Paper short abstract:

This paper draws on detailed longitudinal datasets from Central Asia and Kenya to explore recent transformations in pastoral identities and their deployment through activism and practice. It interrogates notions of ‘mobility’ with specific reference to pastoral identities and concepts of belonging.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores critical dimensions of recent transformations in pastoral identities and their deployment through aspects of activism and practice. The analysis draws on the author's established, longitudinal datasets from Central Asia (especially Mongolia) and Kenya to interrogate the notion of 'mobility' with specific reference to contested, evolving strands of contemporary pastoral identities and the drivers and processes through which these are negotiated. The latter part of the paper draws on these detailed ethnographic, empirical materials to focus especially on the deployment and efficacy of constructions of 'pastoralism' and pastoral identities in respect of belonging and thus with reference to (resource) rights. At case study sites in both Mongolia and Kenya, pastoralists are engaged in critical livelihood struggles, exacerbated by hostile climatic and to some extent policy contexts. The comparative, in-depth analysis of recent, novel identity-based responses to these pressures provides valuable insights into contemporary theoretical and policy debates around climate change adaptation, institutional change, activism and pastoral futures. The notion of 'belonging' emerges as a central reference point in strategic inventions and reinventions of pastoral identities; the deconstruction of which offers further insights for policy and practice.

Paper short abstract:

Co-existence between farmers and herders in the same area is often thought to be a source of potential conflicts so far as access to land and use of available resources are concerned.The symbiotic relatioship between nomads and crop farmers had broken down as a result of conflict. Such conflict has caused a lot of losses in local communities and families.

Paper long abstract:

The pastoralist nomads described by a migratory life style form an important segment of the West African rural population whose integration into the main stream of society could be mutually beneficial. Nomadism is a well established way of life followed by the pastoralists who roam the country and region in search of pasture, water and escape from disease build up associated with sedentary herds.The north-south movement is usually in response to eco-system factors and climate change over which he has very little control.The nomads do not migrate through unoccupied land all the time. He is consequently faced with several problems from sedentary farmers and others whose land, crops and goods are destroyed by cattle as they grace along the migration routes. Conflicts between farmers and nomads have been a common feature of economic livelihood in West africa.It has been reported that there have been a massive increase of the incidence of farmers-herders conflict which is widespread in Nigeria in recent time.Therefore, it has become necessary now than ever before to investigate the key issues(economic and social factors)contributing to migratory propensities including causes and effect of conflict. Such an understanding will allow this research paper to come up with strategies for the resolution of conflicts and make appropriate recommendations for integration and development of the nomads and into the national economy.

Paper short abstract:

Imposed development has eroded agropastoral bedouin livelihoods in South Sinai and the cultural identity they supported, bringing marginalization and inequality. I explore bedouin response, in particular the ‘rediscovery’ of an identity as guardians of the environment, as an act of resistance.

Paper long abstract:

The Bedu of South Sinai are recognized as conservative, many retaining elements of the agro-pastoral livelihoods on which their subsistence formerly depended. Since 1967, however, sedentarization and 'development' have eroded both traditional livelihoods and the strong cultural identity that evolved from them.

The town of St Katherine grew up under Israeli Occupation. Its subsequent 'development' has taken place on the terms of successive dominant regimes, whether Israeli, or, latterly, Egyptian. St Katherine today is a place of growing inequality. What might be called a 'wool ceiling' is in place: culturally, economically and politically marginalized, Bedu do not compete on equal terms with mainland Egyptians, who now outnumber Bedu in the peninsula. Bedu lack educational opportunities, work and representation. Within bedouin communities, development has favoured a few but failed the many, resulting in material and social polarization.

I explore the impacts on Bedu of living with multiple inequalities, and strategies people employ to validate themselves in a system that disdains or ignores them. Among the most important is adopting a self-appointed role as guardians of nature. This, I argue, arises from the competing environmental imaginaries at play in St Katherine: the dominant vision of nature as resource underpins Egypt's authoritarian modernizing project, pursued through development and conservation. In contrast, Bedu are choosing to reformulate an environmental identity as a means of resistance to Egyptianization, and to the disrespect in which they perceive themselves, and the environment of which they feel part, to be held.

