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ABSTRACT
Drawing on fieldwork conducted over multiple seasons between 2012 and 2015, this paper explores aspects of the socio-economic and political history of the Marakwet of Kenya. It does so by focusing on a particular material culture category – pottery – and tracing transformations in its production, use and exchange over several generations from the early twentieth century to the present day. This approach serves to unearth a series of personal and quotidian narratives that not only comprise a unique account of Marakwet’s past, but also shed light on the material consequences of various ongoing processes of infrastructural and economic development. Complementing our previous work on Marakwet farming, landscape and ecological change, we here demonstrate the multiple ways in which change has been dynamically negotiated and enacted throughout the last century via various shifting daily practices. The historical innovations, adaptations and movements that we explore attest to a resilience deeply rooted in Marakwet society that continues to be articulated in the contemporary world.
Acknowledgements
We primarily wish to thank the community at Tot-Sibou for their patience and insight during the fieldwork undertaken for this article, and the Institute for Global Prosperity’s Marakwet research team led by Timothy Kipkeu Kipruto, with special thanks to William Chukor, Nelson Bailengo, Noah Kiplagat Ruto and Sammy Kimwole. We would also like to thank Acacia Leakey for producing the illustrations used in , and Dan Hicks and Peter Mitchell for reading and commenting on numerous drafts. Furthermore, we wish to thank the Kenyan National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI) for research permission and the National Museums of Kenya for support and affiliation.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Moore, Men, Women and the Organisation of Domestic Space, 146–50.
2 Welbourn, Endo Knowledge, 97.
3 See also Davies and Moore, “Landscape, time”; Davies et al., “Revisiting the irrigated agricultural landscape of the Marakwet, Kenya”; Moore, Space, Text and Gender and Gender.
4 See Moore, Space, Text and Gender, 98–161.
5 Appadurai, The Social Life; Kopytoff, “The cultural biography”.
6 As critiqued by Moore, Still Life, 5; cf Moore, “Prosperity in crisis”; Luvaas, “Designer vandalism”; Castells, The Rise of the Network Society.
7 See Appadurai, The Social Life; Hodder, Symbols in Action; Miller, Stuff; Moore, Space, Text and Gender; Schiffer, The Portable Radio; Thomas, “The Case of the Misplaced Ponchos”; Holtorf, “Notes on the Life History of a Pot Shard”.
8 Miller, Materiality, 10; Derbyshire, Trade, development, 34.
9 See Derbyshire, Trade, development.
10 Gosden and Marshall, “The Cultural Biography”; Gosden and Knowles, Collecting Colonialism.
11 Kopytoff, “The Cultural Biography”.
12 Hoskins, “Agency, Biography,” 74.
13 In a similar manner to Derbyshire, “Trade, Development and Destitution”.
14 For example, Moore, Still Life; Wilmsen, Land Filled; Ortner, “Patterns of History”; Wolf, Europe and the; Catley et al., Pastoralism and Development; Galaty, “The Indigenisation”.
15 Davies et al., “Revisiting the Irrigated Agricultural Landscape of the Marakwet, Kenya”.
16 Davies and Moore, “Landscape, Time”.
17 Welbourn, Endo Knowledge; Moore, Men, Women and the Organisation of Domestic Space.
18 Welbourn, Endo Knowledge.
19 The Marakwet age-set cycle consists of eight age-sets (ibinwa or eben). See Kipkorir, The Marakwet; Moore, Space, Text, 60.
20 Interview with Ko-chelimo Kachume, 19 June 2015.
21 Different clays were needed to make high quality pots, but the mixing of red clay with black was also ritually significant. Red clay is marked on bodies as a significant part of the transferal of secrets during circumcision, and when initiates of both sexes come out through kibuno they are smeared in red clay. It is the colour of fertility, life and childbirth.
22 Interview with Ko-chebor, 20 June 15.
23 See Saidi, “NAKABUMBA”; Spindel, “Potters and Pots”; Feldman-Savelsberg, Plundered Kitchens.
24 Although not all pots were made in kilns, many were fired out in the open.
25 See Sellet, “Chaine Operatoire”.
26 Moore, Space, Text and Gender, 27.
27 Kipkorir, “Historical Perspectives,” 5.
28 Kipkorir, The Marakwet, 11.
29 The Pokot most commonly sold milk and livestock, the Tugen honey and the Turkana salt.
30 Interview with Kipchemuny, 22 June 2015.
31 Kipkorir, “Historical Perspectives”; Davies, “Some Thoughts”.
32 For example, Davies, “Economic Specialisation”; Hodder, Symbols in; Anderson, “Agriculture and Irrigation Technology”; Spear, “Being ‘Maasai’” and Mountain Farmers; Börjeson, “The History of Iraqw Intensive Agriculture, Tanzania”.
33 See Östberg, “The Expansion of Marakwet Hill-furrow Irrigation”; Pollard et al., “Women, Marketplaces”.
34 Interview with Kipchemuny, 22 June 2015.
35 Movement to exploit new opportunities was not novel during this period. Indeed, it has been a key characteristic of Marakwet agricultural systems for centuries, see Davies and Moore, “Landscape, Time”.
36 See Van Zwanenberg, Colonial Capitalism; Berman, Control and Crisis; Tignor, Colonial Transformation.
37 Pollard et al., “Women, Marketplaces,” 415.
38 Ingold, “The Temporality of the Landscape,” 1.
39 See Kipkorir, The Marakwet, 52; Welbourn, Endo Knowledge.
40 Welbourn Endo Knowledge, 319–27.
41 Welbourn Endo Knowledge, 327. N.B. The terre ma’ was not actually full of kipketin during tum nyohoe, it was full of either sorghum beer or in later years maize beer.
42 Interview with Ko-chebet Chemutut, 20 June 2015.
43 Interview with Silas Kibor, 20 June 2015.
44 Ministry of Planning and National Development, Marakwet District, 9. N.B. There have been several boundary alterations since the 1990s, including those that followed Kenya’s adoption of a new constitution (in April 2010), which set in place the devolution of power from national to local governments.
45 Interview with Ko-chebet Chemutut, 20 June 2015.
46 Kurita, “A Market on the Boundary”.
47 Republic of Kenya Ministry of Planning and National Development, National Development Plan, and Marakwet District Development Plan; Republic of Kenya, Marakwet District Development Plan; Moore, Space, Text.
48 Lynch, “Democratisation and ‘Criminal’ Violence in Kenya”; Kenya Human Rights Commission, Raiding Democracy.
49 Moore, Men, Women and the Organisation of Domestic Space, 220.
50 Interview with Ko-chebor, 20 June 2015.
51 Moore, Men, Women and the Organisation of Domestic Space, 259.
52 Interview with Silas Kibor, 20 June 2015.
53 Thomas, “The case of the Misplaced Ponchos,” 18.