Rangeland Privatization and the Maasai Experience: Social Capital and the Implications for Traditional Resource Management in Southern Kenya

This is the author's peer-reviewed final manuscript, as accepted by the publisher. The published article is copyrighted by Taylor & Francis and can be found at: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/usnr20.Using qualitative research methods we examined how group ranch privatization and settlement of individual Maasai households across the landscape have affected traditional livestock herding and social capital mechanisms of Maasai livestock herders. This process has altered decision-making processes, social networks, and cooperation of Maasai herders and limited access to water and pasture. It has disturbed community cohesion and created conflicts over resource access between neighboring landowners and communities. While subdivision has given secure land tenure to many Maasai, they can now sell land to outsiders, who may come with other traditions and land uses that conflict with Maasai traditions. Despite shifting from communal to individual decision making regarding livestock and natural resource management, many Maasai landowners are adapting some customary practices and adopting new, more individualistic and commerical practices, often blending both in new networks and arrangements that reflect the continuing importance of social capital and the reciprocal use of natural resources