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This dissertation examines the two major forced moves of the Maasai in British East Africa in th... more This dissertation examines the two major forced moves of the Maasai in British East Africa in the 1900s, through which the 'northern' sections lost the greater part of their land, and non-violent resistance to these events which culminated in a landmark court case in 1913. The Maasai lost this action, the so-called Maasai Case, on a technicality. The dissertation amis to compare the parallel and contested narratives of the British and the Maasai about these events and related issues, drawing on original oral testimony and archival sources in Kenya and Britain. It attempts to address major omissions in the historiography which include a failure to examine these events from a Maasai perspective and include Maasai voices, to fully analyse their significance and effects, and to place Maasai responses to the moves within the context of contemporary African resistance. It focuses as much on people's perspectives as it does on events, and on a metaphysical as well as material realm. The immediate frame of reference is 1904 to 1918, with the broader frame c. 1896 to the 1930s. The two leading characters around whom the story revolves are Dr Norman Leys, a colonial dissident who orchestrated support for the Maasai in Britain, and Parsaloi Ole Gilisho, an important age-set spokesman of the Purko section who launched the legal action against the British. New evidence reveals the full extent of their actions, motivation and influence, and casts light upon the activities of other European colonial critics inside British East Africa. Secondary themes include the legal implications of the Maasai Case and Agreements; the relative powers of Maasai leaders and a critique of 'anthrohistorical' models; the complex relationship between Maasai leaders and prominent settlers; labour relations on highland farms; the post-war return of Maasai to their former northern territories; the role of East Coast fever in relation to the second move; disease as a social metaphor; and a reinterpretation of the causes of rebellions in 1918, 1922 and 1935 which may be connected to the earlier land alienation.

African Studies Review, 2009

African Studies, 2011

Historical revisionism is equally appealing to state and non-state actors during periods of inten... more Historical revisionism is equally appealing to state and non-state actors during periods of intense socio-political change, especially following civil conflict, when the need for unification is paramount. This applies to Kenya as it struggles to come to terms with the ...

African Affairs, 2005

100-year context, by returning to the forced moves and land losses of the 1900s and closely exami... more 100-year context, by returning to the forced moves and land losses of the 1900s and closely examining subsequent complaints about their alleged illegality and long-term impacts. This has not been attempted before, although some scholars and many Maasai have attributed growing impoverishment, marginalisation and acute pressure upon land and people to a process of land alienation begun by the British in 1904. The Maasai-British relationship always turned upon notions of honour, mutual respect and moral obligation; for some Maasai at least, these still have meaning. In 2004, the hundredth anniversary of the first Maasai Agreement and forced move was marked by activists with calls-directed at both the Kenyan and British governments-for compensation and the return of alienated land. This reparations claim is ongoing. Drawing upon archival research and oral testimony, this paper explains why the Maasai community's sense of loss and betrayal is so enduring. It describes how divisions in Maasai ranks are re-emerging; how the land reparations discourse has developed over time; how all parties have confused the issues; the role played by politicians and grassroots NGOs in articulating claims; and the uses of history and 'myth' in constructing nationalist and bounded identity. Résumé La lutte actuelle pour le pouvoir, la terre et les ressources dans Maasailand Kényan peut être comprise seulement dans une perspective centenaire, en retournant aux mouvements forcés et aux pertes de terres pendant les années 1900 et en examinant de près les plaintes subséquentes au sujet de leur

Africa, 2008

616 BOOK REVIEWS emphasizes the class-based nature of European hunting in colonial Kenya and uses... more 616 BOOK REVIEWS emphasizes the class-based nature of European hunting in colonial Kenya and uses class to help us understand how the great big-game safari tradition developed and then changed from guns to cameras as the main tool. In Part I we learn ...

Conservation and Society, 2007

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The Politics of Heritage in Africa offers a wide-ranging analysis of how heritage has been define... more The Politics of Heritage in Africa offers a wide-ranging analysis of how heritage has been defined in Africa and of the ongoing significance of heritage work on the continent. In presenting their project in this manner, the authors differentiate it from scholarship focused more narrowly on heritage as museum studies, and they illuminate domains outside the museum which may be understood as contributing to heritage as a form of knowledge production, including scientific disciplines and performing arts. The volume focuses primarily on Ghana and South Africa, two countries which have aggressively marketed violent pasts (the transatlantic slave trade and apartheid, respectively) to international audiences and yet whose different circumstances illuminate qualities of the African heritage economy that extend beyond particular national contexts. Chapters are organised around essays written by 15 scholars, including several who have actively participated in heritage institutions in Africa while working as academics in history and related disciplines.

