Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Kenya – Social conditions – Poetry'

The socio-economic conditions which affect development in general, and group ranching in particular, among the Maasai of Narok District, Kenya are analyzed. Systems of relationships between Maasai social units are examined to demonstrate how different individuals and groups within Maasai society, each with a diversity of vested interests, react to the opportunities and disadvantages offered them by imposed development programs and altered ecological conditions.
A single group ranch, Rotian OlMakongo, is the focus of intensive study. Maasai on this ranch, which is located in a semi-high potential wheat-growing area of Narok District, have largely been resistant to planned change.
The reaction of group ranch members to development are analyzed showing how lineage and clan affiliation, age set relations, stock friendships and other systems of relations affect individual and group decision-making.
On the one hand the analysis demonstrates how the structure of the group ranch itself is not conducive to the consensual decision-making which ranch planning officials anticipated would occur regarding such important issues as stock limitation. On the other hand traditional Maasai social units are seen at different times both to promote and inhibit new organizational forms to deal with a changing set of economic, ecological and political conditions.
A general trend toward impoverishment, disenfranchisement and supplementary economic pursuits is outlined. However, traditional pastoralism is not seen as being totally subsumed by a more dominant, essentially capitalistic mode of production. Rather, traditional pastoralism is seen to define the transformation of internal forms through a structure which incorporates the modern sector. The tension between the traditional and modern sectors is not their disassociation, but rather, their integration into the dynamic process of change within the structure.

In the context of growing poverty and sedentarization, the socio-economic status of pastoral women is an important indicator of how pastoralists in northern Kenya respond to social change. Accordingly, this study examines women's position in three communities in distinct settings of sedentarization. One is located in a semi-arid region dedicated to pastoralism and conservation, while the other two are in a moister mountain area where rain-fed and irrigation agriculture is combined with animal production. Analyses of quantitative and qualitative data, gathered from women and men during 2002--2003, indicate that women have largely responded to social change by using two strategies to secure the well-being of themselves and their children. First, despite the cultural assumption that married women are supported by their husbands, they have strengthened their relationships with natal kin, solidifying a support network to carry them through times of difficulty. Secondly, given decline in returns from subsistence pastoralism, women have seized numerous opportunities to diversify their economic pursuits in order to generate steady income.
Essentially, findings illustrate that, in addition to gaining access to various resources through their marital homes and their own efforts, the majority of women receive socio-economic support from their natal kin, especially brothers. In two communities where land is being privatized, most women have been excluded from the land registration process because of traditional and national policies. However, many fathers are awarding their daughters permanent usufruct rights to family land to ensure they do not become landless because of the death of a spouse or negligence on the part of husbands. Although this does not eliminate the discrimination many women face from being excluded from the registration process, it is a move towards the betterment of women's long-term food and financial security.
Besides contributing to domestic activities, women engage in very different forms of income-generating activities; in Archer's Post, they obtain earnings from craft sales or tourist-related services, in Parkishon/Karare they gain income from milk-marketing, while in Songa, women pursue cultivation for subsistence and market sale. It is a positive finding that most women generate steady income over which they have managed to maintain control.

The coffee crisis began with the collapse of the International Coffee Agreement which ended the quotas, consequently flooding the market. A cash crop could be an anvil upon which a society transforms itself from one form of social-economic mode of existence to another. By extension, the profile of the development of the crop, as it becomes acculturated into the receiving society can be emblematic of the mutation of the same society. The subject under study analyses the effects of the 'coffee crisis' since the late 1980s. Such a study should be cognizant of the cyclic nature of primary commodity production, strongly tied to the international marketing mechanism beyond their control. Through a crisis we may observe reactions of the stakeholders and search for indicators of social change. The fifteen year old coffee crisis is a spectrum through which we may perceive the social- economic shift that may have been triggered by the sharp fall in prices. This, we believe is better studied through analyzing the strategies of the stakeholders in the industry: the reactions of the farmers, the steps taken by women, hence the transformation of gendered relationships and attendant conflicts, intergenerational sensibility of the crisis and the strategies of actors in the chain
En 1989, la fin de l’Accord International du Café a mis un terme au système de quotas permettant d'inonder le marché avec du café de qualité parfois inférieure. Les prix mondiaux sont tombés à leur niveau le plus bas dans l'histoire. L'économie du Kenya, améliorée par le boom des années 1970, chute gravement, et s'est détériorée dans les années 1980. Pendant les 15 années suivantes, la production diminue de 150 000 à 50 000 tonnes, déclenchant au fur et à mesure une crise sociale, alors médiatisée sous le nom de « guerres du café de Nyeri ». Ce qui est méconnu c'est la complexité du processus social et économique et surtout comment les acteurs s'y sont ajustés. Une culture de rente peut être à la charnière de la transformation d'un mode d'existence social à un autre. De plus, le développement d'une telle culture, dès lors qu'elle est enracinée dans une société donnée, peut être emblématique des mutations de cette société. Le sujet de cette étude porte sur la « crise du café » depuis la fin des années 1980, crise qui annonce les changements des dimensions sociales et économiques au Kenya Central et dans le pays tout entier. À travers une crise nous pouvons observer les réactions des acteurs et chercher des indicateurs de changement social. La crise du café nous donne une opportunité de percevoir les changements socio-économiques qui suivirent après la chute importante de prix. Nous croyons que la situation est mieux étudiée si l'on analyse les stratégies et les enjeux des acteurs dans la filière : Les réactions des producteurs et les dispositifs chez les femmes, d'où on étudiera la transformation des rapports entre les genres et les conflits qui y participent, ainsi que les dimensions intergénérationnelles Généralement, on se demande, quelles sont les stratégies des acteurs dans la filière ? Nous étudierons les indicateurs d'une nouvelle société en répondant à cette question. Mais toute conclusion doit prendre en compte la dimension temporelle comme un facteur-majeur de l'étude de changement social. En fait, les paramètres seront plus faciles à délimiter après une ou deux générations, ce qui n'empêche pas de décrire la situation actuelle. L'avenir est fondé sur le présent et concrètement l'aujourd'hui est justifié par le passé

