Brockington, Daniel; (1998) Land loss and livelihoods: The effects of eviction on pastoralists moved from Mkomazi Game Reserve, Tanzania. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), University of London.

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Abstract

The recent history of East African pastoralism is dominated by land loss. Much is written about it, but the attention focuses on the injustices and politics of loss; this risks obscuring the mechanisms people use to overcome adversity. Little research has explored the detail of change to livelihoods consequent upon eviction from land. Pastoralism has long proven precarious, but pastoralists had strategies to cope with difficult circumstances. Catalogues of loss may overshadow the resilience that characterizes pastoralists' livelihoods. In 1988, the government of Tanzania evicted the inhabitants of the Mkomazi Game Reserve. This thesis examines the effects of eviction on the pastoralists who had lived inside the Reserve. It shows that Mkomazi's pastures were becoming increasingly important to pastoralists from several ethnic groups before the Reserve was established. Afterwards residence by some pastoralists continued, but government officials were unable to control illegal use by others. Stock populations grew, and the Reserve became important for the livestock economy. The evictions displaced thousands of people whose distribution was mapped from a survey of siblings. Evicted pastoralists dominate the populations of pastoralists who still live near the Reserve. A household survey conducted among the evictees shows that where herds have declined some families have become more dependent on farming and women's income. There is little to suggest that those evicted have gone to the towns. The effects of eviction are also visible in local livestock markets records, and its consequences are apparent in records of local opposition to the moves. At Mkomazi the changes to livelihoods, and the long record of resistance to conservation policies, demonstrate considerable tenacity. By documenting the losses, and the responses to them, this thesis describes how impoverishment is challenged by the resolve of those dealing with unwelcome change.

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