Promoting Pastoralist Heritage and Alternative Visions for Development in Northern Kenya

Room 00-13, Ground Floor Chambers Building, OU, Milton Keynes

International Development seminar (held in conjunction with the Ferguson Centre for African and Asian Studies) presented by Dr Zoe Cormack (Dept of History, OU).

Lunch (provided) from 12.00, presentation & discussion 12.30 - 14.00. To reserve your free place, please email Claire Emburey.

Abstract
Northern Kenya has recently come into focus because of the Government of Kenya's Vision 2030 and the planned LAPSSET corridor – an ambitious development plan which is supposed to link Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan, transforming the north of Kenya from an 'unproductive' pastoralist periphery into a hub of economic development for the region in the process.

This research is looking at the roles that 'culture' and 'heritage' are playing in contesting and negotiating aspects of these developments on the ground. In Isiolo County (one of the counties earmarked by the LAPSSET project), the project has been looking at the revival of a Borana Council of Elders to manage grazing/natural resource use and attempts to create something called a 'bio-cultural community protocol' – which would recognise this Council of Elders in local and international law. This is happening partly in response to fears about land grabbing and loss of grazing lands associated with LAPSSET.

The seminar will discuss how heritage is being used to negotiate aspects of the LAPSSET development project, how space is being transformed in the process of revival of the grazing council and how 'culture', once a 'dirty word' in pro-pastoralist advocacy, is being revalorised as a resource and as the basis for a resilient pastoralist future. It will be preceded by a brief introduction to the research project 'Cultural Rights and Kenya’s New Constitution'.