Publication: In the Ruins of Past Lives – Remembering, Belonging and Claiming in Katimok, Highland Rural Kenya

By Léa Lacan, Project A04 “Future Conservation”

Abstract

WEB Lea Lacan Katimok Publication July 2023

This article explores how local inhabitants living near the Katimok Forest in Baringo County, Kenya, engage with the traces of their past embedded in the landscape, and refigure them into politically powerful ruins. Drawing on ethnographic and archival research, the study examines the traces left behind by former forest dwellers before they were relocated by colonial and post-colonial governments, and analyses the current residents’ interactions with these traces. The article shows that traces are mnemonic and affective devices that remind the local inhabitants of emotional stories of a lost past and foster a sense of belonging.

In addition, former forest dwellers and their descendants use these traces as evidence and symbols of their belonging and suffering to demand recognition of their historical loss from current national authorities. By performing the traces as ruins of a lost past, claimants harness their political power. This study highlights the importance of considering forest politics in relation to affective and political engagements with the material landscape.

Reference

Lacan, L. 2023. In the ruins of past forest lives: remembering, belonging and claiming in Katimok, highland rural Kenya, Journal of Eastern African Studies, DOI

More CRC News

image of ruth hall, prof. at the university of the western cape

Ruth Hall Appointed Director of PLAAS

Ruth Hall, Professor at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in South Africa, has been appointed Director of the Institute for Poverty, Land and ...
Read More »
map of green hydrogen infrastructure in southern Africa

Planning the Future: Comparing Green Hydrogen Strategies in Chile, Namibia, and South Africa

In their publication, Benedikt Walker and Britta Klagge (Project C02 Energy Futures) alongside Ravn Haid (University of Bonn) examine how spatial planning influences the development ...
Read More »
picture of a field with kale

Call for Workshop Scholarships: Transdisciplinary RLC Workshop on Rural Development and Smallholder Agriculture

The RLC Campus at ZEF, University of Bonn, Germany, offers scholarships for PhD students from Africa, Asia and Latin America, who are currently studying at ...
Read More »
a group of students from kenya and germany in front of the brandenburg gate in berlin

Future Rural Africa Student Exchange Brings Together Young Researchers From Kenya and Germany

By Detlef Müller-Mahn (Project C03 Green Futures). From 28 May to 9 June 2025, a group of ten Kenyan master’s students visited the Department of ...
Read More »
train station in suswa, kenya

Megaprojects and Power Shifts: How Infrastructure Development Threatens Communal Lands in Africa

In this new publication, Eric Kioko (Project C03 Green Futures) and Winnie Changwony (Kent State University) examine the impact of government-led megaprojects on communal land ...
Read More »
Scroll to Top