About Conservation and Community in Kenya: Milking the Elephant
This book, based on mixed-method anthropological research conducted in Samburu County, Kenya, demonstrates that, counter to simple narratives promising benefits, community-based wildlife conservancies (CBCs) are complex social institutions layered on pre-existing land use practices with differential impacts for members. Through in-depth research in three communities, Carolyn K. Lesorogol explains how diverse social actors understand and operate CBCs, how benefits and costs are distributed, the gendered nature of CBCs, and how they impact cooperation and conflict in communities. Conservation and Community in Kenya offers critical insights into the implications of the CBC model for local pastoralist livelihoods, conservation, and social relations.