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African Studies Collection 63 an Ethnography of the World of Thean Ethnography World Marlous van den Akker African Studies Collection 63 Monument of Monument of nature? Monument of nature? nature? Monument of nature? an ethnography of the World Heritage of Mt. Kenya an ethnography of the World an ethnography of the World examines the World Heritage status of Mt. Kenya, an alpine area located in Central Kenya. In 1997 Mt. Kenya joined the World Heritage List due to Heritage of Mt. Kenya its extraordinary ecological and geological features. Nearly fifteen years later, Mt. Kenya World Heritage Site expanded to incorporate a wildlife conservancy bordering the mountain in the north. Heritage of Mt. Kenya Both Mt. Kenya’s original World Heritage designation and later adjustments were founded on, and exclusively formulated in, natural scientific language. This volume argues that this was an effect not only of the innate qualities of Mt. Kenya’s landscape, but also of a range of conditions that shaped the World Heritage nomination and modification processes. These include the World Heritage Convention’s rigid separation of natural and cultural heritages that reverberates in World Heritage’s bureaucratic apparatus; the ongoing competition between two government institutes over the management of Mt. Kenya that finds its origins in colonial forest and game laws; the particular composition of Kenya’s political arena in respectively the late 1990s and the early 2010s; and the precarious position of white inhabitants in post-colonial Kenya that translates into permanent fears for losing Marlous van den Akker property rights. Marlous van den Akker (1983) obtained a Master’s degree in cultural anthropology from the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology at Leiden University in 2009. The year after, she received funding from the Leiden Global Interactions Research Profile to write a dissertation on Mt. Kenya’s World Heritage status. For this project Marlous spent approximately one year in the vicinity of Mt. Kenya in a town called Nanyuki. She is currently a member of staff at the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology at Leiden University. Marlous van den Akker www.ascleiden.nl 63 African Studies Collection 63 Monument of nature? An ethnography of the World Heritage of Mt. Kenya 503514-L-bw-ASC Processed on: 9-6-2016 503514-L-bw-ASC Processed on: 9-6-2016 African Studies Centre African Studies Collection, vol. 63 Monument of nature? An ethnography of the World Heritage of Mt. Kenya Marlous van den Akker 503514-L-bw-ASC Processed on: 9-6-2016 The research presented in this dissertation was financially supported by the Leiden Global Interactions Research Profile and the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology at Leiden University. Published by: African Studies Centre Leiden P.O. Box 9555 2300 RB Leiden The Netherlands [email protected] http://www.ascleiden.nl Cover design: Heike Slingerland Cover photo: Mt. Kenya from Mukima, a housing estate just outside Nanyuki town Photo: Marlous van den Akker Maps: Nel de Vink (DeVink Mapdesign) Printed by Ipskamp Printing, Enschede ISSN: 1876-018x ISBN: 978-90-5448-153-9 © Marlous van den Akker, 2016 503514-L-bw-ASC Processed on: 9-6-2016 Contents Acknowledgements vii INTRODUCTION:DOING ETHNOGRAPHY ON MT.KENYA’S WORLD HERITAGE STATUS 1 ‘Following around’ Mt. Kenya World Heritage Site 3 Nanyuki, a hub of sorts 6 Informant engagements 8 1 THE RISE OF HERITAGE CONSERVATION:WORLD HERITAGE IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 12 World Heritage as collective ànd state-owned property 13 World Heritage and the failure to problematize ‘the state’ 17 Natural World Heritage is culture 20 World Heritage’s depoliticizing technical idiom 27 World Heritage as a contemporary fascination for the past 33 2BECOMING WORLD HERITAGE:THE ‘STATE PARTY’ BEHIND MT. KENYA’S 1997 WORLD HERITAGE LISTING 37 The 1996 application 38 A Game Department, a Forest Department, and the Royal National Parks 41 Former colonial offices turned into state corporations 48 KWS and Forest Department rivalry on Mt. Kenya 56 World Heritage consolidating colonial legacies 62 Mt. Kenya’s tussles over mandate after 1997 67 3APLACE OF NATURE:CULTURAL AND POLITICAL HISTORIES MARGINALIZED 76 Mt. Kenya, Kikuyu homeland 77 Mau Mau on Mt. Kenya 83 A new nation’s troubled past 90 Nature dominating cultural and political pasts 101 v 503514-L-bw-ASC Processed on: 9-6-2016 4WHITE PERILS:RACIAL STRUGGLES OVER LAND IN MT.KENYA’S SHADOW 106 White Highlands 107 From ranches to wildlife sanctuaries 112 Maasai grievances and legislative changes 123 A spectrum of white 131 Is Laikipia’s colour bar inescapable? 137 5MT.KENYA WORLD HERITAGE SITE REVISITED:ACONSERVANCY’S QUEST FOR PERPETUAL SAFEKEEPING 142 The making of a conservation titan 143 A devilish land sale? 152 A first attempt to become World Heritage 158 A former cattle ranch as World Heritage 166 A brand in the hands of elites 171 CONCLUSION:MONUMENT OF NATURE? 