Narrative and Property in Kibagare

Abstract

The challenges associated with the allocation of ownership of property related to shelter in post-conflict environments is a constant and pressing concern. This article is based on research undertaken in Kibagare, a small village within Nairobi, which was born out of the struggle for independence and the conflicts and population displacements with which independence was associated. The nature of the disputes, some violent, over property ownership was investigated particularly as it affected household claims to their shelters and the land on which they lie. Who owns what and whose claim is paramount are open question in Kibagare: there are a number of different narratives people deploy to support and also explain and justify their claims. To understand land as property in Kibagare is not only to understand the play of narratives but also more critically to see how these narratives appeal to different conceptions of property, competing ideas about what underlies the right to a claim and what provides authority for that claim. Understanding this provides critical insights into why land ownership in Kibagare is typified both by stability and volatility. It will reveal how the challenges associated with the administration of land are not simply or necessarily the result of a post-conflict situation alone. It is the result of the understandings that underlie the various land claims and stakeholder narratives that provide the ballast that give the claims weight.

Keywords:

• property
• post-conflict
• ownership
• narratives
• Kibagare

Notes

¹It is what typically would be termed a slum or informal community, but we will use the term village as the locals do. For the residents, it is a village with its own organization, its own governance and a communal narrative about the land on which it sits.

²The authors would like to take this opportunity to thank the Norwegian Research Council for underwriting the research for this article.

³One US Dollar equaled about KSH 77 at the time of the interviews.

⁴One need only think about the post-election violence in the Central Riff and Nairobi among other places in 2008 which to a large extent were based on conflicting land claims.

⁵Put together with the help of the Pamoja Trust.

⁶Unfortunately during our research we were unable to find and interview these individuals.

⁷As with the discussion earlier about informal, we prefer the concept of popular because it is more informative and also neutral. Informal assumes a kind of negative of the formal and thus suggests something problematic about the practices with which it is associated.