Nairobi's rapid expansion is driving up rural land values in areas like Kiambu, leading to profound social upheaval and family tensions as landowners are tempted to sell their ancestral plots.

• A new book, "Peasants to Paupers: Land, Class and Kinship in Central Kenya," by economic and political anthropologist Peter Lockwood, details how these land sales stem from both the allure of surging land prices and a sense of hopelessness among younger generations about their future prospects.
• The research, conducted between 2017 and 2022, highlights how land poverty, rooted in colonial legacies and exacerbated by inheritance practices, creates intense conflict within families over diminishing plots.
• Lockwood argues that state intervention and a renewed discussion on land access inequalities are desperately needed to address the growing discontent and downward social mobility among young Kenyans.