MERC
Institute for Maasai Education, Research, & Conservation
We Are MERC
A collective of Maasai community organizers and collaborators working for the cultural survival of Olosho le Maa and our right to the stewardship of Maasailand.
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Explore Our Work
Current Updates
Here you can find recent updates on MERC's current work, including projects, land rights cases, and more.
Suit Against Marriott Hotels
MERC is currently leading an effort to halt the illegal operation of the Ritz Carlton lodge that just opened on the Sand River in the Maasai Mara. The suit is brought by many community members and backed by coalitions of conservationists, scientists and human rights advocates worldwide. For more information, read this Reuters article, Times article, and see updates on Metamei's Facebook page.
This lawsuit has become a defining moment - not just for the Maasai Mara ecosystem, but for the broader principle of justice, accountability, and respect for Indigenous and environmental rights in Kenya and beyond. We are witnessing a major shift - one that could set a precedent for how multinational corporations operate within protected and community lands. We keep pushing with discipline, unity, and confidence. The world is watching, and history will remember what we did here.
Decolonizing Our Own History
In this open format book Maasai leader and activist Meitamei Dapash teams with historian Mary Poole to offer a new version of Maasai history based on Maasai memory and concerns. Through their rich and detailed narrative, we learn not only about the history of the Maasai as they understand it, but also about the relations between politics and Western history; about the untold history of Kenya both pre- and post-nationhood; about why the creation of nation-states is not synonymous with liberation; and about how and why Indigenous approaches to land obstruct global processes of resource extraction. All of this finds wider resonances that upend received narratives of post-“independence” Africa and offer new opportunities for the emancipation of Indigenous communities from neo-colonial regimes the world over.
