As I began research on this project in 2003, I quickly realized that oral interviews would be essential for reconstructing Kamba history, especially due to the dearth of available published sources. A significant amount of this book, therefore, is built from the testimony of more than 150 interviewees. The names of the locations where the interviews were conducted appear in the footnotes, and broader details about the interviews themselves appear below.

The majority of interview subjects were Kamba, but the remainder included Kikuyu, Embu, Meru, and Maasai, as well as European settlers and former district officials. Interviewees’ testimonies are quoted anonymously in most cases in the text. In several instances, I have attached a pseudonym to an interviewee whose life history I have expanded upon to illustrate some broader point. Where this occurs, it is identified in the footnotes. Actual names are only used in cases where I received specific permission from the subject to use his or her words and name in this book, and still have an intact recording of that oral consent.

The collection of oral testimonies involved working with a research assistant, Mwendwa Musyimi. Mwendwa and I covered almost the entirety of Ukambani on foot, on the backs of bicycles ridden by their kindly and perspiring owners, and in crowded matatus. We used public transport to get to each and every interview, never once setting foot in a private vehicle. As much of Ukambani is hilly and has few roads, we commonly covered more than ten miles in a day on foot to reach remote villages. We slept in small “hotels” and in the homes of strangers.

This approach presented the opportunity to speak with many people along the road, in various shops, and in tiny teahouses. We gleaned much information and anecdotal evidence in this fashion. It was – and is – my belief that walking the routes to and from the markets with Kamba men and women earned us a level of acceptance in the communities we visited, which would not have been possible if we had arrived in a shiny four-wheel-drive vehicle. We found that people welcomed us into their homes to do interviews when they saw that we had acquired the same dark red dirt from the road that they accumulated each day.

Mwendwa and I carried out interviews in whatever language the subject felt most comfortable. This was typically Kikamba, as few of the older generations speak Swahili or English. In all interviews conducted in Kikamba, Mwendwa provided translation; while I conducted interviews in Swahili and English, my Kikamba language skills were not sufficient to adequately fulfill this charge, though I could comprehend portions of the conversations. Interviews were loosely based on a preprepared questionnaire, though they typically deviated instantly from its content and rarely returned. They usually followed a pattern where I began by asking, “Tell me about the time when you grew up” and then prompted the subject through the telling of his or her life story. I typically asked small points of detail or clarification during this recounting, and then returned to topics in which I was interested later in the interview.

I tape-recorded almost every interview, and both Mwendwa and I took copious notes. After we completed an interview, we discussed it in detail the same evening, and compared our written records. Where we found discrepancies, we returned to the tape to correct any errors. I then asked Mwendwa to relisten to the tape and remove an average of around ten quotes or perhaps several stories in which I was interested. He then transcribed the words in Swahili or Kikamba, and we discussed the most appropriate English translations that remained faithful to the original sense of the words.

All interview materials remain in my possession.

• Interviews conducted by the author (the majority with the assistance of Mwendwa Musyimi)

• Interviews 1–23. Dates: July 7–28, 2004

• Locations: Ngelani, Mutituni, Mitaboni

• District: Machakos

• Sex ratio: 15 men, 8 women

• Interviews 24–49. Dates: July 5–August 4, 2005

• Locations: Mitaboni, Mbooni, Kitundu, Okia, Kee, Mulala, Emali, Nzambani

• Districts: Machakos, Makueni

• Sex ratio: 21 men, 5 women

• Interviews 50–75. Dates: July 24–December 1, 2006

• Locations: Changwithia, Kitui Town, Miu, Kanzalu, Tala, Kiima Kimwe, Yathui, Mumbuni, Mulango

• Districts: Machakos, Kitui, Nairobi

• Sex ratio: 17 men, 9 women

• Interviews 76–137. Dates: May 11–July 4, 2009

• Locations: Kirimara, Ngelani, Kiine, Kanziku, Ikutha, Simisi, Kiomo, Mwingi, Mivukoni, Tseikuru

• Districts: Meru, Machakos, Kirinyaga, Kitui, Mwingi

• Sex ratio: 34 men, 28 women

• Interviews 138–142. Dates: April 4–11, 2011

• Locations: Athi River, Mukaa

• Districts: Kajiado, Makueni

• Sex ratio: 5 men, 0 women

• Interviews 143–152. Dates: May 14–16, 2012

• Locations: Mukaa, Kabaa, Mbooni

• Districts: Makueni, Machakos

• Sex ratio: 8 men, 2 women

• Interviews conducted by Jeremy Newman (with various translators)

