Hybrid pastoralists: Turkana adapt to development interventions

With development interventions, Turkana pastoralists have adapted to the new situation and built up new ways of cooperation between the pastoralists in the rangelands and the Turkana who are no longer actively practising pastoralism and often live in towns. In the working paper “Hybrid pastoralists – development interventions and new Turkana identities” (2014, 30pp) published by the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle, Germany, Harald Mueller-Dempf shows how the economic structure of Turkana society has changed – but not in the direction of increased poverty among non-pastoral Turkana, as many publications on the Turkana claim. The paper describes the increased diversification of sources of livelihood and the close economic links between pastoralist and non-pastoralist members of Turkana society.

For further anthropological information on the Turkana and Toposa, contact: harald-mueller-dempf.de

Posted on 8 February 2021 in Pastoralist Livelihoods & Nutrition