Researching Reconciliation and Repression in 1960s Kenya
From 1952 to 1960, Kenya saw a major anti-colonial uprising, Mau Mau, defeated only after the massive deployment of British treasure and troops. Kenya nevertheless achieved political independence three years later, in 1963, led primarily by people who had sat out the Emergency or actively collaborated with the colonial state. These two facts meant that the decolonising state had to face up to questions of post-war justice and reconciliation, as bottom-up pressure demanded a more just transition that rewarded those who had fought for freedom. Local contests over the meaning of the conflict and what should happen to the protagonists in the post-colony would greatly influence the shape and future trajectory of Kenya.

The paper will explore the legacies of the Mau Mau Uprising from the perspective of post-colonial state-building and post-war transitions. It argues that reconciliation, albeit stripped of any positive normative charge, is a practical frame to better understand decolonisation and post-colonial state-building. To achieve this, the paper actively seeks parallels and incongruences with similar African processes, such as the end of Apartheid in South Africa.

In particular, the paper will reflect on the author’s personal experiences researching a subject which continues to be of immense political significance seventy years later. Mau Mau has regained a position of prominence in the national imagination as part of the contemporary Gen-Z protests, which have affected the practice of collecting evidence. The paper reflects on the process of conducting oral histories with elderly veterans and ex-loyalists, as well as the archival story of formerly hidden documents shedding new light on the twilight era of colonialism and the making of the new state which followed.
Date: 6 February 2025, 14:30
Venue: St Antony's College - Main Site, 62 Woodstock Road OX2 6JF
Venue Details: Pavilion Room, accessed via lift
Speaker: Niels Boender
Organising department: Centre for African Studies
Organisers: Peter Brooke (African Studies Centre, Oxford), Lena Reim (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address: events@africa.ox.ac.uk
Part of: African Studies Centre Research Seminars
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Public
Editor: Amy Crane