Flower gardens and shambas: Forms, practices, and talk of horticulture inside and outside a high-end boarding school in Kenya

Abstract

Based on lingering fascination with a short but intense incident that took place during my fieldwork at an elite boarding school in Kenya described at the beginning of the article, the article presents and analyses forms, practices, and talk of horticulture inside and outside the school. It draws on data from participant observation and archival research, as well as secondary sources and literary works. The article shows that the forms of horticulture inside and outside the school compound were clearly distinct but could neither be conceptualised as oppositional nor as independent of each other. Rather, forms of horticulture inside and outside the school compound were nested inside each other and interdependent in the school and its surroundings. Yet, teachers and students at the school related to horticultural forms and practices inside and outside the school as more markedly different. The article relates to literatures on horticulture in Africa, on elites, class, and privilege in Africa, and on enclaves as a spatial ordering of inequalities in Africa and beyond.