THE GIRIAMA RISING, 1914: FOCUS FOR POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE KENYA HINTERLAND 1850-1963

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 of elders of a designated generation, they developed an extremely diffuse political 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.