Interrogating Development and Resilience in the Pastoral Drylands of Northern Kenya

by Greta Semplici

Moving Deserts re-examines the concept of resilience, as applied in the development sector. It gives central stage to the voices, experiences, memories and everyday lives of the people whose resilience is the subject of much international attention and financial aid flows. Building a bridge between the perspectives of practitioners and local communities, Moving Deserts reveals a story about life, struggle and hope among Turkana herders, a story woven by following the movements and relations of the author’s hosts and interlocutors during fourteen months of ethnographic fieldwork. The volume argues that it is in their very mobility that the meaning of resilience resides: mobility as physical movements to reach ephemeral and unevenly spread resources; mobility as social connections to weave a social fabric that also works as safety net; mobility as fluid identities, never static but plastic, capable of taking on new shapes and adapting to changes. The drylands and their inhabitants, largely pastoral populations, are the spine of the book. Drylands often fall in the imaginary of the remote, the deserted, the unproductive, a powerful imaginary rooted in romantic narratives, as well as in political and economic interests. At a time of rising alarm about climate change, mass migrations and energy requirements, drylands are returning to the international stage with a focus on building resilience. This book asks what we can learn about ‘pastoral development’, currently discussed in the international development regime under the label of resilience, by switching perspective and following pastoralists’ lived experiences?

This book is Open Access through the support of the Open Book Collective.

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