Project B03: Violent Futures? Contestations along the frontier

Large-scale infrastructure projects such as the LAPSSET corridor in northern Kenya cut through the pastures of pastoral communities in Kenya and Tanzania. The Standard Gauge Railway, for example, traverses the pastoral lands in Narok in southern Kenya and Morogoro in central Tanzania. This raises the question of the impact of these projects on local conflict dynamics. In this research project, we employ the concept of frontiers as an analytical tool for comparative empirical research on development corridors cutting through pastoral lands in Kenya and Tanzania. We conducted interviews with representatives of the government, communities, NGOs and private companies to gain and understanding of the perceived impacts of these infrastructure projects on pastoral communities. The outputs of our research include three PhD theses, five Master of Arts theses and peer-reviewed journal articles, which were produced in collaboration with our partners in Kenya and Tanzania. We plan to develop a travelling workshop model between Kenya and Tanzania and to communicate our scientific results via local workshops in 2024 and 2025.