Ilng'wesi Maasai
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Ilng’wesi Maasai Livelihoods and Moral Identity in Northern Laikipia, Kenya Sipke Fergal Brahms Shaughnessy St John’s College April 2019 This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Declarations This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. It is not substantially the same as any that I have submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for a degree or diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. I further state that no substantial part of my dissertation has already been submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for any such degree, diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. It does not exceed the prescribed word limit for the relevant Degree Committee. 2 Abstract Title: Ilng’wesi Maasai: Livelihoods and Moral Identity in Northern Laikipia, Kenya Author: Sipke Shaughnessy Recent literature on pastoralism tends to either portray it as a largely maladaptive practice on the brink of collapse, or as a highly adaptive set of practices that enable resilience in the face of change and uncertainty. This dissertation seeks to find a solution to this impasse and contribute to debates about pastoral communities through a historical and ethnographic study of the Ilng’wesi Maasai. Ilng’wesi today self-identify as pastoralists. They once formed part of the Ilaikipiak alliance in the mid-nineteenth century, before being defeated by another Maasai section and fleeing to the forests of Mt Kenya, where they spent half a century dependent on foraging, ivory trading and livestock herding labour. Today, they live in more or less the same location, where they practice pastoralism, as well as engaging in paid labour and sand harvesting. Their history offers an excellent opportunity to study the extent to which pastoralism’s role as a socio-moral practice and a focal point of identity endures through material, political and economic change. In giving an account of their history, the dissertation attempts to balance the conventional focus in pastoralist studies on material and technical practices and livelihoods with a close examination of emic processes of meaning-making, moral understanding and identity formation. In particular, it explores how Ilng’wesi themselves link their identities with livelihood practices, and how a close identification with pastoralism – often expressed in both moral and ethnic terms – has shaped pastoral livelihoods and is likely to shape them in the future. It does so through the concept of ‘moral identity’, which builds on and adapts John Lonsdale’s account of moral ethnicity. The dissertation uses historical and ethnographic insights to substantiate this concept in relation to Iln’gwesi livelihoods and identity. This is carried out through four empirical chapters: one on Ilng’wesi livelihood transitions between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and possible explanations for these transitions; one on the impact of colonial rule on Ilng’wesi moral identity; one on use of the vernacular of moral identity in evaluating political candidates during the 2017 general election; and one on the changing cattle rustling practices of Ilng’wesi youth. 3 Table of Contents Declarations ........................................................................................................................................................... 2 Abstract ................................................................................................................................................................... 3 List of Figures ........................................................................................................................................................ 6 List of Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................................... 7 Glossary ................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................................. 8 INTRODUCTION – LIVELIHOODS, IDENTITY AND MORALITY ........................................ 11 1.1 TRAJECTORIES OF PASTORALISM IN EAST AFRICA ............................................................................ 21 1.2 PASTORALISM AS A SOCIAL AND MORAL CATEGORY .......................................................................... 26 1.3 OVERVIEW OF CHAPTERS........................................................................................................................ 43 CHAPTER TWO – FIELD SITE AND RESEARCH METHODS ................................................ 49 2.1. GEOGRAPHICAL OVERVIEW OF FIELD SITE ......................................................................................... 49 2.2 RESEARCH METHODS ............................................................................................................................... 52 2.2.1. Archives ...........................................................................................................................................52 2.2.2. Fieldwork ........................................................................................................................................57 CHAPTER THREE – ILNG’WESI IDENTITY AND MORAL ECONOMY ............................... 67 3.1. THE ORIGINS OF LAIKIPIA’S MAASAI SUBSECTIONS ......................................................................... 71 3.2. FROM ILAIKIPIAK TO ILTORROBO ........................................................................................................ 76 3.3 WHY PASTORALISM? ............................................................................................................................... 91 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................................................100 CHAPTER FOUR – THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE MUKOGODO RESERVE, 1930 – 1963. ................................................................................................................................................. 101 4.1. THE RELOCATION OF ILNG’WESI AND CREATION OF THE MUKOGODO ‘DOROBO’ RESERVE ..106 4.2. THE ADMINISTRATORS AND OFFICIALS OF MUKOGODO ................................................................115 4.3. MAINTAINING INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL BOUNDARIES: THE EARLY COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION IN MUKOGODO, 1933 – 1948 ...................................................................................126 4.4. THE MUKOGODO BETTERMENT SCHEME: ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT DURING THE ‘SECOND COLONIAL OCCUPATION’ IN MUKOGODO, 1944 – 1963 .......................................................137 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................................................152 CHAPTER FIVE – ‘MAA COWS MATTER!’: ILNG’WESI MORAL IDENTITY IN THE 2017 KENYAN GENERAL ELECTIONS ................................................................................................ 156 5.1. PASTORALISTS AND THE STATE..........................................................................................................157 5.2. MORAL IDENTITY AND THE BALLOT BOX ..........................................................................................159 5.3. A WHO’S WHO OF THE 2017 GENERAL ELECTIONS IN LAIKIPIA ...............................................163 5.4. DEBATING ILNG’WESI AMBITIONS DURING THE 2017 KENYAN GENERAL ELECTIONS ...........167 5.4.1 ‘Community’ and moral identity in political rumour and narrative ..................... 169 5.4.2. Use of ‘community’ to discuss the state ............................................................................ 182 5.5. FROM MORAL ETHNICITY TO MORAL IDENTITY ...............................................................................185 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................................................188 CHAPTER SIX – EMPURORE OONKISHU: CATTLE RUSTLING AND MORAL IDENTITY IN LAIKIPIA ..................................................................................................................................... 191 4 6.1. FROM REDISTRIBUTIVE TO PREDATORY RAIDS: IDENTIFYING DIFFERENT FORMS OF CATTLE RUSTLING AMIDST CRISIS NARRATIVES .....................................................................................................194 6.1.1. Categories of cattle rustling ................................................................................................. 194 6.1.2. Cattle rustling in crisis narratives ..................................................................................... 200 6.2. ‘REPETA’: CATTLE RUSTLING AND PRAISE SONGS ...........................................................................210 6.3. THE HISTORY AND FUTURE OF CATTLE RUSTLING IN LAIKIPIA ....................................................222 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................................................239