Project B03: Violent Futures? Contestations along the frontier

Status

ongoing

Topics

  • Violent Environments and Infrastructures

Large-scale infrastructure projects such as the LAPSSET corridor in northern Kenya cut through the pastures of pastoral communities in Kenya and Tanzania. The Standard Gauge Railway, for example, traverses the pastoral lands in Narok in southern Kenya and Morogoro in central Tanzania. This raises the question of the impact of these projects on local conflict dynamics.

In this research project, we employ the concept of frontiers as an analytical tool for comparative empirical research on development corridors cutting through pastoral lands in Kenya and Tanzania. We conducted interviews with representatives of the government, communities, NGOs and private companies to gain and understanding of the perceived impacts of these infrastructure projects on pastoral communities.

The outputs of our research include three PhD theses, five Master of Arts theses and peer-reviewed journal articles, which were produced in collaboration with our partners in Kenya and Tanzania. We plan to develop a travelling workshop model between Kenya and Tanzania and to communicate our scientific results via local workshops in 2024 and 2025.

Project Leader

Project Team

Partner

  • University of Bonn
  • University of Cologne

Funder

  • DFG - Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Duration of project

since April 2018

Publications

Book chapter

Owino, E., Mkutu, K., & Enns, C.

Large Infrastructure Projects and Cascading Land Grabs

Routledge , London (2023)

Open
Journal Article

Greiner, C., Klagge, B., & Owino, E.

The political ecology of geothermal development: Green sacrifice zones or energy landscapes of value?

(2023)

Open
Journal Article

Mkutu, K.

The Frontier on the Doorstep: Development and Conflict Dynamics in the Southern Rangelands of Kenya

Taylor & Francis (2023)

Open
Journal Article

Mkutu, K.

Anticipation and contestation along the lapsset infrastructure corridor in Kenya

(2022)

Open
Journal Article

Schetter, C., Mkutu, K., & Müller-Koné, M.

Frontier NGOs: Conservancies, control, and violence in northern Kenya

(2022)

Open
Journal Article

Schetter, C., & Müller-Koné, M.

Frontiers’ violence: The interplay of state of exception, frontier habitus, and organized violence

(2021)

Open
Journal Article

Kalvelage, L., Bollig, M., Grawert, E., Hulke, C., Meyer, R., Mkutu, K., Müller-Koné, M., & Diez, J.

Territorialising Conservation: Community-based Approaches in Kenya and Namibia

(2021)

Open
Journal Article

Mkutu, K., Müller-Koné, M., & Owino, E.

Future visions, present conflicts: the ethnicized politics of anticipation surrounding an infrastructure corridor in northern Kenya

(2021)

Open
Book chapter

Schetter, C., & Müller-Koné, M.

Frontier - ein Gegenbegriff zur Grenze?

Nomos , Baden-Baden (2021)

Open
bicc working paper

Mkutu, K.

Pastoralists, politics and development projects. Unterstanding the layers of armed conflict in Isiolo county, Kenya

BICC , Bonn (2019)

Open
Journal Article

Müller-Koné, M., Grawert, E., & Schetter, C.

Zwischen Naturschutz und Gewaltkonflikten: Conservancies in Nordkenia

Westermann (2020)

Open