Hostname: page-component-5cf477f64f-zrtmk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-03-27T08:29:01.364Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

East African Pastoralism in Transition: Maasai, Boran, and Rendille Cases

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Elliot Fratkin
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Pastoralist societies in East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda) face more demands on their way of life than at any previous time. Population growth, loss of herding lands to farmers, ranchers, game parks, and urban growth, increased commoditization of the livestock economy, out-migration by poor pastoralists, and dislocations brought about by drought, famine, and civil war are increasing throughout the region. These problems are intensified as international development programs encourage privatization and individuation of formerly communally held resources. The examples of the Maasai, Boran, and Rendille of Kenya demonstrate that East African pastoralists are responding to the social, political, and economic challenges with increased economic diversification including agro-pastoralism, wage labor, and increased market integration. These changes result in increased social and economic stratification, urban migration, and diminished nutrition for women and children.

Type
Articles
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 44 , Issue 3 , December 2001 , pp. 1 - 25
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ball, Michael. 1997. Trouble in Eden as the Maasai Feel Double-Crossed, www.gemininewservice.com, 04 15, 1997.Google Scholar
Baxter, Paul T. W. 1993. “The ‘New’ East African Pastoralism: An Overview.” In Conflict and the Decline of Pastoralism in the Horn of Africa, ed. Markakis, J., 143–62. London: MacMillan Press.Google Scholar
Brockington, Daniel. 1999. “Conservation, Displacement, and Livelihoods: The Consequences of Eviction for Pastoralists Moved from the Mkomazi Game Reserve, Tanzania.” Nomadic Peoples (NS) 3 (2): 74–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brokensha, David W., and Little, Peter D., eds. 1988. Anthropology of Development and Change in East Africa. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Campbell, David J. 1993. “Land as Ours, Land as Mine: Economic, Political and Ecological Marginalization in Kajiado District.” In Spear, T. and Waller, R., eds., Being Maasai: Ethnicity and Identity in East Africa, 258–72. London: James Curry.Google Scholar
Coppock, D. Layne. 1993. The Borana Plateau of Southern Ethiopia: Synthesis of Pastoral Research, Development and Change, 1980–91. Addis Ababa: International Livestock Centre for Africa.Google Scholar
Coughenour, M. B., et al 1985. “Energy Extraction and Use in a Nomadic Pastoral Ecosystem.” Science 230: 619–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daily Nation. 1999. “Ethnic Tensions Worry Leaders.” 07 27, 1999, Nairobi.Google Scholar
Dyson-Hudson, Neville. 1991. “Pastoral Production Systems and Livestock Development Projects: An East African Perspective.” In Putting People First: Sociological Variables in Rural Development, ed. Cernea, M. M., 219–56. New York: The World Bank, Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ellis, James, and Swift, D.. 1988. “Stability of African Pastoral Ecosystems: Alternate Paradigms and Implications for Development.” Journal of Range Management 41(6): 450–59.Google Scholar
Fratkin, Elliot. 1991. Surviving Drought and Development: Ariaal Pastoralists of Northern Kenya. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Fratkin, Elliot. 1992. “Drought and Development in Marsabit District.” Disasters 16 (2): 119–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fratkin, Elliot. 1997. “Pastoralism: Governance and Development Issues.” Annual Review of Anthropology 26: 235–61.Google Scholar
Fratkin, Elliot. 1998. Ariaal Pastoralists of Northern Kenya: Surviving Drought and Development in Africa's Arid Lands. Cultural Survival Studies in Ethnicity and Change. Needham Heights, Mass.: Allyn and Bacon.Google Scholar
Fratkin, Elliot M., Roth, Eric A., and Nathan, Martha A.. 1999. “When Nomads Settle: The Effects of Commoditization, Nutritional Change, and Formal Education among Ariaal Rendille Pastoralists of Kenya” Current Anthropology 40 (5): 729–35.Google Scholar
