New Common Ground in Pastoral and Settled Agricultural Communities in Kenya: Renegotiated Institutions and the Gender Implications

Abstract

Against the backdrop of climate change, population increase and changing economic and social structures, this article analyzes dynamic interactions between Maasai pastoralists and settled agricultural communities in River Njoro Watershed, Kenya. Here, policy changes led to transition of land ownership from communal to private ownership, creating a new institutional environment and abetting modification of institutions governing sharing of resources. Primary data used in the study were collected from settled farmers and pastoralists. Changing property rights from communal to individual holdings have forced communities to modify their indigenous communal institutional arrangements and renegotiate gender roles to cope with the changing property rights. As a result, women's workload has increased and their traditional control of resources has slipped; hence, they have sought new alternatives to meet traditional obligations. Therefore, they have negotiated new identities within family and community institutions. Men, on the other hand, are gaining from the private property rights regime.