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

Library research was carried out at Nairobi University, Kenyatta University
and Kenya National Library in Nairobi. Other resource centres visited
included the Turkana District Information Centre, Turkana Department of
Survey Office, Turkana Rehabilitation Project office, and the Ministry of
Lands and Settlement Offices in Nairobi. Documents read in these libraries
included books, journals, newsletters, newspapers, manuscripts, theses,
and magazines. I studied accounts from historians such as Lamphear
(1976) and other researchers such as Gulliver’s (1951, 1955) work on the
Turkana from the 1940’s to 1950’s. From these documentary reviews, I
identified key themes that had been tackled by various previous
researchers, and noted the existing gaps in knowledge. I was able to
construct a proper context of my study in view of the knowledge gathered
at this level.
I also conducted extensive study of the archival records at the Kenya
National Archives in Nairobi. The colonial government had kept reports on
social and economic life in the Turkana District up to the 1940s. These are
now open to the public for reading. Various report papers and files relating
to the vulnerability context in Turkana and the socio-economic history
were studied. Of particular interest were records which pertained to
drought and famine in the district and how their adverse effects were
managed during colonial and pre-colonial days. Through these records, I
realized that famine has been a persistent problem in the Turkana District
for decades, and that the first fully recorded famine was in 1932. The
government responded to it by providing money for famine relief.
Archival records had a number of limitations. Firstly, the records tended to
blame the Turkana way and their way of life (nomadism) as the main cause
of famine, and concluded that if they could abandon nomadism and settle
down as cultivators, they would never again experience recurrent food
shortages and famines. Secondly, the records said absolutely nothing on
67