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

3.11 General reflections around the data.
Logistics and time: The duration of the fieldwork was limited to five and a
half months. The intention was to spend longer, but one week was lost at
the beginning owing to the logistical difficulties of getting in and out of one
of my study areas (Morulem). There was no regular public transport and
because the roads were in such poor condition, it required a four wheel
drive vehicle to get to the study area. My movements were then limited to
whenever the lorries taking relief food to the research site (e.g. Morulem)
were available.
Language: Although the national language of Kenya is Kiswahili, the
Turkana people’s version of Kiswahili was different from mine, and their
spoken words were not readily understood by me. Also I realized that not
all key informants and household heads had a good knowledge of
Kiswahili. Therefore, I needed interpreters to act as research assistants.
Getting a research assistant that had sufficient English skills was
originally quite difficult, as the ones who did speak English often engaged
in other activities, or had moved to Lodwar (districts headquarters) in
search of jobs. However, the use of these interpreters made the interviews
possible and the language differences were dealt with adequately.
Male perspective: The two research assistants employed were men. This
reflected the fact that it is men who are most likely to travel outside the
region, who make most decisions in Turkana society, and who frequently
interact with outsiders regarding assistance, information, livestock
exchange, and food sharing. According to informants, one of the reasons
why Turkana women are excluded from decision making is that the men
get their wives from ‘outside’ the clan. By being ‘outsiders’ and living
among people who may look at them as an ‘outsider’, women’s influence in
decision making is limited. Informants also claimed that women’s social
networks are smaller than what is the case for the men. Men invest cattle
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