The primary objective of this thesis is to account for the fertility decline among Abagusii women in South-western Kenya. The motivation behind the study was based on the fact that the fertility trends associated with this group of people had not been studied before. This is surprising because the Abagusii recorded one of the world's highest total fertility rates of 10.4 in 1979 (Omosa 1994; Osiemo 1986; Oucho 1990), but has also experienced significant fertility decline. The total fertility rate in 2004 stood at 4.7, (Anyara 2009). The analytical framework that is adopted is Stover's (1998) adaptation of the Bongaarts et. al. (1984) Proximate Determinants Model. These determinants such as contraceptive use, post-partum insusceptibility, sexual activity, abortion and sterility represent behavioural and biological variables that affect fertility directly. The manner in which they are employed involves using the index which indicates the extent to which each proximate determinant reduces the fertility of the group in question.

Half of health care in sub-Saharan Africa is privately provided, however, for mental health, the literature is all but absent on these services. Kenya provides a useful case-study, as it has a wellorganized non-state sector and data are readily available. My thesis asks what contribution do non-state actors make to coverage for mental disorders in Kenya? Non-state mental health care is conceived along two axes: for-profit vs. not-for-profit and formal vs. informal. Four empirical chapters use mixed-methods to examine: 1) not-forprofit NGO care; 2) for-profit inpatient care; 3) for-profit outpatient care; and 4) traditional and faith healing. Data were collected on 774 service users and 120 service providers from four primary sources, and two secondary sources, as well as from a wide range of key-informant interviews. The first two chapters set the research question within the context of existing knowledge in the fields of health economics and health services research. The third chapter provides an overview of methods, focusing on cost-effectiveness analysis, case study method, and crosscultural psychiatric epidemiology. The first empirical chapter presents an NGO intervention called the model for Mental Health and Development, evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively, using cost-effectiveness analysis. The second empirical chapter offers a case study of a growing private psychiatric hospital, using regression analysis on the effects of insurance on charge and service use. The third chapter is a short descriptive analysis of a questionnaire completed by psychiatric nurses about their participation in mental health care, and structured interviews with specialist outpatient providers. The final empirical chapter contains qualitative and quantitative data on traditional and faith healing, analysed for similarities and differences. The conclusion ties together findings thematically according to capacity, access and cost, estimating the degree of mental health care coverage offered by non-state actors in Kenya, and offering lessons for policy and research.

The burgeoning scholarship on African youth indicates that young people are experiencing difficulties in attaining social adulthood and spend extended time in waithood - a period of economic and job insecurities that is becoming a permanent marker of their youth, affecting their life trajectories and future aspirations (Honwana, 2012; Locke & te Lintelo, 2012). Youth waithood involves navigating precarious conditions arising under neoliberalism and its economic liberalization reforms, and developing new subjectivities resulting from the acquisition of extra skills set, maintaining social networks, and engaging in new political formations (Jeffrey, 2008). Informed by concepts of neoliberal subjectivities, opportunity spaces, and Bourdieu's forms of capital, I conducted qualitative research with university students in six public universities, and with educated young farmers in Western, Eastern, and Central regions of Kenya. I investigated how Kenyan youth navigate waithood by occupying new opportunity spaces opened up by student environmentalism and agricultural entrepreneurialism - two areas that have been reconfigured by global discourses of environmental change, green jobs, and agricultural transformation. My findings show that the occupational aspirations of educated youth were changing to include navigation strategies of portfolio occupations, tarmacking, and side-hustling. Within the new opportunity spaces, these youth realized neoliberal subjectivities that enabled them to garner capitals through self-making, entrepreneurialism, and reworking of elite distinctions. Student environmentalists' navigation strategies included acquiring environmental knowledge and work experiences; joining networks of environmental professionals; and participating in environmental anti-politics. Educated young farmers embraced ideologies of portfolio occupations and green livelihoods. They also relied on the reconfigurations of gendered identities and the rural-urban divide, competitive individualism, and associational life to rework their occupational aspirations and maintain elite distinctions in society. In sum, negotiating youth waithood is a complex, intertwined, and uncertain process involving flexibilities and chance opportunities to access, maintain, and utilize capitals. The emergent subjectivities remain insecure, unstable and do not necessarily guarantee exiting waithood.

