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Tenure Transformation and the Reconfiguring of Pastoral Livelihoods: A New Role for Women in Maasai Land Governance in Kenya Dr. Caroline S. Archambault Utrecht University/International Development Studies
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CONCLUSIONS -Livestock mobility has been dramatically interrupted with enclosure. -Consequently community members rely heavily on social relations for free and secure access to grazing resources. -Women’s social relations and networks have become very important in securing grazing. -Women have been brought more intensively into herding and herd management decision-making. -With what implications for women’s well-being and for pastoralism more generally? Contributing to resilience or exacerbating vulnerabilities?
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SETTING Elangata Wuas and Kilonito
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METHODS Doctoral Fieldwork (2003-2005) Education & Social Change Property & Poverty (2007- …) Causes and Consequences of Sub-Division Privatization & Women’s Well-Being (2011-…) Gender Impacts of Sub-Division Stress & Sharing Study (2010-2011) Stress Measures, Social Distance & Resource Sharing
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ENCLOSURE 86% of titled private lands in Elangata Wuas had some degree of fencing 63% of those fenced had completely fenced the entire periphery of the parcel
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GRASS FOR SALE 12.5% of families purchased grass during the previous dry period and 5% during the previous rains
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SOCIAL NETWORKS “Before subdivision my livestock used to move anywhere they wanted because land was public. But nowadays they can’t move because of privatization. And if they trespass to other people’s land it will bring a conflict. So I decided to ask for permission from my neighbor to allow our livestock to trespass to his land and we allow his livestock to trespass to our land…” “I access grass from grazing from my relatives and friends and they give me for free. During the 1999-2000 drought I moved my livestock to Jophilas who has married my sister in KMQ, then to Tinana whose father is married to my aunt, then to Nkardes who was just my friend by then but now my son has married his daughter.”
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ARE WOMEN’S SOCIAL NETWORKS IMPORTANT? “Yes because if my husband goes to borrow grass from my family they will give him easily. And if I go to my brothers-in-law to access grazing I would be given easily because of the social relationship. More husbands use their wives to access grazing because they will be given easily and for free and if they have to pay they will pay less unlike when the husband goes to access grazing. I was the one who accessed grazing for our livestock in 2010 and 2012 from a family friend on my mother’s side and another person who was my mother’s clansmate.”
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IMPLICATIONS ON GENDER RELATIONS, WOMEN’S WELL-BEING & PASTORALISM Might women’s contributions to resource governance translate into: -more decision-making authority? -more control over valued household resources? -more positions of leadership? -better treatment in the home? Or are these new roles overburdening women, misallocating their labor, and increasing marital tensions? What are the implications for pastoralism? Are these arrangements sufficient, dependable, and sustainable enough to retain the necessary mobility?
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