Paper short abstract:

The Bedouins constitute an important part of Arab Society. Most of the sedentary population in the Arab world today descends from Bedouin origins. Historically, the settlement of the Bedouins was not always permanent and some individuals may return to a nomadic life whether temporarily or permanently, if the care of the herd calls for that. The Bedouins have always preserved their culture, traditions and way of life. However, since the 1950s new challenges have emerged that threaten the Bedouin way of survival and their culture in Syria. Economic and environmental factors in addition to government policies have threatened desert culture and the traditional livelihoods of the Bedouins and have pushed them to give up their life in the desert and move to live in the outskirts of Palmyra, Homs and Damascus.

Paper long abstract:

The Bedouins are an important part of the Arab culture. They still hold to a desert culture and traditions which are symbolized by the most prized Bedouin values such as honour, generosity, hospitality, chivalry and bravery. The cultural heritage of the Bedouins is threatened due to a combination of environmental and economic factors. Government policies and the plans of international developments have had a great impact on their life. The Bedouins in Syria, as with the rest of the mobile indigenous peoples all over the world, are facing a combination of challenges starting from extreme climatic and environmental changes to increasing marginalisation and sedentarisation efforts by the governments of the countries in which they live. They are confronting continued difficulties in having their knowledge and their voice integrated into policy making in any development projects initiated by international development agencies. In recent years an increasing number of Bedouins in the Middle East have suffered from top-down implementation of national and international conservation projects. Protected areas and conservation schemes have been established and carried out within the steppeland of the region (the Badia) usually by dispossessing the Beoduin from their traditional grazing pastures. These projects were implemented without a national legal framework and have created additional problems for the Bedouin through dispossession of their traditionally best-quality pastures. Through a synthesis of ethnographic, economic, environmental and geographical data taken from two sites in the Syrian Desert, this presentation will shed the light on Conservation Theory and Bedouin Livelihood Realities in the Syrian al-Badia.

Paper short abstract:

Bida’ is a simple poetic form and a game at the same time. The contents of the verses reflect the changes that occur in the Bedouin society of the Negev and the influence of modern Israeli reality on the traditional poetry. It is interesting that the genre remains functional, while in general Bedouins’ poetic tradition in the Negev becomes extinct.

Paper long abstract:

In traditional tribal Arabic culture poetry used to be very functional almost in all life situations. Poetic texts served as an instrument of persuasion and psychological influence. For centuries tribal Arabs were using different poetic forms to send important messages, to describe and to explain the way, to keep information, to praise leaders, to ridicule enemies, to declare war and to make peace. In the regions where Bedouins continue to lead their ancestors' way of life they still find themselves in situations in which poetic texts are necessary to them in the same form and in the same social capacity in which they were needed for ages. That is why the set of genres and poetic forms correlates with the set of everyday practices. When any practice disappears, relevant genre or poetic form is being lost. Saving everyday social practice, people may save poetic form.

In my paper I will explain this principal, giving as an example the case of bida' in the Bedouin society of the Negev desert. Bida' is a simple poetic form and a game at the same time. It is being used to entertain guests at the wedding celebrations and still keeps its importance as a social practice. I will show how the contents of the verses reflect the changes that occur in the Bedouin society of the Negev and the influence of modern Israeli reality on the traditional poetry.

Paper short abstract:

Galesh is a community of grand transhumance or nomadic pastoralists (Barth 1960) inhabiting mountainous terrain of Mazanadaran and Gilan province of Northern Iran. The community is under tremendous stress due to development strategy of its government. Some of their villages have been submerged for the development of a dam and the displaced villagers have either been settled in far away places without adequate compensation or forced to change their primary occupation and acquire alternative identity denying their Galesh lineage.

