Colonial science discourse, traditional pastoralism and environmental implications of government interventions a case study of the maasai land of Tanzania, 1919-1970s

Maasai traditional pastoralism largely enhanced environmental sustainability, specifically by providing pastures and water throughout the year. Even when there was shortage of pastures and water in some areas due to drought, the Maasai communal utilization of major social assets, such as land and water, acted as a safety net. In 1919, the British colonial government, which considered traditional pastoralism environmentally destructive, interfered with those traditional practices in the name of science. This entailed introduction of a series of development interventions largely driven by scientific ideas. However, these development interventions, aimed at transforming traditional pastoralism and enhancing sustainability of the use of pastoral resources, did not achieve the intended goal. Instead, notable environmental deterioration and poverty resulted from them and affected Maasai communities. The central argument of this study, therefore, is that the science-inspired development interventions of the colonial government were perceived on the wrong assumption that the Maasai traditional pastoralism was detrimental to environmental sustainability, and that the effort to transform the Maasai pastoral economy ignored local environmental knowledge. Yet, despite the interventions the Maasai did not abandon all of their traditional practices and the development projects implemented as part of the transformation effort largely failed. It is therefore argued that if the colonial and post-colonial development interventions were to succeed, consideration of local environmental knowledge and experience was as important as taking recourse to modern scientific ideas.