Paper short abstract:

This paper draws on the conceptualization of the African border as a resource, to consider ambiguous memories of colonial grazing boundaries in northern Kenya. It demonstrates that colonial borders are resourced long after independence, particularly to articulate current grievances against the state.

Paper long abstract:

In colonial records, the former Northern Frontier District (NFD) of Kenya is depicted as a classic example of a 'militarized margin'; a violent, unstable place, whose inhabitants routinely fought each other, and against colonial authority. Yet contemporary local memories of the borderland imagine a place of peace and tranquillity. Current residents state that clan based grazing boundaries were clearly demarcated, and that when instances of trespass did occur, compensation was negotiated and paid. This paper draws on the conceptualization of the African border as a resource, to consider the contested memory of colonial grazing boundaries in the former NFD. The paper argues that the utopian memory of colonial order is at once the consequence of the historicization of current constituency re-alignments as part of the Kenyan governments war against shifta (bandits or rebels), as well as the result of the politicization of resource disputes since independence. Overall the paper shows how colonial boundaries continue to be resourced long after independence, particularly to articulate current grievances against the post-colonial state.