Paper short abstract:

The Ogiek are indigenous ethnic group in Kenya that has in recent times accelerated their claims to the Mau Forest Land. Yet the destruction of 'commons' such as the Mau Forest has led to gender and ethnic tensions between autochthones and the so-called "immigrant guests'.

Paper long abstract:

The competition for land between the ethnic communities has been observed in Kenya even before the coming of the British settlers. Whereas before the abundance of land and relatively low population maintained an amicable relations between the ethnic groups, currently, the rise in population and scarcity of land and landlessness has sparked ethnic tensions.

Using narratives and excerpts from my PhD fieldwork study, I carry out an analysis of how the concept and experience of being an Ogiek person in these settlement schemes has shaped day to day negotiations of rights to property and land around the Mau Forest area. Men have to assert their masculinities within the new found geographical spaces whilst women have to pool into their own resources in order to maintain their agency