The role of the Agikuyu religion and culture in the development of the Karing'a religiopolitical movement, 1900-1950 with particular reference to the Agikuyu concept of God and the rite of initiation

Abstract

The central hypothesis of this study is that the Agikuyu reIigion and culture played the primary role in the developent of the Karing'a religio-political movement and that the missionry religion and education and the colonial rule played a secondary role in the developent of that movement. The study intends to investigate whether or not test the statement that the Karin'g'a movement was retrogressive and advocated a complete return to the gikuyu 'conservative traditionalism' and of what the missionary nd the colonial authorities calIed a return to paganism' is valid. The field data mainly from Kiambu District of Central Province, Kenya been utilized to test the central hypothesis of this study. The major argument is that the missionaries'campaign against the female circumcision and other cultural and-religious ractices of the Agikuyu was aimed at penetrating the core values of the Agikuyu; and that the Agikuyu responded to thiscampaign by forming their own schools and churches where with their core values could be encouraged, promoted, maintained. The present study is historical-anthropological. It is hi torieal because the events hich led to the rise of the Kring' movement ere invariably historical.

The study is important to those interested in understanding the nature of the African resistance-cumreligious movements. Lastly, the study of this nature is relevant in enriching our knowledge of the role of the African cultural and religious heritage in modernising African societies.