Anthropology, indigenous methodology, and the restatement of African laws: lessons from research collaborations in Kenya

Abstract

A research collaboration at the National Museums of Kenya since 2005 has resulted in the publication of several books. The project’s focus is the participatory documentation of the indigenous knowledge systems of the Amîîrû communities of the Kenyan central highlands. A confluence of disciplines and perspectives creates a forum for knowledge sharing, dissemination, and creation. This study describes the development of this collaboration, along with the challenges that have been overcome, including a methodological controversy: a gap exists between an anti-essentialist ethnography with empirical case studies, in which I have long-standing anthropological confidence, and indigenous essentialism, the approach of providing a generalised description of a culture, favoured by authors from the source communities. This study evaluates the latter approach within the socio-cultural contexts of the Amîîrû community and a controversy over the (un)certainty of African customary laws. I distinguish between two essentialisms – indigenous and strategic – and argue that the former can provide a bridge to the legal essentialism that characterises the Restatement of African Law books. I argue that this framework can inform the collaborative task of revising what is already in place to ascertain African law. Further, the task requires bridging the generalised description and empirical case methods.