Pastoralism in Africa

Mobile livestock herders have long been seen as the main culprits of over-stocking and rangeland degradation. In recent years, however, anthropolo-gists and ecologists have argued that African pastoralists have developed sustainable modes of pasture management based on a ...

The income-generating activities in the Middle Drâa valley are strongly based on water use and land resources. Nevertheless, labor migration and tourism increasingly help to diversify the sources of income for farm and pastoral households. The most important component of water demand in the Drâa basin is crop production in the oases of the Middle Drâa valley, which would be impossible without the extensive use of irrigation schemes. Agronomic and economic options for irrigation water management are analyzed and simulated. From an agronomic perspective, specific emphasis is put on problems of temporal water scarcity and on problems with increasing salinization of soils as a consequence of irrigation water use and groundwater mining. Using a hydro-economic simulation model, the consequences of long-term trends in the volatility of water supply are simulated. Land use, by contrast, is dominated by extensive pastoral-nomadic production. The physical biomass productivity of extensive pasture under Climate Change is simulated using a locally adapted version of the SAVANNA-Model. This spatially explicit, process-orientated model simulates spatial animal dynamics based on the distribution of biomass productivity. In addition, we look into the resilience mechanisms of pastoral-nomadic range management in the wider Drâa region. Pastoralists' mobility in the region allows for the use of and creates reliable fodder resources, which are ecological buffers against environmental variability. Decisions also depend on socioeconomic resources and individual networks, which function as economic buffers.

When I did my fieldwork in Bashada, I often heard of Sill-ama, a mysterious kind of creature that is said to live in the bush. The Sill-ama, people said, own a lot of cattle and cultivate sorghum. But preferably they eat people...
The Sill-ama stories are famous in Bashada and Hamar and loved especially by children when told to them in the evenings sitting around the fire.

Note: Due to copyright restrictions, this paper is a "pre-print" of the "Version of Record". I welcome anyone to download the official version of this paper (while supplies last) at the following website: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/zdKmYGU4mExiCPtfjsRh/full

Rinderpest is often misunderstood in the context of southern Africa's 1896 epizootic; it is marginalised or ignored by many (and overemphasised by a few) scholars. The literature often tells a story that pits people, environment and disease against each other in a struggle over control of the region, a story in which rinderpest invariably emerges as the victor. However, this story fails to consider the epidemiology of the disease. I argue that rinderpest emerges as the victor because of people and environment, not in spite of them. The disease could not move of its own accord; it depended on environmental factors, cattle management practices and human conflict. Rinderpest's epidemiology compels scholars to wrestle with an ironic process in which African and white pastoralists and colonial officials collectively spread the disease by working against each other. Coupled with the disease's use of the local environment to spread itself, rinderpest effectively decimated the region's cattle herds. Focusing on the disease's epidemiology challenges scholarly assumptions such as African passivity, colonial hegemony or environmental determinism inherent in this narrative. I shift the focus away from these historical ideas and inevitable outcomes to focus on the process of this event. By exploring what happens during the rinderpest epizootic and why, this article may challenge some assumptions of past conclusions. I examine these ideas using the recent work of J.R. McNeill and focusing on the example of Southern Bechuanaland.

Pastoralists in sub-Saharan Africa have limited access to public services due to their mobile lifestyle, economic and political marginalization, and the limited health infrastructure that is common to arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) where they primarily reside. This often results in poor health outcomes, including increased rates of maternal, neonatal, and under-5 mortality. One Health approaches that integrate human and animal health service delivery can help to improve pastoralists’ health through increased vaccine coverage and improved access to services.Kenya has institutionalized One Health at the national level; however, progress at the subnational level has been limited due to sustainability concerns, competing priorities, and insufficient coordination platforms. To address this gap, this paper presents a One Health framework (OHF) to aid in the implementation of integrated human and animal health policies in Turkana County, which can act as a model for other ASALs. Utilizin...

The independent and synergic impacts of climatic change and capitalist expansion may render pastoral socialecological systems extinct. Climatic change compromises rangelands, while economic development fosters conversion of pastoral land into territories for capitalist expansion. Pastoralists' institutions regulate decisionmaking to socio-environmental change and shape adaptive responses, enabling mobile livestock rearing for using multiple grazing areas, and households' diverse income sources. These institutions are characterized by flexibility, such as mixed individual-collective water and land tenure regimes. However, capitalist-led reduction of land-based resources, the push for privatization and commodification of land and livestock hinder flexibility, and undermine pastoralists' institutions for decision-making; ultimately creating challenges for pastoralists' adaptive capacity. Research on the compound effects of the expanding global economy and climate change on pastoral social-ecological systems is needed to inform efforts constraining unregulated capitalist expansion, and policies for water and land security. Research, practice, and policies will improve pastoral social-ecological systems adaptability and resilience.

