Visualising Violence and Memories of Mau Mau: The Kenyan Emergency and Representations of the British Empire, 1952-2020

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This project will examine how public discourse has shaped the historical memory of Britain's counter-insurgency war in Kenya, from the 1950s to the present. Engaging with discussions on memory and empire, propaganda in the imperial context, and the use of visual images in justifying colonial violence, this study will chart how interpretations of the Mau Mau war were transformed over time, asking why and how such changes in perception occurred. The project will do this by tracing the life cycles of key images of Mau Mau violence in public histories of the Emergency.The Kenya Emergency (1952-60) thrust the 'savagery' of the Mau Mau fighters to the forefront of British public discourse. As part of its anti-Mau Mau propaganda campaign, the Kenya Administration supplied global media outlets with graphic images of Mau Mau atrocities and cultivated sensationalist reportage which largely supported Britain's counter-insurgency methods. However, as allegations of trigger-happy security forces surfaced, a growing body of critics emerged. Contrasting interpretations of Kenya's Emergency then created a paradox of knowledge in Britain, as politicians, anti-colonial activists and political pressure groups mobilised to challenge the government-mandated narrative of the Mau Mau rebellion, including its justifications for, and obfuscation of colonial counterinsurgency violence. Nevertheless, British popular memory of the Emergency has remained plagued by Mau Mau violence since 1960. The Mutua & Others vs the FCO (2012) litigation and Hanslope Park disclosures, led the international press to criticise the British Government for its colonial brutality. However, imperial nostalgia continues to influence constructions of Britishness and sections of the population still perceive empire as something to be proud of, (Yougov, 2014, 2020). The project will primarily be a study of British imperial history. It will study the propagandist mechanisms used to justify the violent counter-insurgency tactics of the Kenya Administration, analysing the relationship between textual and visual rhetorics of empire and anti-colonialism. Through film, photographic and media evidence, the project will provide new insights into British visual culture while analysing what types of violence form enduring memories. This qualitative historical project primarily utilises critical frameworks and methodologies from colonial history, British political and socio-cultural contemporary histories and Kenyan history, but employs interdisciplinary approaches from visual culture, post-colonial studies and film studies. In the process, the project seeks to discover why the popular British memory of the Kenya Emergency has been obsessed with Mau Mau violence, whilst for decades largely ignoring the violence of the British counter-insurgency.The central research questions of this thesis are: how was imagery of Emergency Kenya used by the press, politicians and activists in Britain during the Mau Mau rebellion? What impact did this imagery have on British public discourse from 1952-2020? How have contemporary public histories depicted colonial and Mau Mau violence during the Kenya Emergency?