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

that either constrain or enhance Turkana people’s ability to sustain their
livelihoods during crises.
From these theoretical formulations, a ‘pastoral adjustments model’ was
constructed, and the various adjustment choices deriving from the
literature review were fitted to it. Subsequently, two hypotheses were
formulated to guide the study and to be tested at the data analysis stage.
It was hypothesized that drought and famine stimulate the search for
potential allies in the effort to weather the negative effects of food
shortages. This first hypothesis was linked with a second one which stated
that the social and economic resources accessible to the famished Turkana
pastoralists would determine the range and scope of adaptation responses.
All these two hypotheses were discussed intensively at the stage of data
analysis in Chapters 6 and 7 respectively.
8.3 Methodological aspects.
The study was carried out for six months of fieldwork in two villages
(Morulem and Lokichar) in the Turkana District. This was an exploratory
study, and a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods was
used. The major source of data was primary, with most of the information
coming from indepth interviews with key informants and household heads.
These were supplemented by secondary sources such as documentary
materials in the form of records kept by the colonial government in the
National Archives in Kenya pertaining to drought and famine in the
Turkana region. A total of eight key informants and 80 household heads
were covered by the research.
With regard to the survey method, a number of methodological problems
were encountered which called for a more cautious manner in the way in
which questions were put and answers recorded. For instance, there was
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