Journal article

Rails Through Rangelands: Redefining Infrastructure Frontiers and Patronage in Kenya’s Maasai Land

Abstract

Focusing on Suswa, this study analyses the impact of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project on labour dynamics in local communities in Kenya’s southern rangelands. Using the patron–client framework, we explore the complex relationship between the SGR, labour practices and contestations during its construction. Following a qualitative approach, data collection between 2021 and 2023 reveals how the elites promised jobs and claimed to follow labour regulations but covertly promoted patron–clients’ interests, resulting in social disparities through inequitable labour distribution, power dynamics and violent protests by the local workers, predominantly from the Maasai ethnic and the broader labourers in Suswa.

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Type: Journal article

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DOI

10.1080/21622671.2024.2437000

BibTeX

@article{Owino2025,
  Title = {Rails Through Rangelands: Redefining Infrastructure Frontiers and Patronage in Kenya’s Maasai Land},
  Author = {Owino, Evelyne Atieno and Schetter, Conrad},
  Editor = {},
  Journal = {Territory Politics Governance},
  Year = {2025},
  Pages = {1-19},
  Doi = {10.1080/21622671.2024.2437000},
  Publisher = {Taylor & Francis},
  Abstract = {<p>Focusing on Suswa, this study analyses the impact of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project on labour dynamics in local communities in Kenya’s southern rangelands. Using the patron–client framework, we explore the complex relationship between the SGR, labour practices and contestations during its construction. Following a qualitative approach, data collection between 2021 and 2023 reveals how the elites promised jobs and claimed to follow labour regulations but covertly promoted patron–clients’ interests, resulting in social disparities through inequitable labour distribution, power dynamics and violent protests by the local workers, predominantly from the Maasai ethnic and the broader labourers in Suswa.</p>
},
}

RIS

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Owino, Evelyne Atieno
AU  - Schetter, Conrad
TI  - Rails Through Rangelands: Redefining Infrastructure Frontiers and Patronage in Kenya’s Maasai Land
T2  - Territory Politics Governance
PY  - 2025
SP  - 1-19
DO  - 10.1080/21622671.2024.2437000
PB  - Taylor & Francis
AB  - <p>Focusing on Suswa, this study analyses the impact of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project on labour dynamics in local communities in Kenya’s southern rangelands. Using the patron–client framework, we explore the complex relationship between the SGR, labour practices and contestations during its construction. Following a qualitative approach, data collection between 2021 and 2023 reveals how the elites promised jobs and claimed to follow labour regulations but covertly promoted patron–clients’ interests, resulting in social disparities through inequitable labour distribution, power dynamics and violent protests by the local workers, predominantly from the Maasai ethnic and the broader labourers in Suswa.</p>

ER  -