This study examines the use of songs, poems and drama to raise awareness of, and respond to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Nakuru, Kenya. The primary focus is that of youth-oriented interventions, but additional examples are also examined and analyzed. A qualitative approach is used and the study is based on semi-structured interviews with teachers, performers, students, NGO-representatives and former students conducted during four weeks in November and December 2012. Additionally, songs, poems and dramas have been collected and observed and finally analyzed using a theoretical framework that combines the Health Belief Model, the Social Cognitive Theory as well as principles of the research discipline of Medical Ethnomusicology. The study shows that songs, poems and drama are important methods to communicate messages and play an important role in shaping the local HIV/AIDS discourse. Due to its effectiveness, it is vital that the messages promoted are culturally appropriate as well as correct since the study shows that false information through these methods can hamper a desired behavior change.

The social model of disability, which provides the ideological basis for the recent UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, emphasizes the need for society to change, in order to remove all forms of disability discrimination and allow for full participation. However, literature debates have raised questions over the relevance of this ideology to the majority world context. This thesis aims to explore this dilemma, by examining the influence of the social model on a range of current approaches to promoting economic empowerment within Kenya and India - two countries that have signed and ratified the Convention. The methodology is based on a comparative analysis of 26 case studies, conducted between June 2010 and February 2011, which were focused mainly on three particular routes to economic empowerment: vocational training, formal sector employment and self-directed employment. The study concludes that, while inclusive strategies that were firmly based on social model principles tended to be among the most successful, a total reliance on this ideology would run the risk of excluding a large section of the disability population altogether. In particular, some of the segregated services were found to be continuing to play an important role in disability service provision.

Home brewed alcohol is responsible for a significant proportion of alcohol related harms across Africa, yet in Kenya where the problem receives much media attention, pombe ya kienyeji (home brew) has been significantly under-researched. Existing research offers limited information regarding the personal stories and daily lives of people within this sub-culture which would inform us about the social and political contexts of alcohol. This thesis is a description of the sub-culture of home-made fermented beers in a rural, geographically isolated and politically marginalised region of southern Kenya. The research was conducted using a mixed methods ethnographic approach including participant observation, focus groups, informal interviews, drawing exercises with children, body mapping, life story interviews and oral histories, community mapping, reflexive focus groups, photography, and the ethnographer working as a Mama Pima (the woman who serves the beer). Research took place over a period of three years from 2011-2014, with around 24 months spent in the field. Home brewed beers are an integral part of the local economy, providing employment and financial independence for many women, enabling them to send their children to school and look after their families. The study uses the concepts of structural violence, and demasculinity, as analytical perspectives to explain and rationalise the behaviour of drinkers, brewers and other relevant actors within ‘Kijiji’, the study site. These chapters make the case that state level structural violence is a precipitator of alcoholism, and that domestic violence witnessed from an early age is normalised in many households. For the women who brew, a climate of mistrust and fear of the authorities pervades everyday life. Focus group discussions shed light on the changing role of alcohol within society and the different meanings ascribed to it since independence. Life stories indicate that violence witnessed and suffered in childhood are precursors to problematic drinking behaviour in later life. There are clearly defined gender roles in production and consumption of alcohol with women primarily undertaking production and sale of brew, and men dominating the drinking scene. A full description of the brews and brewing process, environments, and drinking dens are recorded. Whether actual levels of consumption have increased in real terms is beyond the scope of this study. The empirical results demonstrate that structural violence is deeply embedded in rural Kenyan society and provide an alternative to the commonly held belief that brewers and drinkers are deviant or criminal. Brewers and drinkers still manage to create for themselves a meaningful life within this context and construct realities in which they can express self-worth and respect. This study makes an addition to the existing body of literature concerning alcohol and health in East Africa, and provides a detailed insight into the daily lives and motivations, local realities and challenges for people within the sub-culture of home brew in rural Kenya.

The focus of this thesis is an AIDS education programme targeting prostitutes in the industrial town of Thika, Kenya. The thesis challenges three key assumptions underlying the programme, namely: (1) prostitutes in Kenya form a readily identifiable, homogenous social category; (2) medically, they are a source of HIV-infection, and a risk group due to their sexual activity; (3) once provided with knowledge about AIDS transmission and prevention, they have the incentive, and the means to modify their risk behaviour. The notions of "prostitution", "risk", and "responsibility", as assumed in the medical discourse of the programme, are contrasted with those found in the narratives of local health workers and the women involved in the programme. The incongruences in these sets of understandings have implications for the interpretation of epidemiological findings and the planning of AIDS prevention programmes in general. By lending an overall priority ranking to the risk factor of sexual behaviour, the epidemiological paradigm informing the programme masks social and economic co-factors placing women at risk, as well as the role of men in transmission of the HIV-virus. Further, the paradigm ignores important factors in the motivation of health behaviour, namely, the relative significance that women attribute to the risk of AIDS, as well as their envisaged control over health.

