emergency in 1952, creating villages to which the Kikuyu population was displaced, as well as detention camps for the guerrillas. Therefore, it is worth analyzing the relationships amongst Consolata missionaries and the Mau Mau guerrillas, which led to an approximation between these missionaries and the Kikuyu.

Missionaries, Mau Mau and The Christian Frontier

2000 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 200-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Casson
Keyword(s):  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Mau Mau ◽  
Guerrilla War ◽  
Detention Camps ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Colonial Government

In May 1955, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, visited Fort Hall in Kenya’s Kikuyu native reserve. The colonial government had declared a state of emergency nearly three years before in response to a secret and violent Kikuyu anti-colonial movement which it knew as Mau Mau. In the ensuing guerrilla war several thousand were killed, almost all of them Africans, and some eighty thousand Kikuyu were held in detention camps.

scholarly journals ‘Paying for the Emergency by displacing the settlers’: global coffee and rural restructuring in late colonial Kenya

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Hyde
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
World Market ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Commodity Chain ◽  
Tax Base ◽  
Rural Restructuring ◽  
Mau Mau ◽  
The Face ◽  
Coffee Sector ◽  
Colonial Government

AbstractGlobal coffee markets entered into a deep cyclical downturn from the mid 1950s. As producers, notably Brazil and Colombia, continued to increase their output, intense struggles arose among global competitors for larger slices of a contracting market. The prospect of an economic catastrophe, following the release of Brazil's surplus stocks, preoccupied Kenya's colonial government, which was dependent on tax revenues derived from coffee sales, and was less able to support the settler-dominated industry in the face of the increased costs incurred by the Mau Mau Emergency after 1952. This left European settlers exposed, with many barely able to recover their costs of production. What began as a counter-insurgency strategy, by allowing an elite of African farmers to grow Arabica coffee (a privilege formerly reserved to settlers) was enlarged and accelerated in response to unrelenting global market pressures. These compelled the colonial government to beckon low-cost African farmers into coffee production, in a bid to save its tax base and ensure the survival of the coffee sector. Even though the Coffee Marketing Board confiscated much of their income, African farmers proved well able to rally family labour and achieve surpluses. Rationalization of production and the re-organization of the commodity chain to maintain high quality at lower cost were decisive in both reconfiguring the economic and social relationships that underpinned Kenya's independence in 1963 and securing the country's place on the world market. The aim here is to explain the crisis, and its grip on Kenya's economy during the transition to independence and beyond.

Bureaucracy and Incumbent Violence: Colonial Administration and the Origins of the ‘Mau Mau’ Emergency in Kenya

1976 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce J. Berman
Keyword(s):  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Colonial Administration ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Basic Premise ◽  
Mau Mau ◽  
Revitalization Movement ◽  
Religious Cult

In the twenty-odd years since the declaration of a state of emergency in Kenya in October 1952, the analysis of the phenomenon known as ‘Mau Mau’ has undergone a fundamental revision. The initial interpretation, advanced by the colonial authorities and their apologists and by a few (mostly British) scholars, explained ‘Mau Mau’ as a fanatic, atavistic, savage religious cult consciously created and manipulated by a group of unscrupulous, power-hungry leaders. It was said to be rooted in a mass psychosis affecting an unstable tribe freed from the anchoring constraints of tradition. It was also said to have had no direct links to socio-economic conditions in the colony or to the policies of the Kenya government. This interpretation, popularized by a large and sensational journalistic literature, went virtually unchallenged for more than a decade. During this period ‘Mau Mau’ and its antecedents were largely ignored by social scientists. As late as 1965, Gilbert Kushner could report that a search of major anthropological journals revealed, at best, only peripheral mention of Mau Mau. Where ‘Mau Mau’ was explicitly considered, the basic premise of the official explanation was generally accepted, and the phenomenon was treated as a nativistic cult or revitalization movement.

