Migration and differentiation in Western Kenya: a tale of two sub-locations
Francis, E.; Hoddinott, J.
Journal of Development Studies 30(1): 115-145
1993
ISSN/ISBN: 0022-0388 DOI: 10.1080/00220389308422307Document Number: 336506
This article draws on sociological and economic research methods and fieldwork to examine processes of long term and contemporary differentiation in two west Kenya sub-locations. The analysis is at variance with existing explanations which, by extrapolating from Central Kenya, have emphasized links between migration, land purchases and agriculture. The interaction of economic and social processes with ecological constraints has resulted in labour migration promoting differentiation through its funding of investment in education. Since there are historical disturbances in the processes of differentiation, the process is not linear. One important discontinuity in rural-urban linkages relates to the apparently diminishing volume of remittances in the rural economy and the small number of households which can rely on a regular remittance income. Although access to remittances is still an important factor shaping the distribution of incomes, differentiation between households increasingly centres around differing ability to cope with low remittances. Large-scale accumulation and differentiation centre around access to earnings and profits in the urban economy and are the province of people based in urban areas.