Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Photographs
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Clans and Councils, Caravans and Conquest, Cosmology and Colonialism
- 3 Understanding Uoi, Uwe, and Kithitu in Ukambani
- 4 The “Cosmology” of the Colonial State
- 5 The Wakamba Witch Trials
- 6 Witchcraft, Murder, and Death Sentences after Rex v. Kumwaka
- 7 The World of Oathing and Witchcraft in Mau Mau–era Machakos
- 8 Cleansing Ukambani Witches
- 9 Epilogue
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
8 - Cleansing Ukambani Witches
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 October 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Photographs
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Clans and Councils, Caravans and Conquest, Cosmology and Colonialism
- 3 Understanding Uoi, Uwe, and Kithitu in Ukambani
- 4 The “Cosmology” of the Colonial State
- 5 The Wakamba Witch Trials
- 6 Witchcraft, Murder, and Death Sentences after Rex v. Kumwaka
- 7 The World of Oathing and Witchcraft in Mau Mau–era Machakos
- 8 Cleansing Ukambani Witches
- 9 Epilogue
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
- References
Summary
In the mid-1950s in Machakos, close to one thousand Kamba witches and witchdoctors responded to state officials’ requests that they surrender their paraphernalia for public burning and publicly renounce witchcraft – a pair of practices that colonial authorities imagined would cleanse these practitioners of prior bad acts. In return, witches and witchdoctors could expect amnesty from the government and a clean slate from their neighbors. This campaign, referred to as the Machakos witch-cleansings, comprised the final set of “critical events” through which colonial authorities linked a breakdown in law and order to Kamba witchcraft beliefs and practices. While preceding colonial anti-witchcraft policies had sought to discipline witchcraft by denying its existence, or at least its efficacy, the Machakos witch-cleansings, in contrast, aimed instead to discipline witchcraft beliefs and practices by acknowledging and mobilizing their power.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Witchcraft and Colonial Rule in Kenya, 1900–1955 , pp. 183 - 206Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011