Mobile phones, electoral songs and pastoral populism in northern Kenya

Towards a political anthropology of file sharing

Bibliographic Data

ID9537317
AuthorsGiordano Marmone (0000-0001-8195-4874, Université de Strasbourg, corresponding author)
Year2026
Volume96
Issue1
Pages104-127
Publication date2026-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAfrica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0001-9720 • E-ISSN: 1750-0184
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0001972026101776
OpenAlexW7150215156
LanguageEN
References cited22

This article explores the impact of mobile phones on entertainment practices and electoral communication among pastoral communities following constitutional reform in Kenya in 2010. It examines the digital dissemination of music files among Samburu mobile herders, emphasizing the role of communication technology in shaping political identities and ideologies. Specifically, this analysis considers how the two main contenders for the governorship of Samburu County in the 2022 elections engaged with the content-exchange networks generated by the digital circulation of raid songs among pastoralists. The recording and dissemination of these repertoires via mobile phones fostered new patterns of interaction and entertainment, which in turn provided channels through which election songs could circulate in rural areas. By mobilizing these songs, candidates sought to project a more authentically pastoral identity, thereby appealing to rural voters. The analysis presented here unveils a consolidating form of rural populism grounded in pastoral political categories, institutional decentralization and the use of digital technologies. It situates mobile herding societies within larger global trends of digitally mediated politics and new forms of consensus building, shedding light on the changing foundations of Kenyan democracy

Decentralization · Democracy · Entertainment · Kenya · Political anthropology · Political communication · Politics · Populism · Agricultural Innovations and Practices · Diverse Musicological Studies · Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology