Paper short abstract:

Pastoralists in marginal drylands part of Kenya live with and off uncertainty (drought/conflict). These uncertainties are embraced through moral economy practices which are highly differentiated across sites, between people and overtime due to the structural transformation of the area.

Paper long abstract:

The paper present part of my doctoral research which is conducted in Northern Kenya drylands region of Isiolo County. In this paper, I assess the critical role of the traditional and modern 'moral economies' in managing everyday uncertainties including climate change, governance, animal disease and conflict.

These moral economies are highly differentiated depending on the capability, entitlement and access to various resources required to respond or manage any given variable condition. The variation is further witnessed within different pastoral groups in form of gender, wealth and generation (age).

Combined with conventional strategies to responding to drought-like early warning, contingency planning and provision of a safety net such as cash transfer, moral economy plays a significant role in cushioning pastoralists against these threats. Moral economies are the socially accepted norms of collective redistribution of resources to help people survive a certain crisis.