Pastoralism

Book detailsMarie Ladekjær GravesenThe Contested Lands of Laikipia. Histories of Claims and Confl... more Book detailsMarie Ladekjær GravesenThe Contested Lands of Laikipia. Histories of Claims and Conflict in a Kenyan LandscapeBrill: Leiden and Boston, 2021ISSN 15668-1203. ISSN 978-90-04-43519-3 (paperback). ISBN 978-90-43520-9 (e-book). 263 pages

Drawing on Maasai oral testimony as well as archival sources, this chapter discusses the environm... more Drawing on Maasai oral testimony as well as archival sources, this chapter discusses the environmental impacts of the forced moves of Maasai in British East Africa in the 1900s, by the British colonial government, in particular the increased incidence of the fatal cattle disease ECF. It argues that ECF was a key factor in the second move (1911-13), and its apparent absence on Laikipia pre-1911 a driver for European settler farmers' desire to occupy this area of the highlands of what became Kenya Colony.

Culture, and its bedfellow cultural rights, are fast becoming ubiquitous global concepts and rall... more Culture, and its bedfellow cultural rights, are fast becoming ubiquitous global concepts and rallying cries in today's world. If the second half of the 20 th century saw the ascendancy of universal human rights, as this century unfolds we are witnessing the relentless rise of cultural rights in law, policy, rhetoric, and everyday practice. Some of the reasons for this flourishing (such as the concomitant explosion in identity politics, and a growing culture of entitlement) will be discussed in this Special Issue, primarily with regard to Kenya, whose new (2010) constitutional cultural rights provisions provide a useful case study whose implications go way beyond that country. Many of the articles share an analytical framework of governmentality and citizenship, linked to culture, rights and constitutionalism, which has applications across the continent. This Special Issue is the main written output of the ESRC-funded research project 'Cultural rights and Kenya's new constitution', which was based from 1 September 2014 to 30 September 2017 at The Open University, UK. 1 Core articles by members of this interdisciplinary research team are complemented by contributions from other scholars and practitioners who bring fresh and exciting perspectives that are largely, like ours, based on new empirical research. These other perspectives look beyond Kenya in some cases (for example Harriet Deacon; Jérémie Gilbert & Kanyinke Sena; Celia Nyamweru & Tsawe-Munga Chidongo; and Yash Ghai), and we believe the insights and analysis expressed in these pages can be applied more broadly to other countries in Africa and beyond. The team set out to examine and analyse the different ways in which Kenyans are engaging with culture and exercising their cultural rights, following the promulgation in 2010, following a public referendum, of a new constitution which enshrined such rights for the first time (see Deacon; and Ghai in this Special Issue). These rights included, for example, rights to ancestral land, cultural expression, protection for traditional knowledge, endangered languages and intellectual property, promotion of alternative forms of dispute resolution, and simply the right to 'enjoy' one's culture. At the same time, the constitution outlawed harmful cultural practices, without naming any. In the event of a clash between cultural rights and human rights, it was clear (though maybe not entirely so to all citizens) that the constitution would trump 'tradition'. It also allowed for the devolution of governance to 47 new county governments which have, since 2013, been extremely active in promoting and employing culture for economic, political and other ends. 2 This

The chapter discusses the contested legacy of the Mau Mau conflict in Kenya in the 1950s, a strug... more The chapter discusses the contested legacy of the Mau Mau conflict in Kenya in the 1950s, a struggle which preceded independence, and the uses of memory and memorialisation of Mau Mau in contemporary Kenya. It discusses whether the memorialization of Mau Mau, and the idea that it is central to a metanarrative of nationhood, has the potential to be unifying. Also, whether this can usefully be harnessed in Mau Mau-focused heritage initiatives in modernday Kenya. It concludes in part that the 'Mau Mau story' is too exclusive for this purpose, since it ignores or excludes countless other Kenyans who were neither on one side or the other during the conflict, or were ostensibly on the opposite side.

