Property Rights, Inheritance, and Female Education in Kenya

这个项目研究了肯尼亚牧民在两种情况下的制度变化：从公有财产到私有财产的转变，以及女孩接受正规教育的出现。该研究分析了土地所有权从公有到私有的转变，并展示了这种转变对经济福祉和社会关系的影响；此外，该项目说明了女性教育对有关产权和家庭内部谈判的社会规范的影响。本研究将采用定性和定量相结合的方法，包括参与观察、半结构化访谈、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，它提供了一个制度变革的实际案例，这将为改进这种变革如何发生的理论提供更强有力的基础；此外，该项目还展示了个人和群体如何在一段时间内采取战略行动，以提高他们的议价地位，以便为他们认为符合其利益的制度安排工作；此外，这项工作有助于更细致入微地理解制度变迁理论。这项研究还将提供关于非洲牧民公有土地私有化的经济结果的纵向数据。学者们通常认为私有化会给牧民带来负面影响，但评估这一假设所需的经验数据——尤其是纵向数据——却缺乏。此外，这项对女性牧民正规教育的详细民族志调查将加强对一个非常边缘群体中女性教育的过程和结果的理解，并将有助于建立有关受过教育的妇女如何影响制度变革进程的理论。更广泛的影响。这项研究将有助于肯尼亚和非洲关于财产权和女性教育的政策辩论，这两个问题目前都是激烈的争论，特别是由于正在进行的肯尼亚宪法审查，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利、畜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.