Politics of Belonging: Exploring Land Contestations and Conflicts in Kenya’s North Rift Region

Abstract

This study investigates the politics of belonging in Kenya’s North Rift region and how this has shaped land contestations and conflicts in the region. It appraises how the politics of belonging have been applied as a tool to legitimise communal violence, but also to exclude certain identities from land ownership and use. It is argued that land conflicts in the North Rift region have intensified following the return of multi-party democracy in 1991. The study explores existing discourses held individually and communally about ‘indigeneity’ and ‘legitimate’ tenancy of land in the North Rift and posits that, for land violence to be averted in the North Rift region, there is need for a national identity consciousness focused on the respect for land tenure rights