Informations et ressources scientifiques
sur le développement des zones arides et semi-arides

Titre : Herders to farmers the effects of settlement on the demography of the Turkana population of Kenya

Auteur : Brainard, Jean Mable

Université de soutenance : State University of New York, Binghamton, USA

Grade : Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) 1981

Résumé
This study addresses the topic of the effect of a new means of producing a livelihood, irrigation agriculture, on present demographic processes in the nomadic pastoralist portion of the Turkana population of Kenya. A comparison of the demographic characteristics of a long settled group of Turkana farmers with those of 1 nomadic control group shows that although both settled and nomadic women postmenopause have the same number of children surviving (4.4), nomadic women have more live births and a greater proportion of children dying ; there is thus a strong causal connection between child mortality and livebirth rates. There are other possible influences in fertility such as polygyny, marital types, marital instability, and age at 1st marriage. Differences between diet and morbidity between farmers and nomads are also considered important. Other conclusions which are reached are : 1) greater fluctuations in nomadic food supply during drought and famine may have been a prime contribution to their greater mortality rates, especially of infants and young children, 2) it is likely that nomadic Turkana women have a harder life in terms of the amount of work they do than do settled Turkana women, and 3) tuberculosis and malaria reduce fertility. Further research should be done in the areas of the relationships between diet and morbidity on the one hand and infant and childhood mortality and fertility on the other. In addition better demographic data are needed for the Turkana population.

Mots clés : Turkana (African people) ; Demographics ; Pastoralists ; Irrigation ; Health ; Diet

Résumé