SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This thesis arises out of a microscopic examination of an agricultural community in Kenya. It examines the ecological situation in one village, Gakarara, and then attempts to discuss aspects of subsistence living within this ecological framework. The population dynamics of this underdeveloped community are examined and the urban linkages, that drain the people away from the village, emerge as critical variables in the village economy. Political and social elements of village life are discussed and the bureaucratic nature of the development administration is emphasised. An examination of landuse and farm output highlight the fact that the area is turning back from a cash crop economy into a subsistence economy. The nutritional study indicates that the community is physically vulnerable; the increasing soil erosion, through lack of labour for terracing, suggests that the community is in a situation which is rapidly deteriorating. The whole process is seen not as one of modernization but as negative development, or the development of underdevelopment.