ABSTRACT
The University of Illinois' program for the study of cultural regularities, conceived and directed by Professor Steward, represents a systematic attempt to test some broad hypotheses about convergence through research in a number of areas in different parts of the world. This chapter presents a case study, which is an outgrowth of this research. Although the circumstances under which the change in land tenure discussed in the chapter are unique to Kenya and to the Kipsigis, the form and the consequences of the change are not so distinctive. Ironically enough, traditional patterns of Kipsigis land use had paved the way for such control over Surplus land despite, and the final transition from this to outright possession with the right of disposal by sale was a small and subtle step, which, with proper hindsight, seems to have been inevitable in the total climate of British colonization in Kenya.
