A Maasai Model to Wildlife Conservation: Exploring environmental subjectivities among the Maasai living in and around Naretunoi Community Conservancy and next to Nairobi National Park in Kenya
(2022) MIDM19 20221Department of Human Geography
LUMID International Master programme in applied International Development and Management
- Abstract
- Objectives: Wildlife in Kenya, much like globally, is under significant pressure. In Kenya alone, there has been a 60 percent decrease in species and the remaining wildlife is faced with habitat loss and climate change, among others. The study of conservation practices - responding to the many challenges underlying the “sixth mass extinction” - has never been more relevant. All the more so is the delicate balance between environmental protection and social justice and equity for indigenous groups residing in wildlife-populated areas. This study investigates the environmental subjectivities - informing the acting and thinking in conservation practice - of Maasai living in and around Naretunoi Community Conservancy (NCC) and next to Nairobi... (More)
- Objectives: Wildlife in Kenya, much like globally, is under significant pressure. In Kenya alone, there has been a 60 percent decrease in species and the remaining wildlife is faced with habitat loss and climate change, among others. The study of conservation practices - responding to the many challenges underlying the “sixth mass extinction” - has never been more relevant. All the more so is the delicate balance between environmental protection and social justice and equity for indigenous groups residing in wildlife-populated areas. This study investigates the environmental subjectivities - informing the acting and thinking in conservation practice - of Maasai living in and around Naretunoi Community Conservancy (NCC) and next to Nairobi National Park (NNP). It will do so by employing the theoretical framework of multiple environmentalities - a perspective that seeks to explore power dynamics, subject formation, and agency in environmental governance. Method: A qualitative case study research design has been employed to explore the different perceptions and experiences of the Maasai residing in and around the NCC. The data has been collected using participant observation and 27 semi-structured interviews. Main findings: The findings suggest there are various environmental subjectivities among the Maasai that have been shaped by wildlife conservation frames and practices by the ‘Wildlife Foundation’ (TWF) and Kenyan Wildlife Service (KWS) that run NCC and NNP respectively. Yet, there are also environmental subjectivities that emanate from alternative ways to relate to wildlife that, in given constellations, mediate and contest such frames and practices of wildlife conservation. As an exercise of agency, wildlife conservation is re-imagined and practised to serve a collective purpose of maintaining pastoral Maasai practice and identity which is equally under threat by land fragmentation and shrinking space as wildlife. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9090832
- author
- Gripenberg, Louise LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- MIDM19 20221
- year
- 2022
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Conservation, community-based conservation, wildlife, Maasai, Kenya, environmentality, subjectivities, agency, pastoralism
- language
- English
- id
- 9090832
- date added to LUP
- 2022-07-20 10:38:13
- date last changed
- 2022-07-20 10:38:13
@misc{9090832,
abstract = {{Objectives: Wildlife in Kenya, much like globally, is under significant pressure. In Kenya alone, there has been a 60 percent decrease in species and the remaining wildlife is faced with habitat loss and climate change, among others. The study of conservation practices - responding to the many challenges underlying the “sixth mass extinction” - has never been more relevant. All the more so is the delicate balance between environmental protection and social justice and equity for indigenous groups residing in wildlife-populated areas. This study investigates the environmental subjectivities - informing the acting and thinking in conservation practice - of Maasai living in and around Naretunoi Community Conservancy (NCC) and next to Nairobi National Park (NNP). It will do so by employing the theoretical framework of multiple environmentalities - a perspective that seeks to explore power dynamics, subject formation, and agency in environmental governance. Method: A qualitative case study research design has been employed to explore the different perceptions and experiences of the Maasai residing in and around the NCC. The data has been collected using participant observation and 27 semi-structured interviews. Main findings: The findings suggest there are various environmental subjectivities among the Maasai that have been shaped by wildlife conservation frames and practices by the ‘Wildlife Foundation’ (TWF) and Kenyan Wildlife Service (KWS) that run NCC and NNP respectively. Yet, there are also environmental subjectivities that emanate from alternative ways to relate to wildlife that, in given constellations, mediate and contest such frames and practices of wildlife conservation. As an exercise of agency, wildlife conservation is re-imagined and practised to serve a collective purpose of maintaining pastoral Maasai practice and identity which is equally under threat by land fragmentation and shrinking space as wildlife.}},
author = {{Gripenberg, Louise}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{A Maasai Model to Wildlife Conservation: Exploring environmental subjectivities among the Maasai living in and around Naretunoi Community Conservancy and next to Nairobi National Park in Kenya}},
year = {{2022}},
}