The socioeconomic dynamics of the Shifta conflict in Kenya, c. 1963-8

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Periodical article

Title:	The socioeconomic dynamics of the Shifta conflict in Kenya, c. 1963-8
Author:	Whittaker, Hannah Alice
Year:	2012
Periodical:	The Journal of African History (ISSN 0021-8537)
Volume:	53
Issue:	3
Pages:	391-408
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Kenya
Subjects:	land conflicts Somali pan-Somaliism boundaries separatism 1960-1969
External link:	https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021853712000448
Abstract:	Using a set of oral testimonies, together with military, intelligence, and administrative reports from the 1960s, this article re-examines the 'shifta' conflict or NFD dispute in Kenya. The article moves away from mono-causal, nationalistic interpretations of the event, to focus instead on the underlying socioeconomic dynamics and domestic implications of the conflict. It argues that the nationalist interpretation fails to capture the diversity of participation in 'shifta', which was not simply made up of militant Somali nationalists, and that it fails to acknowledge the significance of an internal Kenyan conflict between a newly independent State in the process of nationbuilding, and a group of 'dissident' frontier communities that were seen to defy the new order. Examination of this conflict provides insights into the operation of the early postcolonial Kenyan State. Notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]