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Millennium City Entrepreneurs Millennium City Entrepreneurs An Anthropological Study of Entrepreneurship in Western Kenya Fredrik Roe Bøe Thesis submitted to the Department of Social Anthropology UNIVERSITETET I OSLO Spring 2010 2 Abstract This thesis is based on a six month long anthropological fieldwork amongst the Luo in the western Kenyan city of Kisumu. It explores the activities of entrepreneurs who try to capitalize on the expansion of the city’s airport. The airport is currently being upgraded to attain international status. The airport upgrade will expectedly bring more western tourists, researchers, aid workers and others to the region. This region of Kenya have for years been marginalized and cut off from access to state resources since the late sixties. The Luos have for decades been associated with oppositional politics. An important objective for this thesis is to explore how past and present developments on the national political arena have great impact on the strategies and actions chosen by the entrepreneurs. The consequences of the Kenyan General Election of 2007, its ensuing violence and the swearing in of the ultimate Luo leader, Raila Odinga, as Prime Minister are particularly relevant. Through empirical evidence I show how the entrepreneurs focus their time, energy and money on activities aimed at gaining access to state and foreign capital. 3 4 Table of Contents Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... 3 Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 11 Theorizing Entrepreneurship .......................................................................................... 13 Place and History .............................................................................................................. 16 Kisumu ............................................................................................................................ 16 Usoma ............................................................................................................................. 19 The Airport Saga ............................................................................................................ 20 Kenya’s Vision 2030 .......................................................................................................... 22 Methodological Reflections .............................................................................................. 24 Participant Observation ................................................................................................ 25 Newspapers .................................................................................................................... 26 Anonymity...................................................................................................................... 27 My Role ........................................................................................................................... 27 Outlining of the Thesis ..................................................................................................... 28 Chapter 2: The Luos of Kenya ............................................................................................ 29 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 29 The Decline of the Luo? .................................................................................................... 29 Odingaism .......................................................................................................................... 31 5 Inventing Traditions ......................................................................................................... 32 The Luo Union ................................................................................................................... 34 Ofafa Memorial Hall ..................................................................................................... 37 Crony Capitalism............................................................................................................... 39 The Death of a Minister ................................................................................................ 40 The Molasses Plant ........................................................................................................ 41 More Land grabbing?.................................................................................................... 43 The Rise of the Luos? ........................................................................................................ 44 The Inauguration Day ................................................................................................... 45 Concluding Remarks ........................................................................................................ 47 Chapter 3: The New Generation ........................................................................................ 49 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 49 Being an Entrepreneur ...................................................................................................... 50 Entrepreneurship in Luoland .......................................................................................... 51 Ben ....................................................................................................................................... 52 Siaya .................................................................................................................................... 55 We are Modern .................................................................................................................. 57 The New Generation ......................................................................................................... 58 Breaking with the Past ...................................................................................................... 61 6 The Entrepreneurial Self-image .................................................................................. 62 For the Public Good? ..................................................................................................... 64 Concluding Remarks ........................................................................................................ 64 Chapter 4: The Opportunist................................................................................................ 67 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 67 What will Raila do? ........................................................................................................... 70 Rising to the Occasion ....................................................................................................... 71 The Hilton of Homestay’s ................................................................................................ 74 A Different Prospect .......................................................................................................... 77 Financial Difficulties ......................................................................................................... 78 In Search for a Partner ...................................................................................................... 79 A Cultural Broker .............................................................................................................. 80 Concluding Remarks ........................................................................................................ 81 Chapter 5: The Broker .......................................................................................................... 83 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 83 Dixon ................................................................................................................................... 83 Mediatory Position ............................................................................................................ 85 Chasing Away the Spirits ................................................................................................. 86 Why Ask the Ancestors to Leave? .............................................................................. 89 7 Interethnic Network .......................................................................................................... 90 So what do you Intend to Do? ......................................................................................... 91 Madaraka Day ................................................................................................................ 92 Concluding Remarks ........................................................................................................ 95 Chapter 6: An Entrepreneur and his Community .......................................................... 97 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 97 The Kogony Clan ............................................................................................................... 99 Myth of Genesis ..........................................................................................................
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