This study was set to assess the inter-ethnic conflict between the Pokomo farmers and the Orma pastoralists in Tana River, Kenya. It aimed at determining the underlying causes of the conflict, and in doing so, identify how peaceful co-existence between these groups could be achieved. The study was guided by the assumption that the conflict is about competing perceptions of land among groups due to their conflicting lifestyles. The researcher used qualitative case study methods incorporating purposeful sampling. The field method included informal one-on-one interviews with local residents from the Pokomo, Orma, and Wardei communities. Secondary data was also used, including archives, government publications, and scholarly journals and books, and news sources. From the research findings, it was concluded that there is a need for balanced policies on land in Tana River, Kenya, involving all the stakeholders, such as the local residents, the Kenyan government, the Kenyan population at large, and potential investors. In this sense, the Tana River conflict is a microcosm of larger issues related to neo-colonialism, and national, political and economic sovereignty in Africa.

Diss.--Philosophische Fakultät--Köln--Universität, 1988. / Le vol. 2 contient des textes en pokomo et leur traduction allemande en regard.

For decades, Swahili culture and society have been mischaracterized as an extension of Arabic cultural development. Within the last few decades scholars like Thomas Spear, Derek Nurse, and Chapurukha M. Kusimba have challenged Arabcentric and Eurocentric reductionist notions regarding the development of Swahili society. This dissertation traces the discourse of the historiographic discourse of Swahili culture and its impact on the way that the Swahili people, culture, and language are conceptualized. Furthermore, the research presented here is not solely focused on the material evidence of the development of African communities on the Swahili coast, but also on the ethical and cultural foundations of Bantu society manifested within Swahili society. The African ethics manifested in early Swahili society which still exists today illustrate a more nuanced understanding of the Africanity of coastal communities. As demonstrated by the traditional saying of Swahili communities, select folktales, and the construction of philosophical terminology, the ethics and cultural values of an African cultural paradigm. This idea of the essentiality of the African cultural paradigm to the foundation and development of Swahili culture is evidenced by the cross-cultural analysis of Swahili historical and cultural phenomena to other African communities. / African American Studies