Family Histories and Rural Inheritance in Kenya

Inheritance systems and practices have a key role in people’s ability to exit poverty, or, conversely, plunging them further into it. As land is the major asset in low-income developing countries, how property is passed on and divided between future generations is a significant factor. This paper looks at inheritance through minimally-structured interviews with several generations of Kenyan families, seeking to explain that the how and why of poverty can be understood in the wider family context. It analyses their fortunes and misfortunes over a given time period in the context of property ownership rights. It also looks at the impact of education and the inheritance of cultural capital. When both fertility and survival are high, traditional patterns of land inheritance can lead to progression sub-division of land with long-term adverse implications for sustainability. While inheritance in Kenya is male dominated, the paper nonetheless examines the position of women in the chain as vectors of male property rights. The application of male-oriented customary law where inheritance is concerned, rather than the use of statutory legislation, was found to be the reality for the overwhelming majority of the participants in the study.

Ascending Out of Poverty: An analysis of family histories in Kenya

This paper looks at inheritance through minimally-structured interviews with several generations of Kenyan families, seeking to explain that the how and why of poverty can be understood in the wider family context. Five main routes for ascending out of poverty were identified: (1) the gradual accumulation of resources due to income deriving from cash crops; (2) the gradual accumulation of resources due to income from non-farm work, including remittances from family member who have moved away for work; (3) the role of education, particularly skills training opposed to academic qualification, in helping provide employment; (4) accessing financial assets through support both from extended family members and from informal support mechanisms; (5) stability and benefits accruing from long-term strategic planning, including entrepreneurial activity. Both the ascent out of and the descent into poverty can be better conceived as processes, rather than due to chains of discrete events or specific ‘shocks’.