Paper short abstract:

As conservation takes on a more human dimension, greater attention must be paid to the attitudes of local people. Kenya's South Rift provides a rich site to investigate anthropological questions of identity, governance, and institutional networks.

Paper long abstract:

How do Maasai pastoralists become conservationists? What does this mean, and what might this look like? In the context of contemporary forms of neoliberal and community-based environmental conservation, how do Maasai people situate themselves in relation to the ideas, institutions, values, and discourses associated with conservation? Questions related to local perceptions of conservation were raised during three months of preliminary fieldwork conducted with the Olkiramatian and Shompole Maasai communities in the South Rift of Kenya. A number of characteristics which enabled each community to 'successfully' implement and benefit from conservation schemes were identified through informal interviews and conversations with local Maasai. It was observed that access to natural resources (i.e. water, savannah, wildlife), a sense of 'togetherness', internally developed organizations (e.g. grassroots NGO ties), and non-monetary community benefits resulted in 'conservation by default' in Olkiramatian and Shompole. Taken as a case study, these communities provide insight into how Maasai people are being empowered by conservationist pursuits and benefiting from the cross-cultural exchanges produced by increased international collaboration. Exploring the way that Maasai communities position themselves within these networks of transnational and local organizations sheds light on new forms of environmental governance emerging in Kenya and beyond. As they attempt to reconcile the twin goals of human development and biodiversity conservation, Olkiramatian and Shompole group ranches may prove to be important sites of investigation into sustainable and successful environmental stewardship.