The promotion of pastoralist heritage and alternative ‘visions’ for the future of Northern Kenya

This article examines increasing prominent claims of ‘heritage’ and ‘culture’ along the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) corridor. In particular it looks at how heritage is being used to promote pastoralism, communal land ownership and the survival of indigenous cultures in Northern Kenya. In the context of the ambitious infrastructural development projects contained in the LAPSSET and Vision 2030 plans, ‘heritage’ is emerging as a way of negotiating change. Various legal instruments, including the formalisation of customary laws and ‘bio-cultural community protocols’ are currently being developed to protect pastoralist heritage and communal land tenure. An important example is the attempts in Isiolo County to reinvent and strengthen a Borana customary institution for grazing management: a council of elders called dedha. The article explores the ways in which these attempts to promote pastoralist heritage are part of a larger conversation about the value of pastoralism and pastoralist culture and how the heritage of pastoralism is being positioned as the basis for an alternative ‘vision’ for the future of Kenya’s arid lands. Heritage is not simply about preserving the past; it has effects on the present. This article will show how attempts to revive customary institutions are themselves part of the process of transforming space in Northern Kenya; shedding light on the intentional and unexpected ways in which large-scale development plans reconfigure the landscape.