Paper long abstract:

The pastoral nomadic communities of Iran have evoked extensive interest in ethnographic studies and formulations of several important theoretical constructs. Salzman (2002) reviewed four pastoral nomadic communities namely but there are no references to Galesh and Talesh residing in Mazanadaran and Gilan Provinces in North-Iran. The present paper is part of a larger study of pastoral-nomadic community of Galesh living in the county of Savadkuh spelled as Savadkhoh in Persian. The primary focus is to comprehend ruptures that dominate narratives from the field. Present political regime is playing a passive role and policy of status quo in safe guarding the rights of these pastoral communities. There is a deliberate attempt to discourage pastoral people from continuing with their traditional occupation. Construction of dams in the region has displaced large populations from their traditional habitats. There were hardly any state sponsored pro-active programmes to safeguard their traditional life-style and heritage. Given this landscape, we propose to examine several theoretical and empirical propositions impacting identity and survival of this large pastoral nomadic native population of Iran. Younger generation exposed to modern education and sedentary life style and nature of primary occupations is gradually experiencing disconnect both within their traditional occupation and family values. They are also acquiring alternative identities refusing to disclose their Galesh lineage. We will be comparing narratives form the field with other studies on nomadic pastoral communities to comprehend processes of transition and for traces of any similarities that may be

Paper short abstract:

The paper would explore transhumance of a Himalayan tribe vis-à-vis state policies.

Paper long abstract:

The broad aim of the paper is to comprehend and explore the practice of transhumance as it exists among Bhotias of Himalayas with respect to the present state policies and attitude of community people towards this. The importance of transhumance calls for an economic and ecological understanding of the same. Transhumant societies the world over are fast changing in social, political and ideological sphere and particularly in India, which is in its declining phase and in years to come is likely to become extinct. An examination of changes in such societies would reveal the trend of total or partial abandonment of pastoralism. In many societies, governments have nationalized and confiscated pastures, forests and natural resources, alienating the nomadic pastoralists of their traditional and age-old rights. On the one hand, communities are abandoning transhumance as an economic practice and there is no government intervention to restore it, but in countries like Spain, the government is recognising the ecological importance of transhumance in ensuring sustainable development and conserving ecosystem. With other countries like Spain undergoing a renewal of transhumance, there is need to study a comparative case of policies affecting transhumance and people's attitude towards transhumance, who have been traditionally practicing it. The paper has two important connotations on social, economic and ecological aspects; one, impact on environment due to neglect of transhumance and two, the impact on social identity of pastoralists. The paper deals with social, economic and ecological understanding of transhumance, how it has changed over time and what implication it has on the identity of Bhotias as pastoralists.

Paper short abstract:

This paper aims to analyze who continue rug weaving, Expansion of migrant workers create a short of labor and people connected to the wool supply chain, and people who can expect family supports, continue making rugs in spite of reducing dependency on other form of income.

Paper long abstract:

In southern slopes of the Himalayan countries, sheep herders graze Barwar sheep for their transhumance. This sheep is known for its coarse wool, which is not suitable for making carpet or knitting. The wool, however, is good for making felt because it will easily change into felt when it is washed. People of the Rumjatar, a village of transhumant sheep herders of East Nepal, developed rug weaving, which is intended not only for self-consumption, but also to sell for cash products. Weaving of woolen rugs is women's work. The Gurung women engage in rug making, however the number of weavers has been decreasing for the last ten years. This paper aims to analyze the change in the numbers of rug weavers and reasons for continuing rug weaving. I will show how the supply chain of wool and the family support system sustains the making of woolen rugs. As a result, close proximity to supply network is a more important factor for the continuity of rug making than economical factors. By expansion of overseas migrant workers to the village, and the diversification of source of cash income, labor shortages have become a serious problem for village women. So, people connected the wool supply chain, and people who can expect family support, continue making rugs in spite of reducing dependency on other form of income.

Paper short abstract:

The socio-economical situation changes fast in Kutch, leading to a progressive abandonment of the nomadic pastoral livelihood by the Rabari community. We examine the impact of these changes on identity construction by individuals and question the idea of resilience when applied to this case.

Paper long abstract:

As the most important semi-nomadic pastoralist community of the Kutch area (Gujarat, India), the Rabari have faced important changes through all their recent history: new political borders on their migration routes, global market Migration in- and out-of-state was a mean - among others - to cope with these changes as well as with the seasonal fluctuation of natural resources.exposition, "green revolution" and development of the dairy industry.

