Paper short abstract:

I discuss how wildlife conservancies in Kenya, popularly viewed as bottom-up conservation institutions, are characterized by participatory exclusions. Drawing from ethnographic research among the Maasai of southern Kenya, I reflect on the exclusion of Indigenous voices in conservation debates.

Paper long abstract:

Many African Indigenous communities are facing oppression, land alienation, and grave human injustices in the ostensible pursuit of conservation (Brockington, 2002; Fairhead, Leach, & Scoones, 2012). These patterns of oppression are not new having begun during the colonial period when swathes of Indigenous African lands were expropriated and designated state protected areas (Hughes, 2006; Mwangi, 2006). Seen as acts of colonization at the time, it was anticipated these oppressive regimes would come to an end at independence. More than half a century later, these expectations could not have been more misplaced. The entry of conservation NGOs and international investors in Africa was embraced with expectations of local development, but the conservation terrain continues to be characterized by the plight of Indigenous communities (Peluso, 1993). Indigenous African communities thus continue to operate at the periphery of debates on global conservation. In the rare event that Indigenous participation is sought, discussions about conservation have often incorporated the voices of a few figures who function as gatekeepers (Agarwal, 2001). What is deemed local or Indigenous, therefore, is often not fully encompassing. Building on my doctoral research carried out in southern Kenya, I set out to discuss how wildlife conservancies, entities deemed to foster bottom-up conservation involving Indigenous communities in biodiverse-rich areas, have been characterized by participatory exclusions both in theory and practice. I examine the different levels that these exclusions occur and reflect on possible opportunities for bolstering Indigenous participation in conservation debates to enhance local livelihoods, bio-cultural relationality, and biodiversity conservation.