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Boundary-Making and Pastoral Conflict along the Kenyan–Ethiopian Borderlands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 April 2016

John Galaty
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Abstract:

Boundaries are technologies of power and knowledge that shape spatial and social realities and our understandings of them. This article examines the effects of boundary-making between Kenya and Ethiopia, and investigates the effects of borders on states of peace and conflict among Turkana, Samburu, Borana, Gabra, and Dassanetch of northern Kenya. If borders divide people, people benefit nonetheless from the environmental, social, and political entropy that borders generate by using the energy of spatial differences to advance their own individual and collective life projects.

Résumé:

Les délimitations sont des technologies de pouvoir et de connaissances qui façonnent les réalités spatiales et sociales et la compréhension que nous en avons. Cet article examine les effets de la création de délimitations entre le Kenya et l’Ethiopie, et étudie les effets des frontières sur les états de paix et de conflit entre les Turkana, les Samburu, les Borana, les Gabra et les Dassanetch du nord du Kenya. Si les frontières divisent les gens, les gens bénéficient néanmoins de l’entropie environnementale, sociale, et politique que les frontières génèrent en utilisant l’énergie des différences spatiales pour faire avancer leurs propres projets de vie individuels et collectifs.

Keywords

BoundariespastoralismconflictwarfareEast Africanorthern Kenyarangelands
Type
ARTICLES
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 59 , Issue 1 , April 2016 , pp. 97 - 122
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2016 

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