Commoning or commodification? Pastoralist land rights in northern Kenya

For at least a decade, the drylands of northern Kenya have been subject to a changing political economy with transformative implications for pastoralist livelihoods. Historically portrayed as remote, unused and unproductive land, drylands are increasingly becoming the focal point for capital investment and state expansion. At this LARRI (Land Rights Research Initiative) webinar, the focus will be on three important and concurrent forces of change that are taking place across pastoralist Kenya and how they create new, complex and contested conditions for pastoralist land rights:

(1) Devolution of national government power and financial resources
(2) land investment and appropriation in the wake of the large-scale infrastructure projects
(3) the introduction of the Kenya Community Land Act

How should we understand these emerging land rights dynamics and what are their implications for dryland governance in East Africa?

Speaker

Per Knutsson, Senior Lecturer, University of Gothenburg.

Moderator: Robin Biddulph, Researcher, University of Gothenburg.