The history of the Maasai moves, land alienation and resistance in colonial British East Africa. ... more The history of the Maasai moves, land alienation and resistance in colonial British East Africa. In 1904, in order to make way for white settlers in what was to become Kenya, the Maasai were forcibly moved into two reserves, robbing them of the best part of their land in British East Africa. Using unique oral testimony and archival evidence, this book tells the true story behind the making of the 'White Highlands', and the repercussions of these events to the present day.

Managing Heritage, Making Peace

Journal of Eastern African Studies

ABSTRACT Geothermal development in Kenya’s Rift Valley will reap enormous energy benefits for the... more ABSTRACT Geothermal development in Kenya’s Rift Valley will reap enormous energy benefits for the nation as a whole. But its impacts upon local communities, in this case in the Ol Karia area of Nakuru County, are often negative, and geothermal expansion has led to many divisions and conflicts over equitable resource use, environmental degradation, health impacts on humans and animals, forced resettlement, access to benefits including jobs, houses and profit sharing, human and land rights, and community representation vis-á-vis the geothermal companies. Many questions have been raised about the role of the state and international financial institutions (IFIs). Accusations abound at grassroots level of nepotism, corruption and discrimination, and some indigenous residents accuse the majority Maasai of doubly marginalising them in the scramble for rights and benefits. Against a background of historical continuities, land injustices, and global struggles for indigenous and marginalised peoples’ rights, this article examines the conflicts and complexities surrounding geothermal development at Ol Karia and its environs, and describes how people on the ground see the prospects for future peaceful co-existence with extractive industry on their lands.

LIAS Working Paper Series

Alternative Rites of Passage (ARP) are a relatively recent invention, and a key element in female... more Alternative Rites of Passage (ARP) are a relatively recent invention, and a key element in female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) abandonment strategies organised by NGOs in some regions of Africa, particularly East Africa. They aim to replicate traditional initiation rituals for pubescent girls who are transitioning to womanhood, but without FGM/C. This paper briefly describes the genesis of ARP in Kenya since 1996, and discusses its significance as a hybridised cultural assemblage that forms part of new cultural and relational processes. It emphasises the importance of examining the deep context in which ARP takes place, including the traditional ritual that it aims to replace. The paper identifies lacunae in the literature, and potential lines of enquiry for future research. The Appendix includes summaries of a selection of the literature on ARP.

LIAS Working Paper 1, University of Leicester, 2018

This paper emerged from a workshop on Alternative Rites of Passage (ARP) for scholars, students a... more This paper emerged from a workshop on Alternative Rites of Passage (ARP) for scholars, students and practitioners at the Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Leicester, in March 2018. ARP is an invented ritual that is part of campaigns aimed at ending FGM/C (female genital mutilation/cutting), especially in Kenya and other parts of East Africa. As stated above, for some reason the names of four other co-authors are not showing - Damaris Parsitau, Mark Lamont, Grace Wamue Ngare and Peter Nguura.

African Studies Review, 2009

African Studies, 2011

African Affairs, 2005

Africa, 2008

Conservation and Society, 2007

For guidance on citations see FAQs.

