GABBRA NOMADIC PASTORALISM IN NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURY NORTHERN KENYA: STRATEGIES FOR SURVIVAL IN A MARGINAL ENVIRONMENT

The principal aim of this study is to examine strategies developed over time by the Gabbra nomadic pastoralists which allow them to successfully utilize the environment which they occupy and to survive in a harsh and unforgiving region. The Gabbra inhabit the Kenya-Ethiopian frontier to the east of Lake Turkana, an area characterized by its extreme aridity, irregularity of rainfall, imposing lavas and paucity of water resources. The study details the nature of this environment, and examines Gabbra social organization, time-reckoning and resource utilization strategies within the context of Gabbra history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.; A combination of research methods and techniques have been employed in this study. A detailed investigation and review of archival sources was conducted in the United States, the United Kingdom and Kenya, for primary and secondary materials pertaining to Northern Kenya. The primary documentation for the study however, is contained in a series of formal interviews conducted with Gabbra and Borana elders during a ten-month field session in 1978-1979, and in a number of brief follow-up sessions conducted over the ensuing five years.; It is demonstrated that for the Gabbra to occupy and make use of this region, it has been necessary for them to develop mechanisms for understanding and responding to the environment and environmental change which allow them to manage their livestock herds and to organize themselves socially and spatially. Gabbra historiography and history is the context in which this understanding of the nature and dynamics of Gabbra survival strategies are demonstrated.; It is through a reconstruction of Gabbra history, that the mechanisms for successful utilization of the environment and the survival of Gabbra society are delineated. It is shown that the emergence and the dynamism of Gabbra society has depended on their developing institutions (political, social, economic and philosophical) with qualities of innovation and flexibility which have enabled them to successfully utilize a very marginal and harsh environment.