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Dini ya Msambwa

Militant Protest or Millenarian Promise

Bibliographic Data

ID2139555
AuthorsJan J De Wolf (Utrecht University, corresponding author)
Year1983
Volume17
Issue2
Pages265-276
Publication date1983-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCanadian Journal of African Studies / Revue canadienne des études africaines (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0008-3968 • E-ISSN: 1923-3051
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00083968.1983.10804023
OpenAlexW1532169909
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited1

In May 1947 Elijah Masinde, a Bukusu from Kimilili Location in the Western Province of Kenya, was released from Mathare Mental Hospital in Nairobi. He had been certified insane when he was serving a sentence of one year's imprisonment for assaulting chief's assistants who were recruiting men for compulsory employment in connection with the war effort in 1944. The hospital authorities believed that his relatives would be able to look after him satisfactorily, provided that they realized that Elijah was mentally disturbed. Within a few months, however, he had become a prophet and acquired a large following among the Bukusu. He told the Bukusu that the time had come for the Europeans to leave and that they must return to their traditional customs, particularly those which had been condemned by the missionaries. That is the reason why Elijah named his sect Dini ya Msambwa (we will use the abbreviation DyM.), or Religion of the Ancestral Customs

Militant · Millenarianism · Political science · Politics · African history and culture analysis · African history and culture studies · Geology · Law

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  • Prosecuting a Prophet

    Open Access•Julie Macarthur•African Studies Review•2020

  • Religious Movements and Politics in Sub-Saharan Africa

    Terence Ranger, Terence O Ranger•African Studies Review•1986

  • Vaccinations, Pills, and Resistance

    Open Access•Mariam Florence Yusuf, Washington Onyango-Ouma et al.•Medical Anthropology•2025

  • Differentiation and Integration in Western Kenya. A Study of Religious Innovation and Social Change among the Bukusu

    Myrtle S Langley, Jan J De Wolf•Journal of Religion in Africa•1982

Unique citing works5
Citations per year0,13
Citation span1986 - 2025 (40)
Citation velocityrecent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 4
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