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| Title: | In the Grip of the Vampire State: Maasai Land Struggles in Kenyan Politics |
| Author: | Kantai, Parselelo |
| Year: | 2007 |
| Periodical: | Journal of Eastern African Studies |
| Volume: | 1 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Pages: | 107-122 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Kenya |
| Subjects: | Maasai land rights political action political violence Politics and Government Ethnic and Race Relations Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) History and Exploration colonialism Law, Human Rights and Violence |
| External link: | https://doi.org/10.1080/17531050701218890 |
| Abstract: | At the point of colonial conquest, Kenya's Maasai entered into a treaty with the British that signed away their land rights to seasonal grazing lands in the Rift Valley. A second treaty, replacing the first, then moved them from the prized pastures of the Laikipia plateau, confining them to a poorly watered 'Native Reserve' in the southern portion of the country. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the campaign for the restitution of these lost lands has been revived, amid a political clamour in Kenya for the revisiting of history to confront past wrongs. This article provides a personal account of the unfolding of this campaign in Kenya and the response of the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) government to the Maasai challenge, drawing upon both first-hand experience of the events described and newspaper reports. The final section reflects upon the seemingly unchanging character of Kenyan politics even in this 'new age' of liberal democracy. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract] |
