Recasting the Mau Mau Uprising: Reparations, Narration, and Memory

Abstract

Although it is over fifty years since independence, Kenya is still grappling with the contested memory and meaning of Mau Mau. It is unclear how it should be remembered. Was Mau Mau a reversion to ethnic primordialism or was it an act of nationalism? The meaning and outcome of this history can shape the possibilities for Kenya’s future. This is particularly important for a country wrestling with ethnic division, conflict, and distrust exacerbated during colonial rule and the unsettled decades following independence. During Mau Mau, in the years 1952–60, thousands of African men and women, both young and old, united in Kenya to contest British colonial oppression and rule. They wanted their land and freedom. But there was a cost. According to the Kenyan Human Rights Commission, 90,000 Kenyans lost their lives with many more suffering torture in the hands of the British security forces during the eight years of the Mau Mau war (BBC News UK, 2012). The brave individuals that joined the war participated for many reasons. In one interviewed account, the Mau Mau fighter Daniel Mulwa (2009) claimed, “I participated to stop being ruled by the whites, to stop being recognized as no people by the Europeans. They treated us as animals, not people.” For decades Mau Mau historiography was slanted, as Mau Mau testimonies and grievances were more often dismissed.