Pastoralism

Managing Heritage, Making Peace

Journal of Eastern African Studies

LIAS Working Paper Series

LIAS Working Paper 1, University of Leicester, 2018

, 2022

, like many Kenyans, I made my way to my local voting station, and cast my vote in the country's ... more , like many Kenyans, I made my way to my local voting station, and cast my vote in the country's second general elections under the 2010 Constitution. Not because I was assured about the integrity of my vote, but I hoped that it mattered. This was, once again, occurring in a polarized, charged, and oft chaotic and violent context. Prior to this event, there had been a raft of changes made to the electoral law, through the legislature and the judiciary. However, as was evidenced by the aftermath of the general election day, those changes once again did not have the desired effect. The events that followed that election day, related to the position of president, can be interpreted in different ways. These were the nullification of the presidential election results, calling fresh presidential elections, boycott of the fresh elections by the leading opposition party, the months of mass protests that followed, and finally the political settlement in the name of 'Building Bridges Initiative to a New Kenya' (BBI). Some will say the nullification of the presidential elections results signifies that the Constitution is working, that the Supreme Court did exactly what it was set up to do in terms of settlement of political disputes. Others will say the decision was a terrible indictment of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC): that after material and skills investment, we still do not have a properly functioning electoral body. Others still will say that we can't blame IEBC, that it was set up to fail, there must be an enabling political and social environment for IEBC to succeed and that was not there in 2013 and 2017. Therefore others will say that the lack of an enabling political environment to ensure the proper working of the IEBC and indeed other institutions involved in ensuring a free and fair elections is a failing of Chapter 6 of the Constitution. That the Leadership and Integrity Chapter failed to provide us with leaders with the correct moral and professional aptitude to shepherd the growth of a new republic. And ultimately others will say that the 2010 Constitution still does not enable Kenya to change government regimes peacefully, hence the extra-constitutional xiv Ten Years On: Assessing the Achievements of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 political settlement, BBI. BBI provides fresh challenges to Kenya's democratic order. One thing this settlement did was to kill the official opposition, weakening the ability of Parliament to hold the executive accountable for use of public power. The above descriptor is provided for illustrative purposes in the sense that such an analysis is true for almost every chapter of the Constitution, if not all. We see progress in some areas and clawbacks in some. So that the full picture is of an incomplete transition process from the old order to what Kenyans hoped would be the new order. The 2010 Constitution provided a general roadmap for its implementation in its Fifth Schedule. It was anticipated that the full raft of laws and institutions to ensure effective working of the Constitution would be passed at most within 6 years of its adoption. The Constitution mandated the creation of institutions to assist in a successful transition, such as the Transition Authority (under the Transition to Devolved Government Act, 2012), and the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (established under the Constitution and a 2010 Act). Both these commissions wound up within 5 years of the passing of the Constitution and their final reports provide an assessment resembling that in this book-that of an incomplete transition. At the time of publication of this book, it is 11 years since the adoption of the 2010 Constitution. During the 11 years of its existence, there have been about 12 attempts to amend several provisions of the Constitution, mostly as it relates to powers and privileges of members of Parliament. Within that time there have also been 3 attempts to amend the Constitution by popular initiative, the Okoa Kenya initiative led by the leader of the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy, Hon. Raila Odinga, in 2016, the Punguza Mizigo Initiative, by the Thirdway Alliance Kenya leader Dr. Ekuru Okot, in 2019, and the BBI initiative (2020) led by President Uhuru Kenyatta and Hon. Raila Odinga, following their political settlement in 2018. The last represents the most serious attempt to amend the Constitution. These political actors have maintained that Kenya is in another constitutional moment and it is time we looked at amending our Constitution. Whether or not the political context in Kenya from 2018 to date, 2021, was amenable to an honest and fact based assessment of the need to amend the Constitution is a discussion for another day. Whereas there is no benchmark or best practice on when to amend a constitution, in its over 200 years history, the American Constitution has only been amended about 27 times. There may be value in stating that a sufficient amount of time must elapse between the passage xv Foreword of the constitution and any proposal to change it. Within that time there will have been generation of evidence to indicate what works best and what doesn't and thus has to be changed somewhat. Well, it's been 11 years now and, against the background of calls to amend the Constitution, Katiba Institute felt it would be worthwhile to have an analysis of where Kenya is in the process of implementation of its constitution. As has been noted in the Preface, this process began in 2018, not only to inform the discussion on the need for evidence based amendments to the Constitution, but also to inform the push to full implementation of the Constitution. This study offers just a snapshot of the possibilities of such an assessment; a more thorough assessment of such nature would need to be carried out in any officially sponsored and financed process, involving effective public participation. Hopefully such a process would lead to the establishment of a new schedule to full implementation of the constitution. Only such a framework, and its effective management, would lead to realisation of the ideals, values, principles and standards of governance, and human rights fulfilments contained in the 2010 Constitution; And to forestall future extra-constitutional agreements to settle leadership disputes, and destruction such as they have wrought to Kenya's economy and the psyche of Kenyans. The truth is that until the Constitution as it is now has been properly implemented Kenyans will not really understand what it says and what its potential is, nor whether it really needs amendment. Katiba Institute extends its gratitude to the authors of the various chapters of this book, for their time and effort, and patience, in its development and to the Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa for their financial support in publishing it.