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

CHAPTER 2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
2.1 Introduction.
The previous chapter introduced and provided an overview of how
pastoralists in Sub-Saharan Africa survive during food crises. It drew from
the experience of Turkana pastoralists living in the arid part of
Northwestern Kenya. The 2005-2006 droughts and famine crisis in the
Turkana region is a recent case in point. Its disturbing role in undermining
the economic base of the Turkana people and subsequent increase in
overall food insecurity was acknowledged. In this chapter, it is strongly
argued that the idea of famine relief support whenever famine breaks out
in the Turkana region is ‘a top down’ approach which considers that
livelihood sustainability can only come from outside and not from within.
Therefore, there is need for an alternative approach to the study of
Turkana people’s livelihoods that starts with local peoples own practices.
Thus, the focus in this chapter shifts from the broad and the general to the
local and the particular, allowing an understanding of differing indigenous
responses at the local level. It is considered here that understanding the
Turkana people’s indigenous livelihood responses during crises and its
implication to policy requires a properly conceived holistic framework.
Within this broader framework, this study places special attention on one
of the five assets identified as constitutive of livelihood strategies in the
Turkana District: Social capital. The reason for choosing this particular
asset is two-fold: First, as discussed in Chapter one, social capital among
the Turkana people inheres in types of relationships that allow access, and
is thus a critical precursor to the possible access of. 31 . Second, social
capital as a livelihood asset in the Turkana District is probably the least
tangible, and therefore, the least understood.
31 De Han and Zoomers (2005) argue that access is the key in conceptualization of
livelihoods and, therefore, the key to unravelling poverty. Carney (1998) concurs that
social capital is an important asset required for generating a means of livelihood.
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