‘Constituencies of Control’–Collective Punishments in Kenya’s Mau Mau Emergency, 1952–55

Abstract

Between 1952 and 1955, British Administrators in Central Kenya made wide use of livestock seizures and monetary fines known as collective punishments to penalise disloyal communities during the Mau Mau rebellion. Authorities were supported in these efforts by local collaborators drawn from the same communities as the insurgents, known as loyalists, through their support for the appropriateness and familiarity of these punishments. Based primarily on new archival material found in the controversial Hanslope disclosure, this article outlines the history of collective punishment, stresses the importance of the practice to the maintenance of localised control and argues that while interpersonal violence engendered fear, collective punishment alongside wider repertoires of coercion were the most immediate daily manifestation of dominaton. The article concludes by discussing the implications of the Kenya case for our broader understanding of everyday colonial control.