| dc.description.abstract | This dissertation seeks to examine the development of Giriama
society during a period of transition after the mid-nineteenth century
and to examine the Giriama rising of 1913-1914 as a microcosm of
Giriama politics - one embodying the difficulties and complexities
emerging within Giriama society during the initial years of British
colonial rule in what is now the modern Republic of Kenya.
The Giriama are an anomaly among the Kenya peoples. After
living for at least a century inside a forest clearing (kaya) where
they were organized through loosely-structured councils cf elders of a
designated generation, they developed an extremely diffuse polit~cal
system after the mid-nineteenth century. The Giriama regard themselves
as a peaceful people, who fought only defensively; yet they are best
remembered for their participation in wars - particularly for their role
in the 1914 rising. Although they were among the first people to be
exposed to Islam and Christianity, they chose, for the most part, to
accept neither. During the last century, the Giriama were forced to
make many adaptations to life as they formerly knew it in their forest
clearing. They have, however, attempted to maintain their political
and cultural independence in the face of colonial and national administrative
demands, becoming regarded as a people unwilling to change.
Field research, conducted in 1970-1971, included archival
sources as well as extensive oral interviewing among tne Giriama. Contrary
to casual interpretations of the rising as being one in which the
Giriama·~ere deceived by a woman through the power of witchcraft, the
research demonstrated that the Giriama action had mass support and
that the fighting was conducted without strong leadership. The war
itself, fought in the opening weeks of the first World War, was not
solely a part of that wider conflict. On the contrary, the wider conflict
provided the Giriama with hope for British weakness. The Giriama
did not all share the same reasons for participating. Some wanted to
retain their land, others were refusing war service, and still others
were showing strong disapproval of those Giriama who had been co-opted
into British service. The division of Giriama into several geographical
units which experienced different administrative heritages from
the British also has a parallel in the organization and intensity of
the fighting and the subsequent participation in colonial administration.
Despite these differences, the Giriama shared a strong spirit
for independence which was fed by the availability of land and thus the
opportunity to move away from untenable circumstances at a time when ,
most Africans had to choose the labour market for such freedom. It was
also fed by the ~c~nomic self-Sufficiency they gained through maize
production and through trade,
Despite their losing the war, the Giriama ultimately benefited
from the internal inconsistency of British administrative policy:
pressure for labourers without the mechanisms or authority to secure
them, The Giriama were able to retain their land, they never provided
the labour support demanded of them, and they maintained considerable
I political independence throughout the colonial period. | en |
