Extension Agents and Conflict Narratives: A Case of Laikipia County, Kenya

Abstract

Purpose: This work investigated the narratives of development extensionists in relation to natural resource conflict, in order to understand the competing discourses surrounding the wicked problems of natural resource management in Laikipia County, Kenya. Methodology: Q methodology was used to elicit the conflict narratives present among extension professionals. A concourse of 221 statements were devised from interviews and group discussions with key informants and a final sample of 49 statements was used for the sorting. Thirteen Q-sorts were undertaken with among rural extension professionals from government, non-government, faith-based and private organizations.

Wicked Problems in Africa: A Systematic Literature Review

“…By contrast, we identified only one article with climate change as the primary issue of focus: FitzGibbon and Mensah (2012). Most of the articles that we included in the Environmental Resource Management group mainly concern issues related to natural resources and human–nature interaction, such as community wildlife management (Balint, 2007), natural resource conflicts (Bond, 2016), coral reef degradation (Bruggemann et al, 2012), views on environmental issues (Quigely et al, 2015), the captive lion industry (Williams & ‘t Sas-Rolfes, 2019), and invasive species (Woodford et al, 2016). The following group, Health and Healthcare , mostly consists of articles that view HIV/AIDS as a wicked problem from different perspectives or due to different reasons (Burman, 2018; Burman & Aphane, 2017; Burman et al, 2017; Chasi, 2017; Tsasis et al, 2015), although it also includes one article on health governance (Khoo, 2013).…”

“…Interlinked problems are broad, ambiguous issues characterized by multiple causes linked to other problems and other groups in the typology. Such issues include input subsidies (Ricker-Gilbert et al, 2013), highly complex socio-economic-ecological issues (Gold et al, 2018), conflicts between groups of people or people and animals (Bond, 2016), the management of invasive species that cause environmental harm but provide economic and social benefits (Woodford et al, 2016), and poverty (e.g., Okeke-Ogbuafor et al, 2020; Onyango, 2009; Onyango & Jentoft, 2010). Exacerbated problems are also somewhat complex in terms of their linkages, but at the same time they also display some context-specific characteristics.…”

“…This approach allowed us to identify seven distinctive main wickedness themes in the reviewed literature, which are (Balint, 2007;Benjamin-Fink & Reilly, 2017;Bond, 2016;Bouma & McBratney, 2013;Bruggemann et al, 2012;FitzGibbon & Mensah, 2012;Quigely et al, 2015;Rendigs et al, 2015;Vogel et al, 2016;Williams & 't Sas-Rolfes, 2019;Woodford et al, 2016) 1 2 Health and Healthcare 8 (Burman, 2018(Burman, , 2019Burman et al, 2015Chasi, 2017;Khoo, 2013;Tsasis et al, 2015) 3 (Booker, 2014) was excluded from this phase, as no concrete issues could be found. While this categorization partially overlaps with the thematic list, it nevertheless provides a more detailed description of the issues scholars consider are linked to wicked problems in Africa.…”

Exploring the Hidden Costs of Human–Wildlife Conflict in Northern Kenya

“…When considered from a human security perspective it highlights the restriction of the freedom to live in dignity (Tadjbakhsh & Chenoy 2007). This marginalization perception is also fueled by dominant and perpetuating narratives by elites of pastoralists as “backward” (Bond 2016), an attitude seen locally as a form of neocolonialism (Garland 2008), especially because many of the conservancy owners in Laikipia are European, and some of them have remained on the land owned by their family since the colonial period. The comment quoted above from an employee of a wildlife NGO who suggested building a greenhouse decorated with pictures of wildlife is a good example of the lack of respect underlying such ventures—what Büscher et al (2012) describe as the appropriation, misrepresentation, and spectacle of neoliberal conservation.…”

“Who will resolve this conflict if the politicians don’t?”

“…The Q methodology is a very useful method to use in conflict contexts. It has been used to explore perspectives in different conflict contexts, including analyses of national identity in Taiwan (Wong and Sun, 1998), security-identity issues of Estonian–Russian relations (Aalto, 2003), political parties in Brazil (Peritore, 1989), conflict narratives of development extensionists in Kenya (Bond, 2016) and discourses on Islam, secularism and democracy in Turkey (Kanra, 2005). Our study contributes to broaden this literature by focusing on a protracted inter-group conflict, namely, the Kurdish conflict in Turkey, and by using a systematic frame analysis following Entman (1993).…”