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The vanishing commons : tenure reform, individuation and dispossession of land in the pastoral rangelands of Kajiado District, Kenya

Countries in the developing world, in attempts to promote investment in land and agricultural productivity, and to establish frameworks for economic development, have regularly embarked on extensive tenure reforms designed to replace customary forms of tenure with private individual forms. In the Kenya rangelands, the Group Ranch system: a hybrid tenure system that allows communal ownership and use of titled land, was created and implemented in the rangelands where private tenure was thought to be unsuitable. This thesis discusses the failure of the Group Ranch system in Kajiado District, and the parallel transformation of Maasai communal lands into private, individual holdings, which has eroded land security, facilitated land loss to non-residents, created local socio-economic disparities, and made difficult the sustainable practice of pastoral livelihoods. From this discussion it is suggested that communal tenure systems may be useful in preventing and addressing land and resource related problems, and that tailoring land policies and tenure reforms to clarify and strengthen customary systems can play a significant role in promoting land conservation and productivity in the African rangelands and enhance security for the people that depend on them.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.83131
Date January 2004
CreatorsMoiko, Stephen Santamo
PublisherMcGill University
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Formatapplication/pdf
CoverageMaster of Arts (Department of Anthropology.)
RightsAll items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
Relationalephsysno: 002227478, proquestno: AAIMR12749, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest.

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