Boundary-making, tenure insecurity, and conflict: regional dynamics of land tenure change and commodification in East Africa’s pastoralist rangelands

• Processes of demarcation, formalisation, and commodification of pastoralist land increase tenure insecurity and conflict. • Boundary-making is integral to processes of demarcation and formalisation, and their impact on tenure security and conflict. • Boundary materialisation is often the focal point for tenure insecurity and conflict. • Local processes of demarcation and boundary-making influence intraregional dynamics of formalisation and commercialisation. East Africa’s pastoralist rangelands are undergoing unprecedented commercialisation and fragmentation as states seek to exploit the economic potential of the region. Land is rapidly becoming a tradeable asset and communal tenure is being formalised. This article asks how processes of demarcation, formalisation, and increasing commodification of land are impacting tenure security and conflict dynamics for pastoralist and agro-pastoralist communities. We foreground the importance of boundary-making and inter-regional interconnections in our analysis of these processes and their impacts. The article is based primarily on interview data from the neighbouring pastoralist rangelands of Karamoja sub-region, Uganda and West Pokot County, Kenya. A recent rush to acquire land for commercial mining and agriculture in Karamoja, and ongoing land reforms in West Pokot have precipitated land markets and scrambles to demarcate, title, and sell land to benefit from its rising value or to resist its capture by others. Land scrambles and claim-making, alongside more exclusionary ideas of tenure, are having profound impacts on conflict dynamics and tenure insecurity, which as we show often revolves around the materialisation of boundaries. By combining data from West Pokot and Karamoja, the article exemplifies how the recent surge in land commodification alongside demarcation and formalisation – and the impacts on conflict and tenure insecurity – are connected across the region.