But since the earthquake of 2001, major transformations are occurring in the Kutch area, at very fast pace, sustaining strong incentives to leave the pastoralist livelihood. On one hand the industrial development sustained by state policies has lead to a significant increase of the local labour market and of all facilities, including education, in this previously marginal area; on the other hand access to pasture areas is increasingly difficult, in Gujarat as well as in other states. If some individuals develop strategies to maintain this livelihood, the main trend among young generation is to switch to other occupation, the nomadic pastoral option being regarded with decreasing interest.

This paper will therefore examine, through the study of a set of individual itineraries, the choices and strategies developed in this fast evolving situation. This will enable us to first question the role played by the nomadic pastoralist way of life in the construction of a Rabari identity by individuals, and in a second step to highlight some limits of the notion of resilience when applied to this specific situation.

Paper short abstract:

Many anthropological studies of pastoral nomadism have emphasized its flexibility and endurance thanks to rather than in spite of its combination with other forms of production and labor. While most of these studies have attended to the combination of pastoral nomadism and settled agriculture as well as marketing and wage labor, this paper discusses findings from an ethnographic study of involvement in pastoral nomadism among professional academics and engineers in and around Erdenet, Mongolia, home to Mongolia’s largest industrial complex, the Erdenet Mining Corporation. Particularly, I describe how involvement in pastoral nomadism in Mongolia is only in some contexts associated with low social status, and the implications of this for the near future of pastoral nomadism in Mongolia. While herders do often come to the city to participate in har bor ajil, “black-brown work” or heavy labor that is negatively evaluated, herders also include university students, engineers, politicians and other highly educated professionals. Furthermore, when herders do come to the city they are often assisted by relatives and friends who are already well established there and who themselves often travel to the countryside to participate in nomadic pastoralism.

Paper long abstract:

Many anthropological studies of pastoral nomadism have emphasized its flexibility and endurance thanks to rather than in spite of its combination with other forms of production and labor. While most of these studies have attended to the combination of pastoral nomadism and settled agriculture as well as marketing and wage labor, this paper discusses findings from an ethnographic study of involvement in pastoral nomadism among professional academics and engineers in and around Erdenet, Mongolia, home to Mongolia's largest industrial complex, the Erdenet Mining Corporation. Particularly, I describe how involvement in pastoral nomadism in Mongolia is only in some contexts associated with low social status, and the implications of this for the near future of pastoral nomadism in Mongolia. While herders do often come to the city to participate in har bor ajil, "black-brown work" or heavy labor that is negatively evaluated, herders also include university students, engineers, politicians and other highly educated professionals. Furthermore, when herders do come to the city they are often assisted by relatives and friends who are already well established there and who themselves often travel to the countryside to participate in nomadic pastoralism.

Paper short abstract:

Recent years have seen an increase in road construction in pastoral regions of Eastern Tibet and, in its wake increased motorized mobility of pastoralists. The paper examines in what ways motorization is shifting everyday practices of movement and how this impacts sense of place of pastoralists.

Paper long abstract:

Tibetan pastoralist communities in Amdo, the north-eastern region of the Tibet-Qinghai plateau, are undergoing tremendous change due to modernization processes such as new means of transportation, change from subsistence to a market economy, and urbanization. These processes are to be situated in the context of state development policies aimed at bringing progress into the predominantly poor and rural areas of Western China. The implementation of those state development programs have resulted in a massive increase in infrastructural constructions. Roads, telecommunication systems and urban construction have reached even remote pastoral regions. This paper examines how the expansion of road infrastructure and modern means of transport are transforming pastoral mobility. It argues that motorization and the increased availability of roads impact everyday practices of pastoralists as regards mobility and movement. Everyday practices of movement, however, are integral to the construction of space and place, i.e. to the interrelation of pastoralists and their environment. They have shaped sense of place of pastoralists and informed the way in which they relate to and perceive the environment they inhabit. Research, therefore, seeks to understand how motorized vehicles and similar mobile technologies are integrated into everyday practices of pastoralists and how increased motorized mobility brings about transformations in the way pastoralists live in their environment and socially construct space and place.

Paper short abstract:

In this study, we recorded seasonal migration and daily herding distance of a Mongolian nomadic family. Vegetation condition was investigated. The seasonal migration was strongly depends on climatic and vegetation, and daily herding was clearly different between warm and cold season.

