members of the Department of History, Kenyatta University College, deserve special thanks for sharing my teaching load while I completed the dissertation. I am especially grateful to them for shouldering my departmental duties while I took a Rhodes Fellowship at Somerville College, Oxford, between 1982 and 1985, during which time I completed the research necessary for the revision and restructuring of the thesis and its conversion into this book. I would also like to thank the Rhodes trustees for funding the fellowship that has enabled me to write this book. Somerville College was my home away from home and I am grateful for the support and welcome that its staff and Principal, Miss Daphne Park, extended to me.
The staff of several libraries were very supportive during the various stages of this work. Librarians at the Kenya National Archives, the McMillan library and the University of Nairobi libraries in Kenya deserve many thanks. I spent long periods at Rhodes House library and at the Institute for Commonwealth Studies library. In both places the staff were most helpful. The Public Records Office library rendered good service.
Dr John Lonsdale deserves special thanks. He read all the draft chapters of this book and offered invaluable advice and support. David Throup and David Anderson made useful suggestions on earlier drafts. Mrs Selina Cohen sub-edited and typed the whole manuscript. I am very grateful for her patience and good work.
I wish to thank my various informants who willingly took time off for the interviews. The data thus gathered has been vital in the writing of this book. I am grateful to Lady Pamela Scott, Penina Nyawira and the late Selina Lyndall, who provided me with accommodation at different times of my fieldwork research. I would also like to thank Jane Nandwa, Gill Short, Tom Forrest, Niamh Hardiman and Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem for their encouragement. My family has patiently supported me, always. To them I say ‘thank you’. However, the responsibility for any errors or distortions is entirely mine.
List of Abbreviations
| AAD | African Affairs Department |
| AIM | African Inland Mission |
| AR | Annual Report |
| CMS | Church Missionary Society |
| CN | Central Nyanza – including the Kisumu Londianiarea |
| CNC | Chief Native Commissioner |
| CO | Colonial Office documents held at Public Records Office, Kew Gardens, London |
| CSM | Church of Scotland Mission |
| DAR | District Annual Report |
| DC | District Commissioner |
| DO | District Officer |
| EAISR | East Africa Institute of Social Research |
| EALB | East Africa Labour Bureau |
| EAPH | East African Publishing House |
| EAS | East African Standard (newspaper) |
| EBU | Embu |
| FH | Fort Hall |
| HAK | Historical Association of Kenya |
| KADU | Kenya African Democratic Union |
| KANU | Kenya African National Union |
| KASU | Kenya African Students Union |
| KAU | Kenya African Union |
| KBU | Kiambu |
| KCA | Kikuyu Central Association |
| KER | Kericho |
| KISA | Kikuyu Independent Schools Association |
| KLFA | Kenya Land Freedom Army |
| KNA | Kenya National Archives |
| KPSA | Kikuyu Private Schools Association |
| Lab. | Labour |
| Leg. Co. | Legislative Council |
| M.A. | Master of Arts |
| MAA | Maasai |
| MLC | Member of the Legislative Council |
| NAD | Native Affairs Department |
| NDI | Nandi |
| NKU | Nakuru |
| NSA | Njoro Settlers Association |
| NVA | Naivasha |
| NYI | Nyeri |
| NZA | Nyanza |
| PC | Provincial Commissioner |
| PRO | Public Records Office, London |
| RH | Rhodes House Library, Oxford |
| RNLO | Resident Native Labourers Ordinance |
| RV | Rift Valley |
| RVP | Rift Valley Province |
| SP | Southern Province |
Glossary of Kikuyu and Swahili Terms used in Text
| ahoi | landless people among the Kikuyu |
| aruithia | surgeons who performed circumcision ritual |
| baraza | public meeting |
| bibi | wife/woman |
| borna | cattle pen |
| ciama | elders’ councils |
| ciondo | Kikuyu baskets |
| debe | tin container |
| Gigikuyu | the Kikuyu language |
| Gikuyu na Mumbi | mythical founders of the Kikuyu tribe |
| githaka | system under which land was acquired/Land acquired under such a system |
| gituiku | handleless blade often given to surgeon as a circumcision fee |
| guciarwo | adoption |
| gukaywo nyori | to pierce the upper ear lobes |
| gunias | gunny-bags |
| harambee | self-help |
| iganda | temporary huts |
| igweta | high social standing, fame |
| irua | circumcision |
| ithaka | plural of githaka (land) |
| jembe | hoe |
| kamuirigo | killer |
| kanyanga | trespass |
| karani | clerk |
| kiama | singular of ciama |
| kifagio | broom – signifying period when the squatters lost their livestock, i.e. it was swept away, or officials involved in de-stocking |
| kihiu-mwiri | the age-group circumcised between approximately 1914 and 1918 |
| Kikuyu karinga | pure Kikuyu |
| kipande | identification pass |
| kirore | fingerprint in lieu of signature – used on contracts |
| kuna | breaking up virgin land |
| Lumbwa | Kipsigis (in slang) |
| madaraka | affluence |
| maisha | lifetime |
| mashuka | piece of cloth worn wrapped around the body |
| maskini | poverty stricken, poor |
| mathace | skimmed milk |
| mbari | clan |
| migoma | she-goats |
| mubara | toy-wheel |
| muingi | community self-help group |
| muruithia | singular of aruithia (surgeons) |
| muramati | trustee of the land |
| mzungu | white man |
| ndarwa | skins |
| ndigithu | gourd |
| Ndundu Ya Hitho | Inner Secret Council of Mau Mau |
| nduriri | non-Kikuyu, especially from Western Kenya |
| ngoima | ram |
| njahi | black peas |
| nyakiburi | form of sweet potato |
| nyapara | foreman/farm overseer |
| posho | ground maize flour |
| purko | Maasai |
| rutere | frontier |
| saidia | helpers |
| shamba | plot of land |
| siasa | politics |
| siri | secret |
| thenge | he-goats |
| thigari cia bururi | soldiers or guards of the land |
| thu | enemy |
| totos | children |
| uhuru | independence |
| ungumania | hypocrisy |
| utuuro | dwelling place/permanent residence |
| Wamera | Kikuyu slang for Luo |
| wazungu | white men, plural of mzungu |
| weru | pasture-land |
Maps
Map 1 Location of the White Highlands
