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Article: Ideology, theory, and revolution: lessons from the Mau Mau of Kenya.
- Article from:
- Monthly Review
- Article date:
- September 1, 1987
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1987 Monthly Review Foundation, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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IDEOLOGY, THEORY, AND REVOLUTION: LESSONS FROM THE MAU MAU OF KENYA
Patrick Adams has depicted peasant reaction against colonialism in Africa (including the militant Mau Mau reaction) as somewhat spontaneous, conceptually parochial, and lacking ideological foundation.1 This view is, in fact, not uncommon and can be found in a number of historical accounts of the Mau Mau movement in colonial Kenya. But how valid is this conception of the anticolonial efforts of the peasantry in Africa? To what extent can we regard the specific instance of the militant Mau Mau insurrection against British colonial rule in Kenya as nonideological in its direction? This question ...