Paper long abstract:

Productivity of grassland vegetation is strongly affected by precipitation and its distribution. In the arid and cold climate dominated Mongolian plateau, about 70% of territory covered by herbaceous community. Nomadic pastoral livestock were historically managed in the region.

Several studies ecologically focused on the relationships between vegetation productivity and nomadic grazing intensity. And some studies were took angles form anthropology to discussing about seasonal migration and daily herding. But there is still no objective data showed that nomadic pastoral livestock how related with climatic and vegetative environment.

We conducted an experiment that handled portable GPS to nomadic family and settled a GPS logger on their sheep back to recording the seasonal migration and daily herding rout concurrently. Vegetation condition was investigated in remote sensing and ground truth level respectively.

As results, that number and distance of seasonal migration showed strongly depends on climatic and vegetation conditions. Daily herding was clearly different between warm and cold season.

Traditional nomadic knowledge played important roles on how to select and use the suitable pasture. It led to sustainability of grassland ecosystem in the Mongolian plateau.

Paper short abstract:

Tibetan pastoralists in many areas of China earn their living not only from the pastoral economy, but also from collecting Ophiocordyceps sinensis, a medicinal fungus growing on Tibetan plateau. This paper shows how this cash impacts the lives of the pastoralists and their livelihood strategies.

Paper long abstract:

Pastoralists in many Tibetan areas of China earn their living from other than pastoral economy. Their budgets are fueled by the income from Ophiocordyceps sinensis (caterpillar fungus), medicinal fungus growing on the Tibetan plateau. Growing demand for caterpillar fungus and its high prices made it the main supplier of cash to the pastoral households. This paper shows how this cash from collecting and selling caterpillar fungus impacts the lives of the pastoralists and their livelihood strategies.

The trade with caterpillar fungus grew into an important private trade sector in the period of economic liberalization. In the 2000s the wholesale prices in the pastoral regions reached already 8,000 British pounds per half a kilogram of fungi. Faced with such income the pastoralists invested more and more forces into gathering caterpillar fungus and became increasingly dependent on it. This paper analyzes household budgets, animal husbandry patterns and mobility in a community of Tibetan pastoralists in north-eastern Tibetan plateau. It argues that the development of the caterpillar fungus economy triggered many developments in this society, leading it from pastoralism with addition of subsidiary gathering, to a primarily gathering economy with pastoralism practiced for subsistence and lifestyle reasons. Whether this is a short-term effect of the caterpillar fungus market craze in China, or part of a long-term transformation making the pastoralists into something else is a big question to ask.

This paper sums up the results of the doctoral research conducted in 2007-2010 in Golok Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, China.

Paper short abstract:

A policy of 'closing down the grasslands' reshapes pastoralism in Inner Mongolia, China. Government efforts at settlement, presented as essential for ecological reasons, affects herders’ livelihoods, opportunity and future viability.

Paper long abstract:

A policy of 'closing down the grasslands' reshapes pastoralism in Inner Mongolia, China. Government efforts at settlement, presented as essential for ecological reasons, affects herders' livelihoods and opportunity. The implicit removal of people from steppe grasslands is undertaken through regulation, financial inducements, competing land uses (farming), de facto privatization (fencing) and restriction on livestock numbers and pasture access. In Inner Mongolia Province mobile pastoralism is evolving into settled livestock raising; herders now settle in villages in winter, house animals in barns, buy fodder rather than graze in cold weather and depend on government support, most often loans or grants, to cope with climate disasters and herding exigencies.

In northern China agro-pastoral livelihoods are environmentally dependent and considered risky endeavours as both cope in adverse (cold) conditions. Interestingly, herding is viewed as high-income work vis-à-vis farming in the region. This motivates some locals to become herders for perceived greater financial return at the same time the government seeks to settle pastoralists. The continuation of a modified form of livestock-raising with some mobility is contingent on district and village officials' interpretation and enforcement of laws. This leaves herders dependent on bureaucrats and their application of rules that are often environmentally or economically unsustainable. Local officials will be the ultimate arbiters of herding viability in China's northern steppe region.

