Struggles over belonging: insecurity, inequality and the cultural politics of property at Enoosupukia, Kenya Scott Evan Matter Department of Anthropology McGill University, Montreal September 2010 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy © 2010 Scott Evan Matter Matter, PhD Thesis iii Abstract In the formerly forested highlands overlooking Kenya's Rift Valley from the boundary of Narok District, rights in land are highly contested. Disputes revolve around a central question: who belongs at Enoosupukia and to whom does Enoosupukia belong? For a core community who call this place their ancestral home, uncertainty about the answer translates to a pervasive sense of insecurity and hardship; faced with a diverse array of competing claims from a constellation of actors, including non-local members of several ethnic and sub-ethnic collectivities as well as local and central branches of the Kenyan state, residents of Enoosupukia seek to alleviate their problems by negotiating recognition of their claims to belonging. In so doing, they deploy a variety of strategies, from lobbying for the completion of land registration and titling to forging and maintaining connections with appointed and elected officials who can act as patrons and protect them from unfavourable interventions. While these strategies have resulted in limited success thus far and locals currently enjoy the ability to occupy and make use of the land they claim as their own, though not necessarily in all the ways they would like to, their continued presence in the highlands is tenuous, subject to frequent challenges, and contingent upon constant negotiation. This thesis is organized around a modified version of the intensely political central question of belonging at Enoosupukia; rather than evaluating claims and claimants to determine who belongs and to whom the place belongs, I ask how belonging is negotiated and contested, through what practices and according to which principles. Further, I ask whether and how recognition and legitimacy of particular claims, if only fleeting, are established. Taking neither insecurity nor inequality to be inherent, I examine how they have been historically produced and continue to be socially reproduced via conflict and compromise. Moreover, I explore the ways in which insecurity and inequality converge in the cultural politics of property when not only specific claims and practices with respect to the occupation, use, and ownership of land but also the cultural and political logics underpinning those claims and practices are contested. Given that struggles over belonging are ongoing, I do not identify ultimate winners and losers in this thesis; however, I do point to the ways in which uncertainty perpetuates advantage and disadvantage for different actors, reproducing insecurity and hardship for some while directing benefits, even if not permanent ones, to others. iv Matter, PhD Thesis Résumé Dans les hautes terres du Kenya donnant sur la Vallée du Rift à la frontière du District de Narok, les droits à la terre sont fortement contestés. Les disputes tournent autour d’une question centrale: qui appartient à Enoosupukia et à qui appartient Enoosupukia? Pour le noyau communautaire qui le considère son chez-soi, l’incertitude face à ces questions génère un sentiment d’insécurité. Confrontés à des revendications concurrentes de divers acteurs, incluant des membres « non-locaux » de collectivités ethniques et sous-ethniques, ainsi que les branches locales et centrales de l’État kényan, les résidents d’Enoosupukia cherchent à négocier la reconnaissance de leur appartenance. Ce faisant, ils déploient une variété de stratégies, incluant du lobbying pour l'engregistrement des titres fonciers, et l’établissement de liens avec les fonctionnaires ou les élus qui peuvent les protéger contre des interventions défavorables. Bien que ces stratégies eurent un succès limité et que les habitants continuent d’occuper et d’exploiter « leur » terre, leur présence continuelle reste précaire, soumise à de fréquents défis, et dépendante de négociations constantes. Cette thèse s’articule autour d’une version modifiée de la question politique concernant l’appartenance à Enoosupukia. Au lieu d’évaluer les requêtes et les requérants pour déterminer qui appartient et à qui appartient ces terres, je demande comment l’appartenance est négociée et contestée, à travers quelles pratiques et selon quels principes? Est-ce que la reconnaissance et la légitimité des revendications, mêmes temporaires, sont établies et comment le sont-elles? J’examine comment l’insécurité et l’inégalité sont historiquement produites et comment elles sont socialement reproduites par l’entremise du conflit et du compromis. J’explore comment l’insécurité et l’inégalité qui se retrouvent dans les politiques culturelles de la propriété sont contestées, que ce soit concernant l’occupation, l’usage et la possession de la terre, ou les logiques culturelle et politique sous-jacentes à ces revendications. Les grands gagnants ou perdants ne sont pas identifiés dans cette thèse étant donné que les luttes d’appartenance sont toujours en cours; par contre, j’indique les manières dont l’incertitude perpétue les avantages et les désavantages pour une variété d’acteurs, perpétuant l’insécurité et les difficultés pour certains alors que d’autres en tirent des bénéfices temporaires. Matter, PhD Thesis v Table of Contents Abstract............................................................................................................................iii Résumé............................................................................................................................iv Table of Contents..............................................................................................................v Preface.............................................................................................................................ix Background....................................................................................................xi Methods.......................................................................................................xiii Acknowledgements....................................................................................xviii Chapter 1 Insecurity, inequality, and the cultural politics of property.............................................3 Negotiating property.....................................................................................14 Encountering governmentality, encompassing locality..................................21 Manipulating uncertainty, securing connection.............................................28 Outline of the thesis......................................................................................35 Chapter 2 Ethnicity, inequality, and the colonial encounter.........................................................39 Social and spatial relations in the pre-colonial Rift Valley.............................44 Establishing “indirect rule”............................................................................67 Reproducing territorial tensions....................................................................88 Chapter 3 The title deed as shield: land adjudication and tenure transformation........................91 The problematization of African “customary” land tenure..............................96 Land adjudication and tenure transformation at Enoosupukia....................127 Waiting for closure......................................................................................145 vi Matter, PhD Thesis Chapter 4 Clashing claims: transactions, belonging, and conflict..............................................147 Tenure reform and land control...................................................................150 Politics and belonging: interpenetration and ethnic-particularism in Narok. 161 Recounting transactions.............................................................................186 Legacies of conflict: negotiating embeddedness........................................201 Chapter 5 Appropriating and interpreting conservation: political forestry and forest politics......207 From political forestry to forest politics .......................................................212 Interpreting conservation and challenging evictions...................................232 Contesting use, occupation, and ownership...............................................246 Political forestry beyond patrimonial politics...............................................258 Chapter 6 “We have no leaders:” negotiating patronage from below........................................261 The patronage state in Kenya.....................................................................267 Negotiating connection from below.............................................................289 Reproducing patronage..............................................................................313 Chapter 7 Conclusion: struggles over belonging.......................................................................317 Appendix Transaction documents............................................................................................333 Works Cited..................................................................................................................339 Matter, PhD Thesis vii Location of Enoosupukia in Kenya Preface In the process of carrying out anthropological fieldwork,