Universal Claims and Selective Memory: A Comparative Perspective on the Culture of Opposition in Kenya

Through a comparative analysis of human-rights activism in Kenya and Cameroon, this paper illustrates how contemporary human-rights discourse in Kenya is rooted in a contested political language, based on the memory of the Mau Mau insurrection. The strength of Kenyan human-rights nongovernmental organizations derives partly from this symbolic and ideological heritage. Manufacturing heroes and combining ideologies and moral standpoints requires the erasure of contradictions and, at times, the simplification of history in order to fit the past into contemporary political movements. Nevertheless, recurrent references to the past have allowed human-rights defenders to further their cause and justify their demands regarding wealth and accountability in the national community.