Paper short abstract:

Les sociétés nomades ont toujours été organisées autour d'une gestion rationnelle des maigres ressources naturelles dont-ils disposent. Vivant dans des zones arides,le plus souvent hostiles, ils ont élaboré des stratégies de survie. C'est dans ce contexte que les peul de Say pratiquent le nomadisme. Avec cette transhumance, qui daterait du néolithique, les peuls rencontraient très souvent d'autres groupes sédentaires, vivant sur le même espace.Avec le temps, les relations se sont beaucoup détériorées.

Paper long abstract:

Les sécheresses récurrentes de ces dernières années, notamment celle de 1973-1974, 1984-1985, 2004-2005 et celle de 2010, ont entraîné beaucoup de pertes dans les troupeaux et modifié, dans toutes les ethnies et dans tous les groupes sociaux, les structures de gestion et leur structure par espace.

C'est dans ce contexte de crise généralisé du pastoralisme, que nous assistons à un transfert de troupeaux. Désormais, les fonctionnaires et les commerçants rachètent les animaux à des prix dérisoires et les confient aux anciens propriétaires peul nomades, devenus de simples gardiens de troupeaux.

Ainsi, ces sécheresses ont eu pour conséquences principales une occupation anarchique des espaces pastoraux (avec un fort taux de natalité), d'ou les conflits réguliers à chaque début de saison de pluie entre les agriculteurs et les éleveurs avec un cortège de morts.

Paper short abstract:

The paper studies several cases of migrations among the Tubu Teda Gunna (Niger, Chad) and asks how they may become a means to realize territoriality. Examples from pre-colonial times up to the present are given and the question of historical continuities and disruptions is raised.

Paper long abstract:

The paper wants to ask how migration can become a means to realize territoriality. The history and the present of the Tubu Teda Gunda in Niger and Chad provides several examples to illustrate this approach: The separation of the Teda Gunda from the Tomagra and their following migration from the Tibesti into the Kawar led to a favorable natural environment as a base for prospering nomadic life and to political emancipation. After that, the interactions between the French colonial rulers and the Gunda allowed the latter - especially one sub-group - not only to resolve territorial questions by migrating but in the same to gain the administrative chieftaincy and thus a dominant political position. After the independence and in the present times, new challenges, among others due to recent decentralization, occur and territoriality may again be negotiated. The aim of the paper is to study such territorial dynamics and to ask what historical continuities can be found here and where disruptions occur.

Paper short abstract:

The paper considers how mobile pastoralism, which, since the 1950s, has been steadily on the decrease in Western Sahara, has nevertheless continued to play a role in the development of the Western Sahara conflict, especially in its phases since the ceasefire.

Paper long abstract:

Mobile pastoralism amongst Sahrawis (from Western Sahara) had already decreased before the outbreak, in 1975, of the conflict between Morocco and liberation movement Polisario over Western Sahara. Those Sahrawis who, from 1976, went into exile in Polisario's refugee camps in Algeria were further separated from mobile pastoralism through lack of access to animals and pasturelands, and Polisario's political aspiration to change the notion of Sahrawis as Bedouin "ill-equipped" to claim statehood. Meanwhile, in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara, Morocco moved in Moroccan settlers, encouraged new industries and developed new infrastructures, changing the territory's pastoralist associations. Mobile pastoralism in Western Sahara thus might seem to be in long-term decline. The conflict, however, has arguably intensified a targeted engagement with mobile pastoralism or associated practices, both amongst annexed and exiled Sahrawis. From exile, Polisario developed and still possesses its own camel herds. Since the ceasefire, both Morocco and Polisario have sponsored new settlements in their respective pasturelands within Western Sahara, as if battling to claim pasturelands and mobile pastoralists. Sahrawis on both sides use the pasturelands as spaces to sidestep state power, annexed Sahrawis to stage protests or leave cities when feeling unsafe, and exiled Sahrawis to engage in activities that are sanctioned by Polisario in the refugee camps. Finally, those with resources in both populations can invest in animal herds as a means of reducing their dependence on their respective state powers. Mobile pastoralism continues to be important for these populations and their governing authorities, perhaps even especially because of the conflict.

Paper short abstract:

L'objet de mon étude consiste à analyser l'impact des perceptions et des représentations culturelles sur la distance sociale qui caractérise le phénomène de sous-utilisation du système sédentaire des services de santé modernes par la communauté des nomades peuhls du Borgou (Nord-Bénin).Cette distance sociale et culturelle constitue la base des enjeux et des rapports de forces conflictuels entre cette communauté nomade Peuhle et et les autres groupes ethniques sédentaires agricoles majoritaires.

