The importance of bees and conservation practices can be embedded in individuals from early childhood. The Tanzanian Maasai, known for their pastoral life, have recently seen the introduction of ...beekeeping activities in their region. The key question in this study was "How are the Maasai faring with the introduction of beekeeping in their society?" The research involved (1) some exploratory interviews with adult Maasai, (2) a preliminary survey of 196 Maasai children from a school that recently engaged in beekeeping activities, and (3) the main study, a survey of 119 Maasai adults from the same region who were aware of beekeeping activities. All adult interviewees indicated positive feelings toward bees and beekeeping despite how "modern" or "traditional" they felt. And Maasai school children showed their enthusiasm for and empathy with bees. Specifically, while only 27% of children felt emotionally connected to bees, 84% believed beekeeping activities were beneficial, and 70% wanted to learn more about bees in school. The study of Maasai adults showed that, compared to livestock and dogs, they were significantly less emotionally connected to bees. Although 92% were aware of beekeeping, only 4% had been involved in creating any bee-related products. Further, individual relatedness to nature was associated with their willingness to engage in and learn about beekeeping activities for themselves and their children. However, the association was weaker in the case of adult Maasai, who had a more negative attitude toward bees.
Using an ethnographic approach that combines participant observation and semi-structured in-depth interviews, this study describes ongoing changes in the social norm and practice of female ...circumcision among the Maasai community of Loita Hills, Kenya. This article highlights the importance of place in shaping social relations, by showing how in Loita's negotiations around female circumcision attention to the intersection of gender, culture, ethnicity and place - and in particular the ongoing effects of colonialism - is pivotal to successful efforts to change the tradition. By taking into account the effects of colonialism in Loita, as well as Maasai's position at the margins of decision-making on female circumcision, the nongovernmental organisation SAFE Maa developed a successful approach to challenge the social norm on female circumcision. The four key elements of this approach - non-judgemental, community-led, intersectional, and showcasing wider change - can inspire other actors working on female circumcision. This research responds to the paucity of attention to place in intersectional studies and contributes to the growing body of literature that considers female genital cutting as a social norm.
Religious healing specialists such as shamans often use magic. Evolutionary theories that seek to explain why laypersons find these specialists convincing focus on the origins of magical cognition ...and belief in the supernatural. In two studies, we reframe the problem by investigating relationships among ethnomedical specialists, who possess extensive theories of disease that can often appear “supernatural,” and religious healing specialists. In study 1, we coded and analyzed cross-cultural descriptions of ethnomedical specialists in 47 cultures, finding 24% were also religious leaders and 74% used supernatural theories of disease. We identified correlates of the use of supernatural concepts among ethnomedical specialists; incentives and disincentives to patronize ethnomedical specialists; and distinct clusters of ethnomedical specialists that we label prestigious teachers, feared diviners, and efficacious healers. In study 2, we interviewed 84 Maasai pastoralists and their traditional religious and non-religious healing specialists. We found that laypersons relied on medicinal services based on combinations of efficacy, religious identity, and interpersonal trust. Further, laypersons and specialists largely used abstract concepts that were not conspicuously supernatural to describe how local medicines work. We conclude that religious healers in traditional societies often fulfill a practical and specialized service to local clients, and argue that supernatural theories of disease often reflect abstract cognition about rare phenomena whose causes are unobservable (e.g., infection, mental illness) instead of a separate “religious” style of thinking.
•We develop a theory of wealth-destroying private property rights.•When property decision makers are residual claimants, they privatize assets only when doing so creates social wealth.•When decision ...makers are not residual claimants, they may privatize assets even when doing so destroys social wealth.•Land privatization in Kajiado, Kenya illustrates our theory.•In Kajiado, land privatizers were not residual claimants, and land privatization destroyed social wealth.
According to conventional wisdom, privatizing the commons will create wealth. Yet in cases found throughout the developing world, privatizing the commons has destroyed wealth. To explain this phenomenon, we develop a theory of wealth-destroying private property rights. Privatization’s effect on social wealth depends on whether privatizing an asset confers net gains or imposes net losses on society. The decision to privatize, however, depends on whether privatizing an asset confers net gains or imposes net losses on property decision makers. When decision makers are residual claimants, these effects move in tandem; privatization occurs only if it creates social wealth. When decision makers are not residual claimants, these effects may diverge; privatization occurs if it benefits decision makers personally even if privatization destroys social wealth. We apply our theory to understand wealth-destroying land privatization in Kajiado, Kenya.
Human–carnivore conflict is a primary driver of carnivore declines worldwide and resolving these conflicts is a conservation priority. However, resources to mitigate conflicts are limited and should ...be focused on areas of highest priority. We conducted 820 semistructured interviews with community members living within Kenya's Maasai Mara ecosystem. A multiscale analysis was used to determine the influence of husbandry and environmental factors on livestock depredation inside livestock enclosures (bomas). Areas with a high proportion of closed habitat and protected areas had the highest risk of depredation. Depredation was most likely to occur at weak bomas and at households where there were fewer dogs. We used the results to identify potential conflict hotspots by mapping the probability of livestock depredation across the landscape. 21.4% of the landscape was classified as high risk, and within these areas, 53.4% of the households that were interviewed had weak bomas. Synthesis and applications. With limited resources available to mitigate human–carnivore conflicts, it is imperative that areas are identified where livestock is most at risk of depredation. Focusing mitigation measures on high‐risk areas may reduce conflict and lead to a decrease in retaliatory killings of predators.
