Abstract
This paper explores how white Kenyans descended from colonial settlers understand
their own entitlements to land. In 2004, Maasai activists drove livestock onto white Kenyan
owned farms in Laikipia District as part of a broader bid for reparations for the colonial
administration’s land seizures. White Kenyan responses draw on longstanding colonial
discourse to criticize Maasai land use and what they frame as the “romance” of Maasai
activism. I deem their occluded understanding an example of “structural oblivion”; that is,
difficulty understanding the perspectives and resentments of marginalized groups. I explain too
that pressures for Community Based Conservation have led some white Kenyans to make
(partial) concessions to the alternative perspectives of the communities bordering their lands.