Paper long abstract:

Cette étude exploratoire qualitative est fondée sur l'usage méthodologique du focus group et de l'obseravation participante.Elle opère une mise perspective théorique et empiriquepertinente de l'anthropologie sociale et culturelle pour comprendre, outre les difficultés, les conflits et la résistance collective face aux services, mais surtout la complexité du nomadisme en tant que culture historique, les conceptions de la mobilité et les représentations particulières de la santé dans cette communauté nomade Peuhl qui s'y trouvent confrontées à travers des conflicts à toutes les contraintes politiques et administratives gouvermentales de sédentarisation forcée soutenue par les groupes ethniques agricoles. Les résultats de cette étude ont dégagé des stratégies d'action conformes aux aspirations et à la condition nomade de cette communauté dont les membres se situent au premier plan de ce processus collectif d'autodétermination culturelle. Ces stratégies d'empowerment multisectoriel de cette communauté permettent la préservation de sa culture endogène du nomadisme et de la santé des déterminismes utilitaristes et de la rationalité technocratique et instrumentale du productisme du marché de l'économie moderne.

Paper short abstract:

This paper will examine policies and programs regarding ‘development’ that are used to undermine pastoral land holding, and the resilience shown by pastoral communities in defending their land rights or responding to land loss. Examples will be drawn from Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania, with reference to the Sudan and Somalia.

Paper long abstract:

Land reform has rarely benefitted the pastoral inhabitants of the East African rangelands, as promises of security of tenure have been rearticulated as reasons for appropriating the drylands for conservation and commercial agriculture. Notwithstanding the significant contribution of herding operations to national and export markets, pastoral land rights are threatened by neoliberal land grabs justified by self-serving arguments favoring commercial and conservationist interests. This paper will examine policies and programs regarding 'development' that are used to undermine pastoral land holding, and the resilience shown by pastoral communities in defending their land rights or responding to land loss. Examples will be drawn from Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania, with reference to the Sudan and Somalia. Contrast will be made between cases where land appropriation has emanated from initiatives for neoliberal allocations to commercial interests by central governments (e.g. Ethiopia, Tanzania) claiming land sovereignty, or from the dynamics of land markets (as in Kenya) manipulated by similar commercial or conservation interests.

Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses policies of the Ethiopian government to displace and resettle pastoralists from major rivers to make way for hydro-electric and irrigation projects, engendering resistance from the affected pastoralists. This paper makes recommendations to maintain pastoral livelihoods while improving social services.

Paper long abstract:

The Federal Democratic Government of Ethiopia, while responsive to some issues of pastoralist development, has dramatically accelerated programs of displacement and resettlement in different regions of the country. This is particularly so along major rivers including the Omo, Awash, and Shabelle Rivers in order to develop large scale hydro electric and irrigation projects for state and foreign owned agriculture including sugar production. Pastoral and agro-pastoral populations make up only 12% of Ethiopia's population, located in the drier regions of southern and eastern Ethiopia, yet produce the majority the country's livestock, the largest number in Africa. Although pastoral production requires mobility for access to grazing and water, the Federal government dismisses traditional herding practices as 'primitive' and inefficient. The government's stated goals include modernizing their pastoral populations by providing social services through resettlement and offering alternate economies of wage labor and farming. These policies have not been successful and have engendered resistance from the affected pastoralists. This paper draws on examples from Mursi, Borena, Afar (Danankil), and Somali pastoralists and makes recommendations to maintain pastoral livelihoods while improving social services.

Paper short abstract:

This paper brings together over 20 years of research concerning the diversification of pastoral livelihoods through migration of Massai to towns and the Tanzanite mines. I examine the causes, processes and consequences of migration, and problematize the concept of “poverty.

