768. Wipper, Audrey. "The Gusii Rebels." In Protest and Power in Black Africa edited by Robert I. Rotberg and Ali Mazrui. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1970: 377-426.
Contrary to Mbiti, Sundkler and others, this was an African millenarism, albeit a syncretistic one. The millennial elements of this movement in particular seem to have derived from Christianity, since no native source for them appears to exist. Wipper's discussion of the accusations of sexual irregularity (orgies and incest) that were levelled against this movement are particularly interesting. The sources of these allegations, originating almost entirely from the colonial administration, are suspect, as Wipper points out. While the truth or falsity of these cannot be determined at this point [at least not by me], they seem inherently plausible, given the logic of the situation. These were in part political movements, and as such it was at least part of their purpose to discredit both the English and the traditional gerontocracy, which had more or less sold out to the occupiers.
One of the movements had made a serious attempt to "outlaw" initiatory circumcision among the tribe as a whole and was firmly rebuffed. This ceremony was an extremely important one for the cohesiveness of the group, and it appears that the movement offered no substitute. On the matter of sexual behavior the Gusii were fairly puritanical, and incest was of course most stringently forbidden, which leads Wipper to conclude that the accusations are probably false, although she tends to believe the evidence offered by a member of the group who was convicted of incest to the effect that it was a common group practice. [This seems to me most likely self-serving, like so many apostate "atrocity stories" (cf. Shupe and Bromley 1982: item 626). However, in light of the movements' failure in the matter of circumcision and in view of its political aims, the accusations themselves do not appear entirely far fetched. Antinomianism of this kind is not unheard of among innovative groups, perhaps for boundary-setting and bridge-burning purposes as well as to demonstrate that traditional sanction had no force (as it apparently didn't) within the movement.]
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