Paper short abstract:

The envisioned future of an infrastructure corridor in Northern Kenya is contrasted with an analysis of boundary-making by local actors in anticipation of the infrastructure investments.

Paper long abstract:

In Northern Kenya, a historically marginalized region, the Kenyan government has envisioned an infrastructure corridor, the Lamu Port- South Sudan- Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor, which is meant to push the "growth frontier" into Kenya's north. The roads, railways and oil pipelines will cut through territories with a lot of nature conservation areas. The vast, dry and remote counties of Northern Kenya are largely inhabited by mobile pastoralists and land is communally owned. In recent decades, several portions of land have been designated as conservancies; many of which are community-based conservancies.

The paper will investigate how the futures envisioned by the planners play out in the reality of present political struggles over land use in northern Kenya, looking at community conservancies located along the LAPSSET corridor at the borders of Meru and Isiolo counties as an empirical case study. Based on preliminary findings of an interview and document analysis, the paper will analyze how the county administrations and pastoralist communities position themselves and engage in boundary-making in anticipation of the infrastructure corridor.