176 References 186 vi 503514-L-bw-ASC Processed on: 9-6-2016 Acknowledgements A great number of people inspired and contributed to this dissertation. To those whom are not listed below I emphasize that I have treasured each conversation, each debate, and each shared cup of coffee that came to pass in the course of this project. In the first place, I am indebted to the individuals who made my introduction to Kenya easier, and whose contacts and connections helped to smooth the first phase of this research. Among them have been Rachel Spronk, her Nairobian friend Janet and her family, Angela Kronenburg García, Adriaan Tas, Charles Nzioka, Eleanor Monbiot, and Paul Benson. I am particularly grateful to those who helped me gain access to Mt. Kenya’s conservation scene and who, apart from sharing with me their own insights and points of view, aided me in building networks of informants. Thank you Susie Weeks, Humphrey Munene, Anthony King †, Jonathan Moss and Robert Obrien. In alphabetical order, I thank George Abungu, Rashid Butt, Geoffrey Chege, Ian Craig, Martin Dyer, Michael Dyer, Flemming Dyhr †, Amos Egal, Shawn Evans, Gideon Gathaara, Ramesh Gathogo, Simon Gitau, Max Graham, Tim Hobbs, Peter Howard, Danson Kamau, Mercy Kendi, Edwin Kinyanjui, Oliver Kinyua, Julius Kipng’etich, Christian Lambrechts, Richard Leakey, Benson Lengalen, Dominic Maringa, James Mathenge, Gordon Murray, James Murray, Paul Muya, James Mwangi, John Mwangi, Margareth Mwangi, Robert Myall, Daniel Maina Ndoria, Solomon Maina Ndoria, Leo Niskanen, James Njogu, Karanja Njoroge, Maurice Nyaligu, Anthony Ochino, Mordecai Ogada, Charles Oluchina, Elizabeth Ouma, Edward Parfet, Deirdre Prins-Solani, John Sikote, Mark Simpkin, Malte Sommerlatte, Chris Thouless, Tom Traexler, Richard Vigne, Peter Viljoen, Ben Wandago, Hoseah Wanderi, Sammy Warigia, Satish Wason, Mike Watson, David Western, Charlie Wheeler, and Bongo Woodley. You, as well as others I have not mentioned by name, offered me your perspectives on Mt. Kenya’s World Heritage status and took the time to share your knowledge and experiences with me. I am extremely appreciative of this. I think warmly of Leiden University’s Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology. Over the years the institute has been a stimulating academic environment. In particular, I consider myself fortunate to have received the guidance of Peter Pels. His expertise, his encouragement, and his inspiring and meticulous comments on my writings have been of inestimable value to me. vii 503514-L-bw-ASC Processed on: 9-6-2016 I also cherish the solidarity and critical eye that fellow PhD candidates and other colleagues offered me. Thank you Erik Bähre, Andrea Cerda, Richard Fraser, Roos Gerritsen, Jan-Bart Gewald, Wendelmoet Hamelink, Zane Kripe, Sabine Luning, Carrie Nakamura, Maarten Onneweer, Khadija Outmany-Kadrouch, Christoph Rippe, and Annemarie Samuels. In addition, I am indebted to the Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies that invited me for a guest fellowship in July 2014, during which I shared this project with a larger academic audience and received constructive feedback that enriched this work. I reserve special gratitude for Silvester Kimeli Choge and Joyce Gathigia. Your friendship has been, and continues to be, unprejudiced and unconditional. Your kindness and affection instilled this project with a lightness and optimism that I have not encountered before. Thank you. More than anyone, I owe Erik. You are my guest of honour. viii 503514-L-bw-ASC Processed on: 9-6-2016 Timau Meru Nanyuki Mt. Kenya National Park Naro Moru Chogoria Chuka Mt. Kenya Forest Reserve Nyeri Karatina Embu KENYA KENYA Equator Mt. Kenya UNESCO Forests World Heritage Site Main road 0 10 km © ASCL/ DeVink Mapdesign 2016 DeVink Mapdesign Ltd ix 503514-L-bw-ASC Processed on: 9-6-2016 503514-L-bw-ASC Processed on: 9-6-2016 Introduction: Doing ethnography on Mt. Kenya’s World Heritage status In August 2010, a man called Teddy Munyao climbed to Point Lenana, the lowest of Mt. Kenya’s three peaks. The act itself was not exceptional. Each year, thousands of tourists visit Mt. Kenya National Park and many of them come for mountaineering. The hike to Point Lenana is not particularly harsh: under the instructions of a good guide even inexperienced climbers generally pull it off. But Teddy Munyao’s trek meant to write history. He carried with him a copy of the new Kenyan Constitution, which had just passed parliament, to plant it on top of the mountain. He succeeded and his action received national media coverage (see for instance Daily Nation, 24 August 2010, 29 August 2010; Standard Media, 24 August 2010). Nearly three years prior to Teddy Munyao’s deed, Kenya had witnessed an outburst of extreme violence. The brutality had been sparked by the outcome of the general elections held in December 2007, after which the supporters of two opposing political parties had attacked one another. The atrocities lasted until late February 2008. By that time, more than a thousand people were confirmed dead, and an estimated three hundred thousand people had left their homes and possessions to escape the bloodshed (Anderson & Lochery 2008: 328).
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