The Contextualization of the Nilotic Pastoralist Conflicts in Northern Kenya

This article gives a critical look at the genesis of protracted conflict in northern Kenya but more specifically among the Turkana, Pokot and Samburu Nilotic pastoral communities. To achieve this, the article progresses as follows; first, the chapter discusses the communities involved in the conflict. These are the Turkana, the Pokot and the Samburu. Second, the article discusses traditional cattle raiding and the role of age in the conflict sets paying special attention to the institution of Moranism. Lastly, the article discusses traditional coping mechanisms that have been employed throughout generations followed by how this ‘normal' raiding was transformed with the advent of the British rule and the independent state to become a deadly affairs where lives are lost and properly destroyed.