ABSTRACT
Marakwet irrigation is about much more than conveying water to cultivated fields. It is also about kinship and neighborhood, capital, and gender. It is definitely about social skills, but also about metaphysics. This chapter explains that both the colonial administration and contemporary development agencies overlooked the socially embedded nature of the Marakwet irrigation system. Stones construct the Marakwet landscape. The kondi symbolizes the social embeddedness of the irrigation canals. People will help each other during the actual watering of the fields, which can get out of hand on sloping land, resulting in soil being washed away and water escaping before infiltrating. When the water finally reached the fields, it was koyer. Ilat lives in rivers, lakes, and waterfalls, but also on mountain peaks and clouds, and is the bringer of rain. In 1973, the Kenyan Water Department wanted to build a reservoir on the valley floor to support irrigation, a proposal that was turned down during the consultation process.