Galaty, John G. 1992. “‘This Land is Yours’: Social and Economic Factors in the Privatization, Subdivision and Sale of Maasai Ranches.” Nomadic Peoples 30: 26–40.Google Scholar
Galaty, John G.. 1994. “Rangeland Tenure and Pastoralism in Africa.” In Fratkin, E., Galvin, K., and Roth, E. A., eds., African Pastoralist Systems, 185–204. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Galaty, John G., and Johnson, Douglas L., eds. 1990. The World of Pastoralism. New York: The Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Galvin, Kathleen A. 1992. “Nutritional Ecology of Pastoralists in Dry Tropical Africa.” American Journal of Human Biology 4: 209–21.Google Scholar
Galvin, Kathleen, Coppock, D. Layne, and Leslie, Paul W.. 1994. “Diet, Nutrition, and the Pastoral Strategy.” In Fratkin, E., Galvin, K., and Roth, E. A., eds., African Pastoralist Systems, 113–32. Boulder, Colo: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Glantz, Michael H., ed. 1987. Drought and Hunger in Africa: Denying Famine a Future. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Goldschmidt, Walter. 1981. “The Failure of Pastoral Economic Development Programs in Africa.” In Galaty, J.et al, eds., The Future of Pastoral Peoples, 101–18. Ottawa: International Development Research Centre.Google Scholar
Hardin, Garrett. 1968. “The Tragedy of the Commons.” Science 162: 1243–48Google Scholar
Hjort, Anders. 1979. Savanna Town: Rural Ties and Urban Opportunities in Northern Kenya. Stockholm Studies in Social Anthropology, vol. 7. Stockholm: University of Stockholm.Google Scholar
Hodgson, Dorothy. 1999. “Images and Interventions: The Problems of Pastoralist Development.” In Anderson, D. and Broch-Due, V., eds., “The Poor Are Not Us”: Poverty And Pastoralism In East Africa, 221–39. London: James Currey.Google Scholar
Hodgson, Dorothy. 2001. Once Intrepid Warriors: Gender, Ethnicity, and the Cultural Politics of Maasai Development. Bloomington: Indiana University PressGoogle Scholar
Hogg, Richard. 1986. “The New Pastoralism: Poverty and Dependency in N. Kenya”. Africa 56 (3): 319–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hogg, Richard. 1990. “The Politics of Changing Property Rights among Isiolo Boran Pastoralists of Northern Kenya.” In Baxter, P. T. W. and Hogg, R., eds., Property, Poverty, and People: Changing Rights in Property and Problems of Pastoral Development, 20–31. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Hogg, Richard. 1992. “Should Pastoralism Continue as a Way of Life?” Disasters 16:131–37.Google Scholar
Homewood, Kathleen M. 1992 “Development and the Ecology of Maasai Pastoralist Food and Nutrition.” Ecology of Food and Nutrition 29: 61–80Google Scholar
Homewood, Kathleen M.. 1995. “Development, Demarcation and Ecological Outcomes in Maasailand.” Africa 65(3): 331–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Homewood, Kathleen, and Rodgers, William A.. 1987. “Pastoralism, Conservation and the Overgrazing Controversy.” In Anderson, D. and Grove, R., eds., Conservation in Africa: People, Policies and Practice, 111–28. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Jahnke, H. 1982. Livestock Production Systems and Livestock Development in Tropical Africa. Kiel: Kieler Wissenschaftsverlag Vauk.Google Scholar
Lane, Charles. 1996. Pastures Lost: Barabaig Economy, Resource Tenure, and the Alienation of their Land in Tanzania. Nairobi: Initiatives Publishers.Google Scholar
Little, Michael A., and Leslie, Paul W., eds. 1997. Turkana Pastoral Nomads: Biobehavioral and Ecological Conditions of their Lives. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Little, Peter D. 1987. “Land Use Conflicts in the Agricultural/Pastoral Borderlands: The Case of Kenya.” In Lands at Risk in the Third World, ed. Litde, P. D. and Horowitz, M. M.. Boulder: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Little, Peter D.. 1992. The Elusive Granary: Herder, Farmer, and State in Northern Kenya. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Little, Peter D. 1994. “The Social Context of Land Degradation (‘Desertification’) in Dry Regions.” In Population and Environment: Rethinking the Debate, ed. Arizpe, L., Stone, M. P., Major, D. C., 209–51. Boulder: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Maa Development Association. 1996. http://www.web.apc.org/~econews/enav3n18.txtGoogle Scholar