The thesis explored the drivers and inhibitors of change in sexual and reproductive health (SRH) policy and legislation in Kenya. The overall purpose was to contribute to the limited knowledge on national-level debates that shape how developing countries adapt the SRH agenda, which originated from international processes. The thesis explains how and why some SRH reforms have been realised in Kenya amid contention, while others have been blocked. Guided by a synthesis conceptual framework that emphasised the central role of discursive power in decision-making, the thesis adopted a qualitative case-study design enriched with various anthropological concepts. Three case-studies (two bureaucratic, i.e. adolescent RH policy and national RH policy, and one legislative, i.e. sexual offences law) were deconstructed. Data collection involved semi-structured in-depth interviews with policy actors, observations and note-taking in meetings, and document review. Findings revealed that four influential narratives of SRH – the moral narrative, cultural narrative, medical narrative (with two variations i.e. ‘moralised' versus ‘comprehensive' medical narratives), and human rights narrative – underpinned by conflicting actor interests, mediated the interplay of actor networks, knowledge, context and institutions to determine reforms. The findings revealed that the strong entrenchment of the moral and cultural narratives in the Kenyan context (mainly public structures and institutions) was a major barrier to reforms on contested SRH issues. Even then, the hegemonic narratives were in some cases unsettled to make reforms possible. The most important factors in unsettling the hegemonic narratives to facilitate reforms included: a change in the political context that brought in new political actors supportive of reforms, the presence of knowledgeable and charismatic issue champions within political and bureaucratic institutions, the availability of compelling knowledge (scientific or lay) on an issue, sustained evidence-informed advocacy by civil society/non-governmental organisations, donor pressure, and reduced political costs (for politicians and bureaucrats) for supporting reforms. The main contribution of the thesis is three-fold. First, the thesis captures the disconnect between international SRH agreements and national-level realities, showing the need for international actors to consider national-level realities that shape decision-making. Second, its findings provide lessons for informing future SRH reform efforts in Kenya and in other sub-Saharan African countries. Third, its analysis of discursive power contributes to a major theoretical gap in health systems research in developing countries identified as lack of critical analysis of power in decision-making.

At the end of the 1920s in Kenya, Protestant Missionaries, government authorities and Christian Kikuyu clashed when missionaries sought to prohibit female circumcision among their adherents. The mission discourse emphasised the negative moral and physical effects of female circumcision on individual women, while that of the government stressed the function of female circumcision in maintaining the body-politic. The colonial discourse, as whole, is marked by a striking division between issues concerning women and those deemed political. Thus, women seldom appear as actors in historical narratives of the female circumcision controversy, which is generally represented as a nationalist movement initiated by, and of concern to, men.
This thesis presents alternate readings of the relevant colonial records. By examining the processes that functioned to exclude women from the political discourse it provides a different interpretation of the controversy as one in which women did indeed play a central political role, indirectly controlling the issue through men, who were regarded by the colonialists as the legitimate representatives of tribal interests. The thesis explores indirect methods of eliciting the perspectives of women which are muted or absent from the historical record.

Masai Mara, a large nature reserve in south-western Kenya, was created in the midst of semi-arid agropastoralist rangelands to protect wildlife. Wildlife and indigenous people co-existed for many years, usually with limited conflict; but in recent years, the conflict has intensified, mainly due to increasing human population, changing land use patterns, and altered perceptions of wildlife. This study examines the causes and nature of wildlife-human conflict in the Masai rangelands of Kenya, and considers how wildlife conservation and human development needs can best be integrated.
Findings indicate that common conflicts are livestock depredation and crop damage, human deaths or injuries, transmission of diseases, and competition for resources. Land surrounding the reserve can be divided into two distinct topographic and agroclimatic regions. The degree of conflict is spatially varied within the region. Upland ranches have high land use potential, high human and livestock population densities, and more development of agriculture. They experience limited conflict with wildlife. Lowland ranches are more arid, have lower human population density and little agriculture, but have high wildlife and livestock population densities and experience a high degree of conflict. These conflicts vary seasonally, and with distance from the protected area.
Perceptions of wildlife and attitudes towards conservation are related to past experience with wildlife. The degree of loss, effectiveness of damage control, fairness of government compensation, and involvement in wildlife tourism affect the degree of tolerance for wildlife conflict. Various socio-economic factors including level of education, knowledge of conservation priorities, and system of land ownership are related to attitudes towards wildlife. As human activity increases in the region, wildlife is more likely to be displaced. Because most animals are migratory, conflict in the land surrounding the reserve puts the viability of animal population in the protected area in question.
A two-phase program for integrating wildlife conservation with human needs is proposed. The first phase involves designation of the region into four zones: Zone A--the protected area, Zone B--the peripheral area, Zone C--multiple use, and Zone D--agriculture. The second phase of the program is the integration of the wildlife conservation with human interests through: community wildlife-damage-control, compensation for loss, sharing of tourism benefits with local people, conservation education, and local participation in wildlife conservation policy. The program provides a framework within which operational decisions can be made, and serves broader natural resource management and community development objectives in the rangelands.

