Mokua Ombati, CASAS’ member, has published a chapter in the book Handbook of Social Justice in the Global South.
Abstract: A revolutionary agricultural policy initiated by the British colonial government aimed to transform Kenya from a subsistence society into an economically viable nation through land adjudication, consolidation, and registration. This approach, adopted and intensified by post-colonial governments, assumed that successful agricultural development required reforming land tenure systems. By individualising and securing land ownership, the policy sought to promote efficient land use practices. However, this new system, modelled on British colonial laws, displaced Indigenous land norms and altered traditional land use and agricultural production patterns. The privatisation and sedentarisation of land disrupted the nomadic pastoralism reliant on communal land and seasonal mobility. Land reform policies were influenced by the “tragedy of the commons” thesis, which criticised common ownership as inefficient and advocated for private property. This perspective framed pastoralism as outdated and harmful, justifying the reform of pastoral land tenure systems to align with modern practices. Consequently, these reforms led to the erosion of ancestral communal land rights, creating a new class of landless individuals. To cope with climate change, pastoralists often encroach on private lands, leading to increased tensions and conflicts with social, political, and governance institutions. This study examines the impact of historical land tenure reforms on the Maasai community of Laikipia County, Kenya. It explores the long-term effects of communal land loss and changing tenure regimes on pastoralism, and how these reforms have influenced contemporary socio-political and cultural dynamics, including political realignments and mobilisations.
Read the chapter here: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781803921150.00018
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CASAS
The Collective of Agrarian Scholar-Activists from the Global South (CASAS) is a community of Scholar-Activists working in critical agrarian studies.