Alcohol Abuse

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
John M. Gachoki
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Abuse ◽  
Fourth Generation ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Mau Mau ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Drinking Problem ◽  
Freedom Fighters ◽  
Indigenous Society ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Central Kenya

The article sets out to examine the correlation between the drinking problem that has beset youth of Central Kenya and the oaths that were taken by residents in the region in the wake of the struggle for socio-political and economic independence (in 1950s). It is worthwhile to recall that the Mau Mau philosophy discouraged the abuse of drugs, and especially alcohol. It was the belief that the breach of oaths spelt calamity. The youth might disassociate themselves from beliefs of their fathers and forefathers. However, since most of them are Christians, nominal or practical, they should be awed because the bible has it that, ‘’. . . I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation . . .’’ (Deuteronomy 5:9). Characteristically, the communities in Central Kenya share many aspects of culture, especially beliefs and religious practices. For example, breach of oaths was a taboo. The article seeks to establish the connection between the high degree of alcohol abuse to the violation of oaths that the Mau Mau (freedom fighters) patriots took before and during the State of Emergency (1952-1960). Certainly, anything taboo was ominous. Mau Mau agitated for independence, and more importantly, the return of land, the bond that bound together the living, the dead and the unborn. Land was seen in our indigenous society as sacred and it was not to change hands in any way. Mau Mau took oaths to the effect that whoever breached it would attract catastrophe, including death. In view of this, the article would seek to establish if the drinking problem in the Mount Kenya (central) region is a consequence of breaching Mau Mau oaths.

scholarly journals THE ENEMY WITHIN: LOYALISTS AND THE WAR AGAINST MAU MAU IN KENYA

2007 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
DANIEL BRANCH
Keyword(s):  
Mau Mau ◽  
History Of ◽  
British Colonial ◽  
Colonial Government

ABSTRACTBetween 1952 and 1960, the British colonial government of Kenya waged a violent counter-insurgency campaign against the Mau Mau rebels. In this effort the regime was assisted by collaborators, known as loyalists, drawn from the same communities as the insurgents. Based primarily on new archival sources, this article sets out the history of loyalism, stresses the ambiguity of allegiances during the conflict and argues that loyalism was a product of the same intellectual debates that had spawned the Mau Mau insurgency. The article concludes by stressing the significance for postcolonial Kenya of this history.

L.S.B. Leakey: A Biobibliographical Study

1985 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 211-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas P. Ofcansky
Keyword(s):  
Social Evolution ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Future Research ◽  
East African ◽  
Letters To The Editor ◽  
Mau Mau ◽  
Political Beliefs ◽  
Intimate Knowledge ◽  
The Times ◽  
Colonial Government

Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey (1903-72) was a man of immense ability and variety. Apart from his numerous activities in the fields of paleontology, archeology, and anthropology, he achieved prominence as a naturalist, historian, political analyst, handwriting expert, and administrator. His writings not only reflect these interests but also serve as an important focal point for future research about East Africa.Especially valuable are Leakey's often overlooked contributions to newspapers such as The East African Standard (Nairobi), Kenya Weekly News (Nakuru), and The Times (London). In addition to expanding on the topics mentioned above these items, which included feature articles as well as letters to the editor, outlined Leakey's views on everything from the price of maize to the activities of Kenya's dalmation club.Because of his intimate knowledge of the Kikuyu people, Leakey rendered useful service to the British colonial government during the Mau Mau revolt. His experiences were reflected in his Mau Mau and the Kikuyu (1952), Defeating Mau Mau (1954), First Lessons in Kikuyu (1959), and Kenya: Contrasts and Problems (1966). Related articles in the Manchester Guardian (Manchester) and The Observer (London) also provided essential material for understanding Leakey's attitude towards the emergency.After Kenya gained its independence in 1963, Leakey continued to use newspapers as a forum for his political beliefs. In The East African Standard, for example, “Congratulations on Model Democracy” and “Controversial Report on Kenya Answered” defended the performance of the country's new government. His autobiography, By the Evidence: Memoirs, 1932-1951 also contained a great deal of information about Leakey's position toward Kenya's political and social evolution.

State of Emergency. The Full Story of Mau Mau

1963 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 254
Author(s):  
Donald C. Savage ◽  
Fred Majdalany ◽  
Alan Rake ◽  
George Bennett ◽  
Carl Rosberg
Keyword(s):  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Mau Mau
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