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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:'Go back to the land!': negotiating space, framing governmentality in Lambwe Valley, Kenya 1954-75
Authors:Malowany, MaureenISNI
Geissler, P. WenzelISNI
Lwoba, AlbredISNI
Year:2011
Periodical:Canadian Journal of African Studies (ISSN 0008-3968)
Volume:45
Issue:3
Pages:440-479
Language:English
Geographic term:Kenya
Subjects:settlement schemes
pest control
trypanosomiasis
colonial period
External link:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00083968.2011.10541065
Abstract:In 1954, the Lambwe Land Trust sought to address colonial concern to contain and control tsetse fly and thus the transmission of human trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) in Lambwe Valley, Western Kenya. The Valley needed less tsetse, more people; less bush and more farmed land. Reflecting the confidence of the 1950s to control land, nature, and people, the Lambwe Valley Settlement Scheme (LVSS) was established. While other schemes in Kenya grew out of a tense period of land disputes or mega-economic development, this scheme was much more modest, ensuring that good science and good government would defeat the fly. This article elaborates on both. The first narrative examines the scientific background on trypanosomiasis and tsetse control in this region. The second focuses on the people: African settlers, colonial and African bureaucrats, representing district, provincial, and national governments, engaged in day-to-day planning. Arguments and debates ensued regarding land rights and management, involving local African council and State representatives with their constituents within the context of the settlement scheme. The archival records demonstrate the evolution of a civil society in this remote section of Western Kenya, in spite of an increasingly dominating Nairobi-based government. The records expose local voices and local visions as ordinary people negotiated their lives in the shadow of big science, big government, and big politics. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French. [Journal abstract]
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