This is a study of the creation and evolution of state forestry within colonial Kenya in social, economic, and political terms. Spanning Kenya’s entire colonial period, it offers a chronological account of how forestry came to Kenya and grew to the extent of controlling almost two million hectares of land in the country, approximately 20 per cent of the most fertile and most populated upland (above 1,500 metres) region of central Kenya . The position of forestry within a colonial state apparatus that paradoxically sought to both ‘protect’ Africans from modernisation while exploiting them to establish Kenya as a ‘white man’s country’ is underexplored in the country’s historiography. This thesis therefore clarifies this role through an examination of the relationship between the Forest Department and its African workers, Kenya’s white settlers, and the colonial government. In essence, how each of these was engaged in a pursuit for their own idealised ‘good forest’. Kenya was the site of a strong conservationist argument for the establishment of forestry that typecast the country’s indigenous population as rapidly destroying the forests. This argument was bolstered against critics of the financial extravagance of forestry by the need to maintain and develop the forests of Kenya for the express purpose of supporting the Uganda railway. It was this argument that led the colony’s Forest Department along a path through the contradictions of colonial rule. The European settlers of Kenya are shown as being more than just a mere thorn in the side of the Forest Department, as their political power represented a very real threat to the department’s hegemony over the forests. Moreover, Kenya’s Forest Department deeply mistrusted private enterprise and constantly sought to control and limit the unsustainable exploitation of the forests. The department was seriously underfunded and understaffed until the second colonial occupation of the 1950s, a situation that resulted in a general ad hoc approach to forest policy. The department espoused the rhetoric of sustainable exploitation, but had no way of knowing whether the felling it authorised was actually sustainable, which was reflected in the underdevelopment of the sawmilling industry in Kenya. The agroforestry system, shamba, (previously unexplored in Kenya’s colonial historiography) is shown as being at the heart of forestry in Kenya and extremely significant as perhaps the most successful deployment of agroforestry by the British in colonial Africa. Shamba provided numerous opportunities to farm and receive education to landless Kikuyu in the colony, but also displayed very strong paternalistic aspects of control, with consequential African protest, as the Forest Department sought to create for itself a loyal and permanent forest workforce. Shamba was the keystone of forestry development in the 1950s, and its expansion cemented the position of forestry in Kenya as a top-down, state-centric agent of economic and social development.

A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Witwatersrand, South Africa Wits School of Governance, 2017
This research addresses three questions: how Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) following the post-election violence of 2007/2008 in Kenya are recreating their community resilience capacities; how the Kenyan government and non-state interventions are influencing the victims’ livelihood strategies towards their reconstruction and recovery process and how social support and social capital has accelerated their reconstruction and recovery process. It proposes a post-conflict reconstruction and recovery approach based on the research findings. The research adopted Qualitative research methodology and primary data were collected from the month of January, 2015 continuously and concurrently with data analysis. The key findings were that ownership of land is perceived and identified as a milestone in the process of post-conflict reconstruction and recovery, an avenue for community resilience. The main means of livelihood for IDPs are casual labour and other menial jobs. The Kenyan government has made an effort towards resettlement of IDPs although this is ad hoc and ineffective due to lack of experience and a specific framework for any major resettlement. NGOs abandoned the reconstruction and recovery projects as soon as the humanitarian crisis ended. But the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had reconstruction and recovery projects which ended in 2011. In displacement, IDPs lost their original support system, but developed new emergent norms to support each other. Integration of IDPs is a better option in the reconstruction and recovery process compared to the government farm resettlement approach. The key recommendations are that government should evaluate the economic loss of every integrated IDP and those resettled in government procured farms should be provided with legal ownership documents. There should be an urgent re-profiling of IDPs in camps and use of UN Guiding Principles on IDPs to re-integrate them into society. The findings of this research bring to light new knowledge on the theory of social capital: victims of displacement develop new emergent norms, values and culture to support each other, which eventually creates a new society/community. Key Words: Post-conflict reconstruction and recovery; integrated IDPs; government resettled IDPs; camp-based IDPs; social capital: social support; livelihood strategies.
E.R. 2019