McCabe, J. Terrence, Perkin, S., and Schofield, S.. 1992. “Can Conservation and Development Be Coupled among Pastoral People? An Examination of the Maasai of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania.” Human Organization 51 (4): 353–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nathan, Martha A., Fratkin, Elliot, and Roth, Eric A.. 1996. “Sedentism and Child Health among Rendille Pastoralists of Northern Kenya.” Social Science and Medicine 43 (4): 503–15.Google Scholar
Oba, Gufu. 1990. “Changing Property Rights among Settling Pastoralists: An Adaptive Strategy to Declining Pastoral Resources. In Baxter, Paul T. W., ed., Property, Poverty, and People: Changing Rights in Property and Problems of Pastoral Development, 38–44. Manchester: Manchester University, Department of Social Anthropology and International Development Center.Google Scholar
O'Leary, Michael F. 1990. “Drought and Change amongst Northern Kenya Nomadic Pastoralists: The Case of Rendille and Gabra.” In Palsson, G., ed., From Water to World-Making: African Models in Arid Lands, 151–74. Uppsala: The Scandinavian Institute of African Studies.Google Scholar
Population Reference Bureau. 2000. World Population Data Sheet. Washington, D.C.: Population Reference Bureau, http://www.worldpop.org/prbdata.htm.Google Scholar
Schlee, Günther. 1989. Identities on the Move: Clanship and Pastoralism in Northern Kenya. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Schlee, Günther. 1990. “Holy Grounds.” In Property, Poverty, and People, ed. Baxter, P. T. W. and Hogg, R., 45–54. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Scoones, Ian. 1994. Living with Uncertainty: New Directions in Pastoral Development in Africa. London: Intermediate Technology Publications.Google Scholar
Sellen, Daniel W. 1996 “Nutritional Status of Sub-Saharan African Pastoralists: A Review of the Literature”. Nomadic Peoples 39: 107–34.Google Scholar
Shiyji, Issa G., and Kapinga, Wilbert B.. 1998. Maasai Rights in Ngorongoro, Tanzania. London: International Institute for Environment and Development.Google Scholar
Simpson, James R., and Sullivan, George M.. 1984. “Planning for Institutional Change in Utilization of Sub-Saharan Africa's Common Property Range Resources.” African Studies Review 27 (4): 61–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Kevin. 1998. “Sedentarization and Market Integration: New Opportunities for Rendille and Ariaal Women of Northern Kenya.” Human Organization 57 (4): 459–68.Google Scholar
Sobania, Neal. 1988. “Pastoralist Migration and Colonial Policy: A Case Study from Northern Kenya.” In Johnson, D. and Anderson, D., eds., The Ecology of Survival: Case Studies from Northeastern African History, 219–39. London: Crook Greene.Google Scholar
Spear, Thomas. 1997. Mountain Farmers: Moral Economies of Land and Agricultural Development in Arusha and Meru. London: James Currey Publishers.Google Scholar
Spear, Thomas, and Waller, Richard, eds. 1993. Being Maasai: Ethnicity and Identity in East Africa. London: James Currey.Google Scholar
Spencer, Paul. 1973. Nomads in Alliance. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Spencer, Paul. 1998. The Pastoral Continuum: The Marginalization of Tradition in East Africa. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steen, E. 1994. “Drylands of the Third World: Potential for Future Development.” Ambio 23 (7): 458–60.Google Scholar
Swift, Jeremy. 1991. “Local Customary Institutions as the Basis for Natural Resource Management among Boran Pastoralists in Northern Kenya.” Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex. IDS Bulletin 22 (4): 34–37.Google Scholar
Talle, Aud. 1988. Women at a Loss: Changes in Maasai Pastoralism and Their Effects on Gender Relations. Stockholm Studies in Social Anthropology, vol. 19. Stockholm: Department of Social Anthropology, University of Stockholm.Google Scholar
Waller, Richard. 1985. “Ecology, Migration and Expansion in East Africa.” African Affairs 84: 347–70.Google Scholar
Western, David. 1994. “Ecosystem Conservation and Rural Development: The Case of Amboseli.” In Western, D. and Wright, R. M., eds., Natural Connections: Perspectives in Community-Based Conservation. Washington, D.C.: Island Press.Google Scholar
World Health Organization. 1983. Measuring Change in Nutritional Status. Geneva: World Health Organization.Google Scholar
Zaal, Fred, and Dietz, Ton. 1999. “Of Markets, Maize, and Milk: Pastoral Commoditization in Kenya.” In Anderson, D. M. and Broch-Due, V., eds., The Poor Are Not Us: Poverty and Pastoralism in Eastern Africa, 163–98. Oxford: James Currey.Google Scholar