The Politics of Home

Displacement and Resettlement in Postcolonial Kenya

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2137697
AutoresMegan Anne Shutzer (Stanford University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2012
Volumen71
Número3
Páginas346-360
Fecha de publicación2012-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAfrican Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0002-0184 • E-ISSN: 1469-2872
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00020184.2012.740879
OpenAlexW2005540805
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas5
Referencias citadas19

This article examines Operation Rudi Nyumbani (Operation Return Home), the resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs) following Kenya's 2007/8 post-election violence. In spite of the humanitarian nature of the operation, human rights monitors documented egregious abuses, most notably the use of force to close down camps. To address why the government was so intent upon immediate closure of camps, I examine the design and implementation of the operation in its historical context: placing Rudi Nyumbani at the intersection of trends involving land, ethnicity and class. I argue that protection of inequitable, colonial institutions – particularly institutions of land ownership – motivated the government to implement Rudi Nyumbani in the manner and the timing that it did. Existing literature analyses the role of Kenya's governing-elite in instigating violence, but stops short of examining its role in the humanitarian response. I seek to bridge the literature on humanitarianism with that on Kenyan politics

Colonialism · Context (archaeology · Displaced person · Elite · Ethnic group · Geography · Government (linguistics · Human rights · Internally displaced person · Kenya · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Refugee · Sociology · African studies and sociopolitical issues · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · Law · South African History and Culture