Out of Africa Book Two, A Shooting Accident on the Farm: From "Wamai" to "A Kikuyu Chief" Summary & Analysis

Farah later explains that Wanyangerri's grandmother placed a curse on Kaninu, which Farah believes she really can do. Since then, Kaninu's cows have been slowly going blind. Kaninu panicked and started handing over animals. The narrator decides that the Kikuyu Chief, Kinanjui, should settle the matter.

Chief Kinanjui lives in the Kikuyu Reserve and rules over more than a hundred thousand Kikuyus. The narrator has long known him and once got him drunk on alcohol, which always created a special bond between them. She sends for him and he promptly arrives in a scarlet car, looking majestic in a cloak of monkey skins. Kinanjui sits on a large stone near the farmhouse and waits as the Kikuyus come running over to see him.

When everyone is gathered, it is announced that Wanyangerri's father and Kaninu have come to an agreement, which involves the transfer of ten sheep and a cow and a calf. The selection of the exact cow and calf is debated for a while, as Wanyangerri's family fears that Kaninu will give them an old one, but eventually one is chosen. The narrator writes up the agreement on which the thumbprint of Wanyangerri's father, Kaninu, and the Chief are placed. The narrator signs it as well as Baroness Blixen.

Analysis

The account of the accidental shooting is continued and concluded in these chapters. As the actual legal processes are described, a much more nuanced understanding of the native culture becomes clear, particularly with regard to the Kikuyu tribe.

The family is the most important unit among the Kikuyus. The cases of Jogona and Kaninu display two families of differing wealth. Kaninu has five wives and many children, so he is rich. Jogona had one son, who now is dead, so he is poor. Wives signify wealth because in order to get them one has to pay a bride price. Furthermore, having wives is also a wealth generating measure, since they bear children. Children generate money by bringing in a bride price themselves, if they are girls, or by siring more children if they are boys. With an understanding of the wealth that a family signifies, it becomes clear that the loss of Wamai for Jogona is significant. Had Wamai lived and gotten married, he could have increased the family's ownership of property. The significance of the loss is the reason for the legal arbitration.

The discussion of the Chief of the Kikuyu tribe helps to place the native experience within its colonial culture. Chief Kinanjui rules over 100,000 other Kikuyus, a fairly significant number. He lives with most of his tribe on the Kikuyu Reserve, which was established by the colonial government. The Governments set up the Reserves for natives so that they could have space to live and to keep their cattle. The existence of these reserves is somewhat ironic, since if the Colonial government had not come, they would not have to designate space for the tribes to live on. In the same way, the leadership of the Kikuyu Chief is somewhat superficial because the colonial government and its own judicial system always rules over it. While Chief Kinanjui is allowed to adjudicate, there is little doubt about who truly holds the reigns of power in the colonial state. By outlining the nature of legal disputes, the narrator makes some of these underlying political forces clear.

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