{"product_id":"contesting-the-commons-carolyn-k-lesorogol-9780472050246","title":"Contesting the Commons: Privatizing Pastoral Lands in Kenya","description":"\u003cp\u003eOver centuries, African pastoralist societies have crafted institutions that enable them to survive in their harsh, semi-arid environment. Effectively managing communally held land has been one key to their success and a cornerstone of their social organization. Over the last two decades, however, a number of pastoralist communities have sought to transform their land tenure systems from communal to private ownership. In \u003ci\u003eContesting the Commons\u003c\/i\u003e, Carolyn K. Lesorogol draws on eighteen months of fieldwork and ten previous years of work and residence among the Samburu to ask: What accounts for this challenge to an important, well-adapted, and seemingly highly functional institution? What are the effects of privatization of land on household well-being, individual behavior, and social relations? How can understanding the trajectory of institutional change in this case help us comprehend the dynamic processes of social transformation in general?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eContesting the Commons\u003c\/i\u003e is one of the best books that I have read on the politics of land and social order in Africa. Lesorogol offers a creative and nuanced approach to questions of property rights and social norms. This is a very impressive addition to the general literature on institutional change.\"\u003cbr\u003e---Jack Knight, Sidney W. Soeurs Professor of Government, Department of Political Science, Washington University in St. Louis\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCarolyn K. Lesorogol is Assistant Professor of Sociocultural Anthropology at George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis. She was a consultant for the National Science Foundation project, \"The Roots of Human Sociality: An Ethno-Experimental Exploration of Economic Norms in 16 Small-Scale Societies,\" from 2001-2004, and she has also received a National Science Foundation grant and a Fulbright-Hays grant.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Carolyn K. Lesorogol\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0472050249\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780472050246\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Michigan Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/01\/2008\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 264\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.79lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.96h x 6.11w x 0.61d","brand":"Carolyn K. Lesorogol","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48064990249215,"sku":"9780472050246","price":36.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_08f6b8b4-d2ad-4324-a8d4-330cc6fe7f04.jpg?v=1768672403","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/contesting-the-commons-carolyn-k-lesorogol-9780472050246","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}