Both development and post-structuralist anthropologists have critiqued development. Development anthropologists are concerned that development does not take adequate account of the social and cultural factors of developing nations, while post structuralists question the ontology of development and assert that domination over developing nations is inherent in the concept of development. To examine the social effects of development projects I conducted ethnographic research for a nine-week period on social relations at Sagana Fish Farm, located two kilometers from Sagana Township in the Kirinyaga District of the Central Province of Kenya. (The population of Sagana Township is approximately 5,885 people.) I obtained thirty-one semi-structured interviews, also relying on participant observation and informal interviews with civil servants (permanent employees) and casual laborers (temporary employees). I analyzed information obtained during interviews and participant observation within the context of power and resistance theory. Civil servants tended to value the presence of development projects because projects made structural enhancements and renovations to the fish farm. Development projects presented civil servants the possibility for skills development and additional income to fish farm employees and created temporary employment for individuals from neighboring communities. Civil servants stated that an inexpensive source of protein was available in the form of fish, chicken, and milk as a result of the work of development organizations. However, they also expressed concerns regarding the sustainability of development projects due to tension between expatriate development project workers and fish farm employees, inadequate information sharing and technology transfer, and financial and human resource mismanagement in the Kenya civil service. Casual laborers discussed the possibility of skills development through their work with development projects at the fish farm and expressed concern about their employment conditions. They were concerned about low wages in contrast with the intensity of their labor; insecure terms of employment; an absence of protective equipment at their work site; health and medical issues; and the availability of treated drinking water. Other concerns were associated with dignity, tribalism, and a fear of power of expatriate development workers and Kenyan civil service officers. Based on the above findings I made the following recommendations were made: implement cultural sensitivity training for expatriate development workers; develop project plans that foster a sense of investment in project operations; provide discounted fish to casual laborers; improve the work conditions of casual laborers; establish a health clinic; and provide informal loans to facilitate technology transfer.
Graduation date: 1999

The objective of this research is to explore the perceptions of rural Samburu women in Kenya with regard to HIV/AIDS in terms of their knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and opinions; to examine several HIV/AIDS awareness channels that have been used to communicate HIV/AIDS messages to the Samburu women to determine how effective they have been in effecting behaviour change.This study is an example of how a communication audit can be carried out on a certain sub-group of a community in order to suggest a tailor-made communication strategy in an effort to stop the spread of HIV among the Samburu women. This study is also a confirmation that the prevention strategies that have been in use to communicate to Samburu women have been inadequate and need to be revised to address the knowledge gaps that exist. The study is located within a relatively new field of health communication where health messages are evaluated to determine whether target audiences are receiving these messages and changing their behaviour in order to live healthier lives. This area of study is also supported by behaviour change models such as the Health Belief Model (HBM), the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), Diffusion of Innovations Theory, Cultural Models, and Strategic Communication. A qualitative study was undertaken in 2008 by way of ten focus group discussions with Samburu women and eleven in-depth interviews with professionals who ran HIV/AIDS programmes in the Samburu district. The focus groups were constituted by means of convenience sampling whereas the snowball strategy was utilised for the selection of participants for in-depth interviews. The questioning route for the focus group discussions for the Samburu women was guided by five themes namely: knowledge levels of the women; cultural aspects that made the women vulnerable to HIV/AIDS; beliefs about HIV/AIDS; attitudes towards HIV/AIDS; and the different channels of communication used to convey HIV/AIDS messages. The interview schedule for the professionals consisted of open-ended questions and face-to-face interviews were carried out using this schedule.
Communication Sciences
D. Litt. et Phil. (Communication)

The overall policy goal of education for the Kenyan Government is the provision of education and training to all Kenyans as it is fundamental to the Government’s overall development strategy. This emphasis means that every Kenyan has the right to education and training no matter his/her socio-economic status. The Government has therefore allocated substantial resources and there has been notable achievements attained, but the sector still faces major challenges related to access, equity, and quality amongst others (Session paper no. 1 2005:2). One of these major challenges to access is the existence and persistence of retrogressive traditional practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM).The first concern of this study is that despite the immense awareness of the dangers on the victims in many aspects in life, and efforts to stamp it out, FGM still persists and thrives in many parts of the country to date. Secondly, there is an ever growing gender disparity in Kuria district, whereby women professionals are hard to come by. Even in the teaching profession which is associated with females in Kenya, there are a negligible number of Kuria female teachers. There is therefore need to liberate these girls from the persistent “senseless genital mutilation” by proper and relevant socialization and empowerment against cultural practices. The Cultural Lag theory of sociologist William F. Ogburn (1964) will be the underlying theoretical perspective of this study to explain the phenomenon, focusing explicitly on the
Sociology
DLITT(SOC)

This study is a reading of khuswala kumuse (funeral oratory) among the Bukusu from the perspective of contemporary theories of masculinity and gender relations. Funeral oratory performance is an age-old practice performed on the third day after burial (lufu), of honoured males from clans that enjoy respect from other clans because of their leadership qualities. The thesis is about the performances of John Wanyonyi Manguliechi. Focusing on his unique personality and creative oral skills as a performer, the thesis seeks to demonstrate Manguliechi’s artistic contribution to a venerated tradition. This study benefits from ethnography and fieldwork as methods of literary research in order to interrogate concerns of gender, power discourses and performance in a traditional oral text. The study focuses on pre-recorded texts of Manguliechi and critically analyzes them through the prism of masculinity, gender and power discourse. Specifically, our analysis employs masculinity and gender relations theories to study circumcision, ethnicity and elements of power discourses in Manguliechi’s funeral oratories. The notion of ‘textualizing masculinity’ in this study refers to the various ways of being a man as highlighted by Manguliechi in his recitals. The study examines the funeral oratory as a cultural discourse shaped by masculine nuances and an oral literary genre laden with multiple images of power discourses and gender relations. In the Bukusu parlance, ‘khuswala kumuse’ connotes rhetorical excellence, and the genre represents the most elaborate and creative verbal expression. Thus, persuasive public speech is a much-vaunted art form in the community and any man whose oratory skills demonstrate good rhetoric and eloquence is held in the utmost esteem. In this study we argue that although Manguliechi’s performances are essentially funeral rituals, his recitals are rare examples of rhetorical genius with highly expressive and idiomatic creativity that can be subjected to literary analysis. The study interrogates the interfaces between the textual and thematic concerns of Manguliechi’s kumuse renditions on the one hand and the masculine gender constructions and power imaginations within the same texts.

