Forest Politics in Kenya's Tugen Hills: Conservation Beyond Natural Resources in the Katimok Forest
James Currey
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Abstract: This ethnographic study explores forests as constructed and lived political realities in Western Kenya's Tugen Hills, examining the Katimok Forest through ten months of fieldwork and archival research. The work contrasts state-centered forest management rooted in productivity and protection from local inhabitants with community-based forest relations grounded in interdependence and mutual care. The book traces colonial and postcolonial forest management policies, local engagements with forest resources for subsistence and commercial activities, and how residents mobilized lived experiences and ecological knowledge in 2019 compensation claims. It bridges political ecology and multi-species anthropology to demonstrate how human-forest relations exceed simple resource politics, incorporating emotional belonging, traditional ecological knowledge, and intergenerational transmission of forest stewardship practices.