Seminar: Birth of beautiful brides: Rise and transformation of the female gender roles and responsibilities among the Maasai pastoralists of Kenya

Photo credits: Kandukuru Nagarjun (via Wikimedia Commons).

This event will be held physically in Leiden. For registrees who cannot travel to Leiden a link to an online platform will be sent one day before the start of the event.

The Maasai pastoralists have for eons been famed for astute bravery and insightful management of their arid ecosystem. Admiration of their life and livelihoods is displayed as indigenous acumen and dotted on tourism attraction sites, beauty spaces and macho spots. Documentations however fault the community of being absolute patriarchal and accordingly denying the female gender rightful spaces in resource access, control, ownership and, management. While this has been significantly true, the movement from communal to private rangeland ownership is heralding in changes that invite women to the decision making and resources sharing tables with the pastoralists’ men. In this seminar, visiting fellow Moses Mwangi (South Eastern Kenya University) explains that the ensuing outputs are pronounced in ways that the entire gender spectrum vouches to be of posterity. Propelled by recognition as proficient, the women are into appreciated activities that are revolutionising the wellbeing of the community, which is facing a rise in vulnerability aggravated by climate change and extreme weather events, unpalatable national development agenda, population growth pressure and diminishing access to range resources.

Dr Moses Mwangi is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Hydrology and Aquatic Sciences at the South Eastern Kenya University. He has backgrounds in Water Engineering and, Water Resources Management. Added to his teaching, researching and outreach portfolios that Dr Mwangi performs at the university, he serves as the coordinator of the Nature Based Water Infrastructures for Global Goals (NaBWIG) project, Creating Postgraduate Collaboration (CPC) project and, the Innovation for Sustainability and Societal Relevance: Partnerships in Evidence-Based Higher Education on Food Systems and Climate Change (INSSPIRE) project. He has a particular interest in novelties of capacities to sustainably change the lives and livelihoods of the arid and semi-arid lands ecosystems, which has endeared him to various experiments in dew and fog harvesting for the dry areas of Kenya.

Date, time and location

03 July 2023
15.30 - 17.00
Pieter de la Courtgebouw / Faculty of Social Sciences, Wassenaarseweg 52, 2333 AK Leiden
Room 1.A12