"November 2004"
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 246-263)
xi, 263 leaves ; 30 cm.
A comparative study of the impact of international catalysts on women's entry into the national parliaments of Kenya and Australia and whether they have similar impacts on women's parliamentary recruitment in countries that have different terms of incorporation into the international system.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, School of Social Sciences, Discipline of Gender Studies, 2005

Abstract in English, Venda and Tsonga
Released prisoners in Kenya have a 75% likelihood of committing another crime and a 50% probability of going to jail two years after their discharge from prison custody. From the trend of recidivism in Kenya, there are a staggeringly high number of offenders being incarcerated and eventually released back to the community, and the high risk of re-arrest and reincarceration is a concern for policymakers, criminologists and correctional managers. This study examined the influence of offender characteristics, offender reintegration and community perception and attitude regarding recidivism in Kakamega County, Kenya. The study adopted a survey research design. Findings reveal a statistically significant relationship between offender characteristics and recidivism. In addition, offender reintegration and community perception and attitude towards offenders greatly influence recidivism. From the study, it is recommended that the government provide correctional officers with the required resources to use the actuarial risk assessment model. The model is applied to the released offenders to predict the future probability of recidivism. In addition, it is recommended that the government and the various correctional stakeholders come up with an integrated approach that specifically targets successful re-entry of offenders upon release from prison. Finally, it is recommended that the government develop programmes targeting awareness of the community members to desist from stigmatising ex-offenders.
Vhafariwa vho vhofhololwaho ngei Kenya vha na khonadzeo ya 75% ya u ita vhuṅwe vhutshinyi na 50% ya khonadzeo ya u ya dzhele miṅwaha mivhili nga murahu ha u bva tshiṱokisini. U bva kha nzulele ya u tshinya fhafhu ngei Kenya, hu na u mangadza huhulwane ha tshivhalo tshi re nṱha tsha vhatshinyi vha re dzhele vhane vha fhedzisela vho vhofhololelwa murahu kha tshitshavha, khohakhombo khulwane ya u dovha u farwa hafhu na u valelwa hafhu dzhele zwi vhilaedzisa vhabveledzi vha mbekanyamaitele, vhaḓivhi vha zwa vhutshinyi na vhalanguli vha vhululamisi. Ngudo i ṱola ṱhuṱhuwedzo ya zwiṱaluli zwa mutshinyi, mbuedzedzo ya mutshinyi na zwine tshitshavha tsha mudzhiisa zwone na vhuvha zwi tshi ya kha u tshinya hafhu kha Dzingu ḽa Kakamega, Kenya. Ngudo yo shumisa tsedzuluso ya pulane yo dzudzanywaho ya ṱhoḓisiso. Mawanwa o dzumbulula tshivhalo tsha vhushaka ha ndeme vhukati ha zwiṱaluli zwa mutshinyi na u tshinya hafhu. U ḓadzisa khazwenezwo, mbuedzedzo y mutshinyi na zwine tshitshavha tsha mudzhiisa zwone na vhuvha zwi tshi ya kha vhatshinyi zwi ṱuṱuwedza nga huhulu u tshinya hafhu. U bva kha ngudo, hu themendelwa uri muvhuso u ṋetshedze vhaofisiri vha ndulamiso zwiko zwine zwa ṱoḓea u shumisa tshiedziso tsha u ṱola khohakhombo tsha vhukuma. Tshiedziso tshi shumiswa u vhofholola vhafariwa u humbulela khonadzeo ya vhumatshelo ya u tshinyahafhu. U ḓadzisa kha zwenezwo, hu themendelwa uri muvhuso na vhadzhiamukovhe vho fhambanaho vha vhululamisi vha ḓe na kuitele kwo ṱanganelaho kwo livhiswaho tshoṱhe kha u dzhena hafhu ha vhatshinyi musi vha tshi tou bva dzhele. Tsha u fhedzisela, hu themendelwa uri muvhuso u bveledzise mbekanyamushumo dzo livhiswaho kha u tsivhudza miraḓo ya tshitshavha u sa i sa phanḓa na u fara vhatshinyi vha kale nga nḓila i si yavhuḓi.
Vakhotsiwa lava tshunxiwaka eKenya va na 75% wa ntolovelo wa leswo va nga endla vugevenga byin’wana na 50% ta nkoteko wa ku ya ejele nakambe endzhaku ka ku tshunxiwa ka vona ejele. Kusuka eka ntolovelo wa ku vuyelela ku endla vugevenga nakambe eKenya, ku na nhlayo ya le henhla hindlela yo hlamarisa ya vaonhi lava va nga eku pfaleriweni ekhotsweni naswona endzhaku ka swona va tshunxiwa ku vuyela eka tindhawu ta vaaki, naswona ku na nxungeto wa le henhla wa ku khomiwa nakambe na ku pfaleriwa ekhotsweni nakambe hi vuntshwa, leswi i xivileriso eka vaendlatipholisi, vativi hi swa vugevenga na vafambisi va makhotso. Ndzavisisadyondzo lowu wu kambele nhlohlotelo wa swihlawulekisi swa vaonhi, ku hlanganisa nakambe vaonhi na vanhu eka tindhawu ta vaakandhawu na mavonelo na maehleketelo ya vaakandhawu hi mayelana na ku vuyelela ka swigevenga ku endla vugevenga eka Xifundza xa Kakamega, eKenya. Ndzavisisadyondzo lowu wu tirhise dizayini ya ndzavisiso wa mbalango ku nga survey research design. Leswi kumiweke swi paluxe vuxaka bya le henhla hindlela ya tinhlayonhlayo exikarhi ka swihlawulekisi swa vaonhi na vuyelelo bya ku endla vugevenga nakambe. Na le henhla ka sweswo, ku hlanganisa hi vuntshwa vaonhi na vaakandhawu nakambe hi vuntshwa na mavonelo na maehleketelo ya vaakandhawu eka vaonhi swi hlohlotela swinene vuyelelo bya ku endla vugevenga nakambe. Kusuka eka ndzavisisadyondzo, ku bumabumeriwa leswaku mfumo wu nyika vaofisiri va makhotso swipfuno leswi lavekaka ku tirhisa modlolo wa nhlahluvo wa nxungeto wa xiakichuwari ku nga actuarial risk assessment model. Modlolo lowu wu tirhisiwa eka vaonhi lava tshunxiweke ku vhumba nkoteko wa nkarhi lowu taka wa vuyelelo bya vugevenga nakambe. Ku tlhela nakambe ku bumabumeriwa leswaku mfumo na vakhomaxiave va makhotso vo hambanahambana va va na endlelo leri hlanganisiweke leri kongomisiwaka ngopfungopfu ku humeleka kahle ka ku vuyela ka vaonhi eka tindhawu ta vaaki loko vaonhi va tshunxiwa ekhotsweni. Xo hetelela, ku bumabumeriwa leswaku mfumo wu endla minongonoko leyi kongomisiweke eka vulemukisi bya vaakandhawu leswaku va tshika ku nyenyemuka khale ka vaonhi lava a va khotsiwile.
Corrections Management
Ph. D. (Criminal Justice)

