Success and failure: the breakdown of traditional drought coping institutions among the pastoral Turkana of Kenya

McCabe, J. Terrence

article

Success and failure: the breakdown of traditional drought coping institutions among the pastoral Turkana of Kenya

Journal of Asian and African studies • 25 (3-4) • Published In 1990 • Pages: 146-160

By: McCabe, J. Terrence.

Abstract
This article contrasts the traditional drought coping institutions of two Turkana communities from two contrasting locations (one in the north, the other in the south). It shows indigenous drought coping institutions of northern Turkana had begun to break down, while those of the southern Turkana remained viable. This contrast is attributed to northern Turkana's subjection to a combination of stresses arising from inter-ethnic conflict, raiding, political instability, national boundary restrictions and the famine relief effort itself. The document concludes that the maintenance of indigenous drought coping institutions, based on a system of social relations and the redistribution of surplus, is critical for long term survival in this drought prone area of the world; and that these institutions have been made recently vulnerable to stresses beyond the control of the local people.

Disasters

Functional and adaptational interpretations

Inter-community relations

Inter-ethnic relations

Mutual aid

Poverty

Aftermath of combat

Research and development