Paper long abstract:

Much of the literature concerning pastoralists published over the last 15 years has explored the diversification of pastoral livelihoods. One process of livelihood diversification that has not received as much attention as other pursuits, such as the adoption of cultivation, is the migration of pastoral peoples to town to seek work or more rarely to become entrepreneurs. In this paper I bring together 20 years of research on Maasai migration from its beginnings when young men went to towns to seek work as guards to the current migration to the Tanzanite mines where Maasai men work as middlemen in the gem business. I also problematize the concept of "poverty" ; the answer given so frequently to questions about the reasons for migrating; and examine the some of the consequences of migration for building herds, expanding cultivation, and influencing political leadership.

Paper short abstract:

The paper reports on the livelihoods of pastoralists in Somalia based on a representative national sample survey carried out in April and June 2011. Households reported substantial losses of livestock over the preceding 6 months; but on average most households still had sufficient to survive; although those interviewed in June were in a worse position.

Paper long abstract:

The paper reports on the livelihoods of pastoralists in six different regions of Somalia based on the findings of a representative national sample survey of pastoralists households (N = 6,650) carried out in April and June 2011. Households reported substantial losses of livestock over the preceding 6 months; but on average most households still had sufficient to survive (based on a threshold of 12 camel-equivalent units per household of 6 persons). There were wide variations between the six regions; and those interviewed in June were in a worse position.

Although relying mainly on pastoralism, households declared a variety of income sources, including casual labour and remittances from abroad; in particular, many households had diversified their local livelihood activities to survive during the previous 3 months. On average, households owed more than a third of GDP per capita. Again, there were wide variations between regions; and those interviewed in June were in a worse position.

Pastoralist households were asked how they would spend an unexpected remittance. Whilst over 60% would spend some of the money on replenishing their herds, over a quarter would spend some of the remittance on school fees; and about the same proportion would spend money on buying land. The paper discusses the implications of their preferences for future expenditures for the likely future for pastoralism in the different regions of Somalia.

Paper short abstract:

This paper focusses on women as agents of change in a transforming pastoral Pokot society. It explores ways of female resilience to social, economic and ecological change and how these changes are accompanied by a reorganization of social and normative relationships between men and women.

Paper long abstract:

Sedentarization in East Pokot is spreading. Customary household structures with a male head of the homestead who distributes tasks to his co-wives and children are more and more diminishing. In sedentarized settlements, women as main wage earners are common place. They seek employment as household assistants, fetch water and firewood for money or start small business like brewing or local shops. Men often struggle to adapt to these new surroundings; many are unemployed. As a consequence, divorce rates are high, domestic violence is increasing and birth rates are decreasing. Even in still pastoral settings, household transformations are taking place. More and more women have small brewing businesses. Herewith earned money belongs to the women and has to be used to provide for the needs of them and their children. Many co-wives do not cohabit in one homestead. Rather the customary homestead is divided into geographically scattered independent household units consisting of a mother and her children, which are regularly visited by the homestead head. In pastoral and sedentarized settings, more girls (and boys) are schooling, and FGM is regressing.

This paper focusses on (1) the ongoing changes women are facing; (2) the economic, political, symbolic and social agencies of women; (3) the impact of these transformations on everyday relationships between men and women; (4) the normative notions of right and wrong female behavior.

Paper short abstract:

In this paper I discuss the different economic tactics that the Mursi, a small scale pastoral group in South-Ethiopia, practice in their everyday with global ‘forces’ such as western tourism, government initiations or NGO activities.

Paper long abstract:

As Anna Tsing (2005) noted the analytical tools are still rudimentary when we want to understand the relationship between 'local reactions and global forces, local consumption and global circulation, local resistance and global structures of capitalism'. Globalization is a lived practice where people 'reach out to the world' (Theodossopoulos 2009; Strathern and Stewart 2009) along the practice of consumption and different forms of production.

In this presentation I propose a configuration of the concepts of scale and consumption discussing global connections through the examples of the nomadic Mursi people in south Ethiopia and their everyday acts with non-Mursi people. For most Mursi people globalization means a constant planning and objectification of desires and wants and this tactical planning manifest in different forms. In my discussion I follow a path (as a rhetorical device), a path that started from my hut, almost from the center of the Mursi settlement I lived during my fieldwork, and track this path until it reaches out the first town close to Mursiland. Along this path I discuss my topic and show how the idea of global-local scales rather refers to reflexive, creative and mobile relationships than unidirectional encompassing and unifying transactions where the larger always wins over the smaller.