Land, culture and religion among the Loita Maasai of Kenya

Abstract (English)

This paper explores how land demarcation, the spread of evangelical Christianity and changes in Maasai culture connect in Loita, Kenya. We present findings of research based on collaborative fieldwork conducted over a period of two months in February-March 2023 and June-July 2024.
Despite several failed attempts in the past, a controversial and politicized land demarcation process to subdivide the land of the Loita Maasai in Kenya was re-started in 2020. These land tenure developments coincided with the proliferation of evangelical churches across the Loita landscape. There is evidence that some churches were built to claim rights to land in anticipation of tenure formalization. Differently from Catholicism, which has a longer presence in Loita, evangelical Christianity is strongly opposed to certain values and practices of what is locally understood to be “Maasai culture”. With more and more people joining churches, the influence of these religious ideas is increasingly becoming evident in changing ways of behaving, for example with regard to food consumption.
To understand the role of evangelical churches in both the land demarcation process and in changing Maasai culture, we zoom in on two cases whereby the building of churches happened in places that were traditionally reserved for constructing ritual settlements (manyatas) and holding Maasai ceremonies. Should this be interpreted as yet another way of claiming unoccupied land, or is this rather a religious statement against “Maasai culture”? We approach religious organizations both as influencers of ideas and beliefs and as material actors that control resources, land and capital (Wilkins 2021).