Property Rights, Inheritance, and Female Education in Kenya

该项目研究肯尼亚牧民在两种情况下的体制变化：从集体财产向私有财产的转变和女孩接受正规教育的出现。该研究分析了从集体土地所有权向私有土地所有权的转变，展示了这种转变对经济福祉和社会关系的影响；此外，该项目还说明了女性教育对与财产权和家庭内部谈判有关的社会规范的影响。研究将采用定性和定量相结合的方法，包括参与者观察、半结构访谈、女性生活史访谈和结构化问卷调查。这个项目的学术价值在于，它提供了一个机构变革的实际案例，这将为改进这种变革如何发生的理论提供更坚实的基础；此外，该项目展示了个人和团体如何随着时间的推移采取战略性行为，以提高他们的谈判地位，以便为他们认为符合自己利益的体制安排而工作；以及，这项工作有助于对体制变革理论有更微妙的理解。这项研究还将提供关于非洲牧民社区土地私有化的经济结果的纵向数据。学者们经常假设私有化会给牧民带来负面后果，但评估这一假设所需的经验数据--特别是纵向数据--缺乏。此外，这种对女性牧民正规教育的详细的人种学调查将增进对非常边缘群体中女性教育过程和结果的了解，并将有助于关于受过教育的女性如何影响制度变迁过程的理论。这项研究将有助于肯尼亚和非洲关于财产权和妇女教育的政策辩论，这两个问题目前都有激烈的争论，特别是由于肯尼亚正在进行的宪法审查，其中正在决定有关财产和妇女权利的基本法律。通过这项研究创造的新知识将与妇女和性别研究领域的学者以及与土地权、牧业和教育设计有关的发展实践者高度相关。

This project studies institutional change in two contexts among Kenyan pastoralists: the shift from communal to private property and the advent of formal education of girls. The research analyzes the transition from communal to private land ownership and shows the consequences of this shift for economic well being and social relations; in addition the project illustrates the effects of female education on social norms related to property rights and intra-household bargaining. The study will employs a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods including participant observation, semi-structured interviews, life history interviews of women, and structured questionnaire surveys. The intellectual merit of this project is that it provides an actual case of institutional change which will provide a stronger basis for improving theories of how such change occurs; in addition the project shows how individuals and groups behave strategically over time to enhance their bargaining positions in order to work for institutional arrangements that they perceive to be in their interests; as well the work contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the theory of institutional change. This study will also provide longitudinal data regarding the economic outcomes of privatizing communal land among African pastoralists. Scholars often assume that privatization results in negative outcomes for pastoralists, but empirical data necessary to assess this assumption-especially longitudinal data-are missing. In addition, this detailed ethnographic investigation of formal education of female pastoralists will enhance understanding of both the process and outcomes of female education among a very marginal group, and will contribute to theories regarding how educated women influence the course of institutional change.Broader impact. This study will contribute to policy debates over property rights and female education in Kenya and Africa, both of which are currently hotly contested, particularly due to the ongoing Kenyan Constitutional review in which fundamental laws regarding property and women's rights are being decided. The new knowledge created through this study will be highly relevant to scholars in the fields of women's and gender studies as well as development practitioners concerned with land rights, pastoralism, and education design.