Reign over me? Social-economic autonomy claims over land rights by Tanzania's Maasai
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Date
2019
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
ECMI
Abstract
Maasai are very famous for their profound practice of indigenous customs and traditions. Their social and economic activities largely depend on land. However, the colonial state -- and later the post-independent state -- actively initiated programmes to grab their land for tourism and farming. Ever since, the Maasai have placed the issue of land as central to the struggle for cultural and economic autonomy. The state, on the contrary, has taken an integration and assimilation approach to the Maasai. Yet, the advance of neo-liberal and market-oriented policies increasingly threaten the Maasai's practice of their indigenous life. This article, through the lens of Non-Territorial Autonomy, revisits the Maasai claims for land rights which thus inform their claims for cultural and economic autonomy. It notes that, legally, human rights protections cover constitutional rights and remedies in relation to pastoral livelihoods. However, as members of a minority community, such coverage is not adequate. The law takes all people as essentially belonging to a specific geographical space with a static authority over them.
Description
Abstract. Full text is available at: https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/jemie2019&div=10&id=&page=
Keywords
Maasai, Land right, Indigenous customs, Indigenous traditions, Colonial state, Post-independent state, Tourism, Farming, Economic autonomy, Human rights, Pastoral livelihoods
Citation
Makulilo, A. B. (2019). Reign over me? Social-economic autonomy claims over land rights by Tanzania's Maasai. Journal on Ethnopolitics & Minority Issues in Europe, 18(2), 24-42.