Forms of Protest III : The Serpent God of Lake Victoria

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In this episode, we will look at the religion of Mumbo, a serpent god who was believed to reside in Lake Victoria and in the sun. This religion would spread among the Luo and the Kisii and challenge the colonial structures and religion.

Sources

  1. Hackett, Rosalind I. J. “Millennial and Apocalyptic Movements in Africa.” Oxford Handbooks Online, 2011. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195301052.003.0020.
  2. Maxon, R. M. “The Thorny Road From Primary to Secondary Source: The Cult of Mumbo and the 1914 Sack of Kisii.” History in Africa, vol. 13, 1986, pp. 261–68. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.2307/3171545.
  3. Ogot, Bethwell A. “British Administration in The Central Nyanza District of Kenya, 1900–60.” The Journal of African History, vol. 4, no. 2, 1963, pp. 249–73. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.1017/s0021853700004059.
  4. Ranger, T. O. “Connexions between ‘Primary Resistance’ Movements and Modern Mass Nationalism in East and Central Africa: II.” The Journal of African History, vol. 9, no. 4, 1968, pp. 631–41. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.1017/s0021853700009087.
  5. Shadle, Brett L. “Patronage, Millennialism and the Serpent God Mumbo in South-West Kenya, 1912–34.” Africa, vol. 72, no. 1, 2002, pp. 29–54. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.3366/afr.2002.72.1.29.
  6. Maxon, R. M. “Gusii Oral Texts and the Gusii Experience under British Rule.” The International Journal of African Historical Studies, vol. 9, no. 1, Boston University African Studies Center, 1976, pp. 74–80, https://doi.org/10.2307/217392.
  7. Wangila, Mary Nyangweso. “The Cult of Mumbo in Central and South Kavirondo.” Journal of the East African and Uganda Natural History Society (Nairobi), no. 38–39, 1930, pp. 13–17, www.biodiversitylibrary.org/content/part/EANHS/Nos.%2038-39_13_1930_Nyangweso.pdf.