Human–carnivore conflict is a primary driver of carnivore declines worldwide, and resolving these conflicts is a conservation priority. Using reported depredation data from 820 semistructured interviews conducted in the Maasai Mara, Kenya, the influence of husbandry and environmental factors on livestock depredation inside livestock enclosures was determined. Both husbandry and environmental factors influenced whether a depredation event would occur and the results were used to identify potential conflict hotspots by mapping the probability of livestock depredation across the Mara landscape.
1. Like many wildlife populations across Africa, recent analyses indicate that African lions are declining rapidly outside of small fenced areas. Community conservancies - privately protected areas ...that engage community members in conservation - may potentially maintain wildlife populations in unfenced pastoralist regions, but their effectiveness in conserving large carnivores has been largely unknown until now. 2. We identify drivers of lion survival in community conservancies within the Masai Mara ecosystem, Kenya, applying mark-recapture analyses to continuous sight-resight surveys. We use the number of livestock and human settlements as proxies for potential human-lion conflict whilst controlling for environmental variables and lion socioecology. 3. Average lion densities within the Mara conservancies between 2008 and 2013 (11·87 lions 100 km⁻²) were 2·6 times higher than those previously reported in 2003. Survival rates varied amongst prides and were highest for lions utilizing central regions of conservancies. 4. The number of livestock settlements (bomas corrals and manyattas) that were not members of a conservancy, and that fell within a pride home-range, had a large negative effect on female survival and was the most influential external predictor in models. These nonconservancy settlements accounted for 37·2% of total observed variation in survival, whereas conservancy settlements, which benefit financially from wildlife through their membership, had no effect on lion survival. 5. Internal drivers of survival agreed with known ecology and social behaviour including age plus a negative effect of male takeovers on cub survival <6 months. Vegetation cover, prey availability and the density of grazing livestock within a pride's range did not explain patterns in lion survival. 6. Synthesis and applications. We show that lion densities have increased substantially within the Mara conservancies over the last decade and suggest that the creation of community conservancies has benefitted their survival. This suggests that lions can survive outside of fenced areas within pastoral regions if communities gain benefits from wildlife. We highlight the importance of expanding existing conservancies beyond their current geographical and political scope and forming buffer zones if wildlife ranges outside them. We suggest that changing attitudes to predators should be a key goal of community-based conservancies. Further work is recommended to identify what specific aspects of conservancy membership promote lion survival.
The participation of local communities in benefits sharing is a prerequisite for the long-term sustainability of World Heritage Sites (WHS). However, the rhetoric surrounding this assumption in many ...contexts may outweigh the empirical evidence for the role of WHS in improving the wellbeing and livelihoods of communities. Drawing insights from the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA), a WHS in Tanzania this study examines the Maasai indigenous community's perspectives on the impact of the WHS on their livelihoods. Data from local Maasai and traditional leaders residing at the NCA were collected through semi structured interviews. While a small number of community members acknowledge the significant opportunities through tourism which have supplemented their declining pastoralist incomes, the majority of participants highlighted the burdens that arise from the area's WHS status and its associated tourism development. These include restrictions to access to land resources; undermining livelihoods; unsatisfactory involvement in decision making and in benefits sharing; threat of relocation; and negative attitudes towards conservation principles. Collectively these factors contribute to a low level of appreciation of the WHS among Maasai residents of Ngorongoro. This study indicates that community participation in decision making and in benefits sharing is critical for World Heritage Sites to be deemed successful by local communities.
There has been increased focus within the human dimensions of climate change on understanding the complex and multiple ways of 'knowing' climate. While these discussions are important in recognising ...different ways of knowing the climate and climate change processes already underway, we argue that this epistemological approach is limited and challenging. It begins with an assumption that there is one world (climate) out there that can just be known differently, and that knowledge can be isolated from ways of being and acting in the world. This often results in a distilling of complex knowledge practices into information for the purposes of integration. Drawing from a material-semiotic approach from Science and Technology Studies (STS), we propose a shift of focus to ontology, with an emphasis on the enactment of knowledge and reality (climate) simultaneously. We present ethnographic data from two drought events (2008/2009 and 2010/2011) among Maasai pastoralists in Northern Tanzania in East Africa to illustrate the value of such an approach, using multiple topologies (regional, network, fluid) for thinking through and following multiple enactments of drought in practice.
This article offers a re-assessment of Maasai history from 1800 to 1930, taking a critical look at both the existing historiography and the sources on which it is based. It examines how Maasai ...institutions and group identities adapted to long-term environmental and social challenges, including climate change, disease, conflicts over resources and the advent of colonial overrule, always with survival as the main imperative. What emerges is a more complex and dynamic account of developments in the Central Rift Valley since the end of the eighteenth century.
The present study assessed the roles of Village Land Councils (VLC) in mitigating land conflicts before they got out of their control. Data was collected through questionnaire surveys, key informant ...interviews, and document reviews. A total of 136 participants were involved. The qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed using content analysis and SPSS, respectively. Findings show that village land councils had a minimal role in mitigating land conflicts due to the low literacy level of their members, a lack of VLC capacity building, a lack of chain of command in the conflict mediation and resolution process, biased decisions, ethnism, and corruption. As a result, communities use public courts of law to resolve land conflicts, contrary to the directives of the Village Land Act of 1999. It is concluded that, despite the shortcomings of the Village Land Act, village land councils that were designed to conduct reconciliation meetings and be village courts for reconciliation at the village level have failed to achieve the set objectives. The study recommend a review of the Village Land Act, capacity building for VLC members, setting secondary level education as one of the eligibility criteria for council membership, and weeding out corruption.
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