The purpose of the study was to identify the gender-related themes from a cultural discourse in order to determine how gender is constructed in African society. The study specifically examines the Maragoli Folktale. The Maragoli people mainly inhabit the western part of Kenya and are a sub-tribe of the larger Luhyia community. The Luhyia community is the second largest community in Kenya. The study attempts to uncover how gender is constructed through the examination of dominant themes, characterization, images, symbols, formulaic patterns and formalities of composition and performance in the Maragoli folktales at the time of performance. Based on an eclectic conceptual framework, the study takes into consideration gender theories, feminist literary perspectives, psychoanalysis and discourse analysis paradigms to critically examine the tales as a semiotic system of signification grounded within an African social cultural milieu. The folktales are analysed as a symbolic and ideological discourse of signs encoded by the performer and decoded by the audience at the time of performance. The study therefore situates the tale firmly at the time of performance, taking into consideration the interaction between the performer and the audience in the dissemination and internalization of gender ideology. While establishing that patriarchal structures and values are transmitted through the tales, the study also reveals the methods and interventions that the mainly female performers advance as active agents in their struggle for space within the culture. Women are, therefore, perceived as active agents of change and the folktale as a site from which gender ideology is discussed, contested and subverted. The study is based on a corpus of twenty (20) folktales collected from the Maragoli country in Western Province of Kenya (See maps, Appendix B.) The English versions of the tales appear in appendix A.
English Studies
D. Litt. et Phil. (English)

As a social worker practising in long-term residential care for people living with dementia, I am alarmed by discourses in the media and health policy that construct persons living with dementia and their health care needs as a threatening “rising tide” or crisis. I am particularly concerned about the material effects such dominant discourses, and the values they uphold, might have on the collective provision of care and support for our elderly citizens in the present neoliberal economic and political context of health care. To better understand how dominant discourses about dementia work at this time when Canada’s population is aging and the number of persons living with dementia is anticipated to increase, I have rooted my thesis in poststructural methodology. My research method is a discourse analysis, which draws on Foucault’s archaeological and genealogical concepts, to examine two contemporary health policy documents related to dementia care – one national and one provincial. I also incorporate some poetic representation – or found poetry – to write up my findings. While deconstructing and disrupting taken for granted dominant crisis discourses on dementia in health policy, my research also makes space for alternative constructions to support discursive and health policy possibilities in solidarity with persons living with dementia so that they may thrive.
Graduate
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macsuz@shaw.ca