Freedom as Moral Agency: Wiathi and Mau Mau in Colonial Kenya

The idea of freedom, or wiathi, lay at the centre of political and moral discussion around the time of Man Man. But what did this idea of freedom entail? This article focuses attention on the need to reconstruct what was understood by wiathi by concentrating on the particular context in which the term was used. It is suggested that wiathi denotes an idea of freedom as moral agency, which confers authority to act within the community and makes one fully adult. Although that idea has certain parallels with the principal ways in which the term freedom is typically understood in political analysis, wiathi is properly understood by treating it on its own terms.