Collaborative Research: The Violence of "Small Wars," Poverty, and Health in Three Pastoralist Communities in Northern Kenya

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Led by Dr. Bilinda S. Straight (Western Michigan University) and Dr. Ivy L. Pike (University of Arizona), an international team of anthropologists will investigate the social and health-related dimensions of violence among Pokot, Samburu, and Turkana pastoralist communities in Kenya. The researchers will seek to determine how chronic, low-intensity violence creates a special class of vulnerable and impoverished persons, making violence-created inequality distinct from other forms of poverty and inequality. The study's regional scope additionally places the current circumstances of violence into a larger context of marginalization, which permits a nuanced account of the social and political factors that shape the different experiences of intercommunity violence. To create an ethnographically driven epidemiological study of violence and health, the researchers will use a mixed-methods approach. The team will sample 180 households (approximately 900-2700 individuals) in two communities (one at the borders of the violence, one removed from the borders of violent conflict) in each of three adjacent ethnic communities in chronic conflict with one another. The data to be collected include: 1) Anthropometric measures to assess nutritional condition; 2) Assessments of violence related morbidity/mortality and major injury through individual interviews; 3) Qualitative interviews on the project's key themes; 4) Oral histories of violent events for each community; 6) Wealth assessments; 7) Collection of data from health clinics in each region to evaluate patterns of use and mortality trends. The research is important because it will allow social scientists to better understand the relationship between chronic, low-intensity violence, health, and inequality. The research will produce one of the first data sets that directly link increased, low-level armed conflict and shifts in health experiences. The research also has practical implications. Health research is an emerging tool for social advocacy and a politically neutral tool for international diplomacy. The research also builds international collaborations between American, German, Kenyan, and Norwegian researchers, and supports the field training of a graduate student.