De-/Fencing Grasslands: Ongoing Boundary Making and Unmaking in Postcolonial Kenya
Across contemporary East Africa, fencing is spreading with incredible speed over hundreds of thousands of hectares of rangelands, fundamentally reconfiguring land tenure dynamics. But why is this happening now, what are the precursors, and what will happen in the years to come? In this article, we a...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2021-07-01
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| Series: | Land |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/8/786 |
| _version_ | 1797523279760588800 |
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| author | Mette Løvschal Marie Ladekjær Gravesen |
| author_facet | Mette Løvschal Marie Ladekjær Gravesen |
| author_sort | Mette Løvschal |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Across contemporary East Africa, fencing is spreading with incredible speed over hundreds of thousands of hectares of rangelands, fundamentally reconfiguring land tenure dynamics. But why is this happening now, what are the precursors, and what will happen in the years to come? In this article, we ask how pre- and post-colonial landscape gridding perpetuate a slow violence across the landscape through processes of de-/fencing. Fencing, we argue, is embedded in a landscape logic that favours exclusive rights and conditioned access. In two case studies from grazing lands in Kenya, we explore how people engage with the tension of an imposed landscape logic of fencing by either asserting or challenging its very physicality. We propose that de-/fencing are ways of anticipating long-standing land tenure uncertainties. Moreover, we use our cases to explore different points of reference along the mattering of land tenure boundaries as well as the sort of horizons to which fencing leads. We also use this knowledge to improve our understanding of parallel prehistoric cases of large-scale landscape enclosure. By unfolding the intertwined socio-political and material nature of gridded landscapes, we seek to bring the study of fencing out of conservation literature and into its wider culture-historical context. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T08:40:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-92f72d0bc7d34fa393f62d37cc009be4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-445X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T08:40:10Z |
| publishDate | 2021-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Land |
| spelling | doaj.art-92f72d0bc7d34fa393f62d37cc009be42023-11-22T08:20:23ZengMDPI AGLand2073-445X2021-07-0110878610.3390/land10080786De-/Fencing Grasslands: Ongoing Boundary Making and Unmaking in Postcolonial KenyaMette Løvschal0Marie Ladekjær Gravesen1Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies, Aarhus University, Moesgaard Allé 20, 8270 Højbjerg, DenmarkDanish Institute for International Studies, Østbanegade 117, 2100 København, DenmarkAcross contemporary East Africa, fencing is spreading with incredible speed over hundreds of thousands of hectares of rangelands, fundamentally reconfiguring land tenure dynamics. But why is this happening now, what are the precursors, and what will happen in the years to come? In this article, we ask how pre- and post-colonial landscape gridding perpetuate a slow violence across the landscape through processes of de-/fencing. Fencing, we argue, is embedded in a landscape logic that favours exclusive rights and conditioned access. In two case studies from grazing lands in Kenya, we explore how people engage with the tension of an imposed landscape logic of fencing by either asserting or challenging its very physicality. We propose that de-/fencing are ways of anticipating long-standing land tenure uncertainties. Moreover, we use our cases to explore different points of reference along the mattering of land tenure boundaries as well as the sort of horizons to which fencing leads. We also use this knowledge to improve our understanding of parallel prehistoric cases of large-scale landscape enclosure. By unfolding the intertwined socio-political and material nature of gridded landscapes, we seek to bring the study of fencing out of conservation literature and into its wider culture-historical context.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/8/786fencingpastoralismKenyaEast Africapost-colonialismland-use |
| spellingShingle | Mette Løvschal Marie Ladekjær Gravesen De-/Fencing Grasslands: Ongoing Boundary Making and Unmaking in Postcolonial Kenya Land fencing pastoralism Kenya East Africa post-colonialism land-use |
| title | De-/Fencing Grasslands: Ongoing Boundary Making and Unmaking in Postcolonial Kenya |
| title_full | De-/Fencing Grasslands: Ongoing Boundary Making and Unmaking in Postcolonial Kenya |
| title_fullStr | De-/Fencing Grasslands: Ongoing Boundary Making and Unmaking in Postcolonial Kenya |
| title_full_unstemmed | De-/Fencing Grasslands: Ongoing Boundary Making and Unmaking in Postcolonial Kenya |
| title_short | De-/Fencing Grasslands: Ongoing Boundary Making and Unmaking in Postcolonial Kenya |
| title_sort | de fencing grasslands ongoing boundary making and unmaking in postcolonial kenya |
| topic | fencing pastoralism Kenya East Africa post-colonialism land-use |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/8/786 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT metteløvschal defencinggrasslandsongoingboundarymakingandunmakinginpostcolonialkenya AT marieladekjærgravesen defencinggrasslandsongoingboundarymakingandunmakinginpostcolonialkenya |