PhD thesis Title Page Final _Richard Juma - Victoria University ...

stems from arguments raised by historians. Soja (1968) and Kjekshus
(1977) both argue that during the pre-colinial times, East African pastoral
economies had developed a well-tuned balance between humans and
nature. They described pre-colonial East Africa as a ‘sea’ of pastoralism
surrounded by a few islands of settled agricultural communities. They
argued that many of the nomadic communities such as the Turkana were
wealthy, and had indigenous ways to cope with impending food crises
within their social networks. Van Zwanenberg and King support this line of
thought and posit that in the pre-colonial period, pastoralists were the
dominant force in East Africa (Van Zwanenberg and King 1975). These
arguments are contrary to what is being experienced today where Turkana
pastoralists are highly susceptible to famine. Therefore, contemporary
change in their level of vulnerability also calls for an evaluation of their
customary livelihood activities. This enables us to have a fully critical
overview. If in the past Turkana people used to survive food crises on their
own, why should they not sustain their livelihood in the contemporary
times? It is believed that this discussion will enable us to understand how
the Turkana people’s attempt to adapt to the changing circumstances can
be supported.
Therefore, this chapter makes interpretation and analysis of the data in
the rest of the thesis more meaningful. This knowledge may enable us to
gain satisfactory insight into the challenges facing Turkana people in
attempting to secure a reliable and sustained livelihood, and how their
livelihood responses can best be strengthened. It also becomes easier to
draw comparisons with how the Turkana pastoral production system
functioned during the 2005-2006 ‘drought stress’ threat period. This will
be part of the discussion in Chapters 6 and 7. Results from the key
informant interviews and household interviews form the backbone of this
chapter. This is complemented by local level information gathered from
other sources such as informal interviews, observation, and case histories,
as well as from a review of several Turkana studies.
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