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A University of Sussex PhD thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details 1 Pastoralism in the shadow of a windfarm: an ethnography of people, places and belonging in northern Kenya James Drew Submitted for Doctor of Philosophy in Geography University of Sussex June 2017 2 I hereby declare that this thesis has not been, and will not be, submitted in whole or in part to another University for the award of any other degree. Signature 3 UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX JAMES DREW THESIS SUBMITTED FOR DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN GEOGRAPHY PASTORALISM IN THE SHADOW OF A WINDFARM: AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF PEOPLE, PLACES AND BELONGING IN NORTHERN KENYA SUMMARY This thesis develops an ethnographic approach that draws upon multispecies ethnography to provide insights into the lives of people living to the south and east of Lake Turkana. The thesis is based upon twenty-two months of fieldwork with Samburu, Rendile and Turkana communities in Samburu and Marsabit Counties. However, most time was spent with a community of Samburu pastoralists living at Mt Nyiro. Information was gathered during fieldwork through participant observation and various types of interviews. Through engagement with people’s perspectives, analyses, and where possible their cosmologies, the thesis provides insights into the ways historical context, (‘timeless’ notions of) identities, belonging and custodianship are inter-connected, emerge and are contested as a part of people’s lives and changing relationships (including violence) within and between communities, the state and investment companies - in an arena of political reforms, patronage networks and perceived rights to benefit from recent large-scale investments. The large amount of time spent with one Samburu pastoralist community at Mt Nyiro enabled me to gain insights into the ways their lives are entwined with the landscapes that they and their livestock live in and shape, through networks of relations and the associated cosmological ways of lkerreti, in which humans and non-humans (including ‘supernatural’ entities) are inter- dependent agents. The thesis exemplifies how these lived entanglements are a part of and inform this community’s ‘timeless truths’ relating to past and present lineage, ethnicity, belonging and custodianship. Also shown are the ways these ‘timeless’ portrayals and associated cosmologies emerge through contestations with, and analyses of, others’ portrayals of lineage, ethnicity, belonging and custodianship, and how these are forwarded as a part of, emerge from and inform patronage politics and contested ‘rights’ to benefit from investments. The thesis demonstrates how changing relationships between people living within the Samburu community at Nyiro and between people of this and other communities, in light of political and economic changes, can also only be understood as a part of people’s entanglements with humans and non-humans, and the associated cosmological ways of lkerreti. 4 Contents List of figures ........................................................................................................................ 7 List of maps .......................................................................................................................... 9 List of tables ......................................................................................................................... 9 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................. 10 Chapter 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 14 Chapter 2. Literature review: pastoral ethnicity, conflict and investments in sub-Saharan drylands ................................................................................................................... 20 2.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 20 2.2 Sub-Saharan pastoral ethnicity and belonging ................................................. 20 2.2.1 Introduction ...................................................................................... 20 2.2.2 Ethnicity and belonging in colonial and post-colonial African states .......................................................................................................... 21 2.2.3 Construction, negotiation and contestation of ethnicity and belonging in northern Kenya since multiparty-ism .................................... 25 2.2.4 Embodied ways of engaging with people and place: from lived to symbolic ................................................................................27 2.2.5 An alternative, emic analysis ............................................................. 29 2.3 Investments and development in sub-Saharan pastoralist drylands ................ 30 2.3.1 Introduction ...................................................................................... 30 2.3.2 New ecology: highlighting ‘inappropriate’ development and misunderstandings of pastoralism ............................................................. 30 2.3.3 Investments, territorialised ethnicity and patronage politics ........... 34 2.3.4 The ontological turn .......................................................................... 38 2.3.5 Multispecies ethnography ................................................................. 41 2.3.6 Ethnographic approach to analysis of investments among Samburu pastoralists of northern Kenya ................................................... 44 2.3.7 Studies of Samburu pastoralism ....................................................... 46 2.4 Sub-Saharan pastoral conflict ........................................................................... 48 2.5 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 54 Chapter 3. Methodology ...................................................................................................... 55 3.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 55 3.2 Fieldwork ........................................................................................................... 55 3.2.1 An introduction to Flat Rock ............................................................. 55 3.2.2 Other fieldwork locations ………………………………………………………........ 59 3.2.3 Fieldwork in Flat Rock …………………………………………………………………... 61 3.2.4 Fieldwork beyond Flat Rock .............................................................. 66 3.2.5 Secondary information ...................................................................... 70 5 3.3 Ethics ................................................................................................................. 70 3.4 Writing the thesis .............................................................................................. 72 Chapter 4. Livestock herding in Flat Rock ............................................................................ 75 4.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 75 4.2 Livestock liking places ....................................................................................... 76 4.3 Following the rains in search of fodder and water ........................................... 77 4.4 Wild animals ‘making’ places ............................................................................ 79 4.5 Mineral-water and licks .................................................................................... 81 4.6 Types of grass .................................................................................................... 83 4.7 Places made by Nkai, rain ................................................................................. 84 4.8 Places that are ‘good’ ........................................................................................ 85 4.9 Places that are ‘bad’ .......................................................................................... 89 4.10 People (‘via’ Nkai) making places ‘good’ ......................................................... 90 4.11 Livestock ‘knowing’ good and bad places ....................................................... 92 4.12 A deeper analysis of livestock ‘signs’ .............................................................. 92 4.13 Less grass, more shrubs .................................................................................. 95 4.14 Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 103 Chapter 5. Belonging in a more-than-human world ............................................................ 108 5.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 108 5.2 Custodianship and belonging to lineage land ..................................................