Socioeconomic Change and Land Use in Africa: The Transformation of Property Rights in Maasailand

234 Pages·2007·21.871 MB·English

by  Esther Mwangi (auth.)

SOCIOECONOMIC CHANGE AND
LAND USE IN AFRICA

SOCIOECONOMIC CHANGE AND
LAND USE IN AFRICA
THE TRANSFORMATION OF PROPERTY
RIGHTS IN MAASAILAND
ESTHER MWANGI
palgrave
macmiiian
* SOCIOECONOMIC CHANGE AND LAND USE IN AFRICA
Copyright © Esther Mwangi, 2007.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1 st edHion 2007 978-1-4039-8005-2
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First published in 2007 by
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ISBN 978-1-349-73859-5 ISBN 978-1-137-06659-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-06659-6
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To the memory ofm y father, to my mother, brothers, and sisters
You are the wind beneath my wings

CONTENTS
List ofT ables IX
List ofI llustrations XI
Acknowledgments Xlll
Foreword xv
One The Policy Problem: Group Ranch Subdivision in
Semiarid Maasailand 1
Two Background to Kajiado District, Kenya 25
Three Research Design 45
Four The Footprints of History 59
Five The Puzzle of "Perverse" Property Rights 91
Six Subdividing the Group Ranch: Allocating Land and
Distributing Wealth 121
Seven The Subdivided Group Ranch: Exploring
Ecological Implications 149
Eight The Transformation of Property Rights to Land in
Kenya's Maasailand 167
Notes 177
Works Cited 183
Index 201

LIST OF TABLES
2.1 Species Associations in Main Vegetation Types 31
2.2 Kajiado District Population: Ethnic Composition 32
2.3 Maasai Age-Set Chronology 42
2.4 Ilpurko, Ilmatapato, Ilodookilani Age Sets 43
3.1 Basic Information for Enkaroni, Meto, Nentanai,
and Torosei 46
3.2 Interviews by Age Set and Gender 51
3.3 Proportion of Group Ranch Members Interviewed 52
3.4 Individuals Selected for In-Depth Interviewing (2001) 53
3.5 Pasture Management Regimes and Livestock
Concentration 55
4.1 Summary of Significant Interventions in Maasailand 60
4.2 Some Land Grabbing in Maasailand in Recent Times 85
5.1 Breakdown of Group Ranch Members' Preferences for
Subdivision 96
5.2 Factors that Motivated Group Ranch Members
to Prefer Subdivision 97
5.3 Number of Members in Each Group Ranch in Three
Time Periods 98
5.4 Total Population in the Study Areas 98
5.5 Number ofIndividuals Registered 98
6.1 Summary of Parcel Sizes in Enkaroni, Meto, and
Nentanai 133
6.2 Correlations between Land and Livestock 135
6.3 Post-Subdivision Arrangements 137
7.l Soil Characteristics for the Five Management Types,
0-10 Centimeters Depth 152
7.2 Soil Characteristics for the Five Management Types,
10-20 Centimeters Depth 153
7.3 Regression of Plots in Species Space on Environment
for Herbaceous and Grass Species 154