• David Kaindi, Mbooni, February 13, 1974

• John Muiya Kivati, Tala, December 10, 1973

• Mwinzi Mala, Tawa, November 2, 1974

• Elijah Mbondu, Tala, November 26, 1973

• Mary Muendi, Okia, March 5, 1974

• Mukonzo, Kee, January 4, 1974

• Kavula Muli, Matungulu, December 12, 1973

• Paolo Musau, Tala, June 30, 1973

• Elijah Mutambuuki, Tala, July 1, 1973

• Isaac Mwalonzi, Ngelani, January 17, 1974

• Nduba Mwatu, Ngelani, August 31, 1974

• Ishmael Mwendwa, Tala, June 16, 1973

• Zachayo Ngao, Kiteta, November 2, 1974

The list below contains collections referenced in the book’s text. In addition to the archives below, several files from the following collections were also consulted. In Kenya: the University of Nairobi Library and McMillan Library, both in Nairobi; and in the United Kingdom: the University of Nottingham Library, Nottingham; the British Library Newspaper Library, London; and the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives at King’s College, London. Specific references for all files appear in the footnotes.

• AB – Community Development

• AG – Attorney General

• AHC – Office of Information/Press Office

• ARC (MD) – Ministry of Defence

• BB – Eastern Province, Embu

• CS – Chief Secretary

• DC/KTI and MV – District Commissioner, Kitui

• DC/MKS – District Commissioner, Machakos

• DC/MSA – District Commissioner, Mombasa

• DC/TURK – District Commissioner, Turkana

• MAA – Ministry of African Affairs

• MAC/KEN – Murumbi Africana Collection

• MSS/23 – Papers of T. H. R. Cashmore

• MSS/100 – Papers of George Pearson

• MSS/120 – Papers of Tom Askwith

• MW – Ministry of Works

• Papers of the East African Indian National Congress (microfilm), Reel 8

• PC/CP – Provincial Commissioner, Central Province

• PC/NKU – Provincial Commissioner, Nakuru

• PC/SP – Provincial Commissioner, Southern Province

• PDA/EMB – Provincial Director of Agriculture, Embu

• TC – Taveta Chronicle

• CAB 129 – Cabinet Memoranda

• CO 533 – Colonial Office: Kenya Original Correspondence

• CO 822 – Colonial Office: East Africa Original Correspondence

• WO 236 – War Office: Papers of General Sir George Erskine

• WO 276 – War Office: East Africa Command Papers

• Mss. Afr. s. 54–57 – Papers of Francis George Hall

• Mss. Afr. r. 143–148 – Papers of C. W. Hobley

• Mss. Afr. s. 377–382 – Papers of John Ainsworth

• Mss. Afr. s. 391 – Papers of J. A. Stuart Watt

• Mss. Afr. s. 746 – Papers of Sir Michael Blundell

• Mss. Afr. s. 755 – Papers of Colin Maher

• Mss. Afr. s. 771 – Papers of Robert Foran

• Mss. Afr. s. 1120 – Papers of Sir Robert Brooke-Popham

• Mss. Afr. s. 1426 – Interview with Sir Roger Swynnerton

• Mss. Afr. s. 1469 – Papers of J. W. Balfour

• Mss. Afr. s. 1580 – Papers of Sir W. R. Hinde

• Mss. Afr. s. 1715 – Papers of the King’s African Rifles

• Mss. Brit. Emp. s. 22 – Papers of the Anti-Slavery Society

• Box 2 – Correspondence of Elwood Davis

• Box 3 – Correspondence of Lee Downing

• Box 4 – Correspondence of W. J. Guilding

• Box 5 – Correspondence of George Rhoad

• Box 6 – Correspondence of Harmon Nixon

• Box 8 – Correspondence of LeRoy and Emma Farnsworth

• Box 10 – Mission Station Reports and Statistics

• Box 15 – Regional Church Councils

• BGC 81 – Africa Inland Mission, International

• SC/165 – Diary of Gordon Rhoad

• CA5M2 – Mission Book, 1846–1856

• CA5O16 – Original Papers, 1841–1880

• Oral History 3935 – Major William Cockcraft, September 25, 1978

• Oral History 10257 – Frank Wilson, July 19, 1978

• Akamba

• Daily Chronicle

• Daily Telegraph (London)

• East African Standard

• Hearing and Doing

• Inland Africa

• Kenya Times

• Manchester Guardian

• Nation

• New Statesman and Nation

• The New York Times

• The Times (London)

• Dick Cashmore, various, 2011–2012

• Jeremiah Kitunda, February 15, 2008; various, 2011

• John Nottingham, various, 2005–2012