What constitutes poverty? How do notions of poverty and, conversely, of wealth become constructed and change through time? And who decides who is poor, and is in the position to suggest remedies? Building on a relatively long tradition of in-depth anthropological and historical ...

موضوع هذا الكتاب يدور حول إشكالية توطين البدو والرعاة بصفة عامة والبدو والرعاة في العالم العربي بصفة خاصة، وهو مجال للبحث في الدراسات الأنثروبولوجية التي حظيت باهتمام كبير خلال النصف الثاني من القرن العشرين، في إطار الاهتمام بقضايا التنمية والتغير الاجتماعي، ومكافحة الفقر، والتصحر، والجفاف، والصراعات الإثنية على الموارد، وسياسات الإدماج الاجتماعي والثقافي للأقليات والجماعات العرقية.
موضوع توطين البدو شائك ومتعدد الجوانب ، وملئ بقضايا خلافية كثيرة في علوم الأنثروبولوجية والاقتصاد والإيكولوجيا والدراسات البيئية ودراسات التنمية. وقد حاولت قدر المستطاع أن أقدم للطلاب الدارسين معرفة علمية دقيقة وبطريقة مبسطة تمهد للقارئ المجال لمزيد من الاطلاع حول هذا الموضوع المهم، والذي أصبح يمثل جانباً مهماً في فهم واحدة من التحديات الكبرى التي تواجه الدولة العربية في فرض سيادتها الكاملة على الأرض والسكان.
الكتاب موجه أساساً للدارسين في برنامج علم الاجتماع التطبيقي بمركز التعليم المفتوح بجامعة القاهرة في المستوى الرابع، الفصل الدراسي السابع. ويتكون الكتاب من سبعة فصول: يعرض الأول لأهم جوانب البيئة والاقتصاد البدوي ، وفى الفصل الثاني عرض لملامح البنية الاجتماعية والثقافية للمجتمعات البدوية في العالم العربي، وفى الفصل الثالث معالجة نظرية لمعنى التوطين والملامح العامة له، ويعرض الفصل الرابع محاولات تصنيف التوطين من خلال عرض نقدي لأهم نماذج وأنماط توطين البدو والرعاة، ويختص الفصل الخامس بالتحديات الإيكولوجية والاجتماعية والاقتصادية المرتبطة بالتحول من الترحال إلى الاستقرار في حياة البدو والرعاة، وكذلك العوامل البيئية والاقتصادية والاجتماعية والثقافية والسياسية الفاعلة في عملية التوطين. ويركز الفصل السادس على دراسة التحديات السياسية المصاحبة لتوطين البدو، خاصة فيما يتعلق بصراع الدولة والقبيلة، وفى الفصل السابع عرض لدراسة حالة أجريت عام 2002 لتقييم تجربتي مشروع العون الغذائي في التوطين، ومشروع التوطين على الآبار العميقة في منطقة وسط سيناء بمصر. ولاعتبارات التدريس في المرحلة الجامعية تم إضافة ملخص وافٍ ملحق بكل فصل على حدة ، بالإضافة إلى نماذج من الأسئلة والأجوبة الاسترشادية للامتحانات الطلابية وضعت في نهاية الكتاب تحت عنوان " تطبيقات".

In any government, public policy formulation is very crucial issues to serve the peoples. Policy formulation passes through different processes. This paper seeks to identify the process that Ethiopian disaster risk management policy goes through. The paper analysis evaluates the policy by the process model. The finding indicates that the DRM policy adheres to both processes of both bottom-up and top-down approach in policy formulation. The process model phases are such as problem identification, agenda-setting, policy formulation, policy legitimisation and implementation, and policy evaluation. This paper argues that any public policy adhering to every step enables of policy to meets its intended objectives. The ways that policy follows determine the achievements of the projected idea.

The idea that all aspects of Khoekhoe culture are better understood within the frame of the Khoisan universe can be labelled the ‘Khoisan paradigm’. Starting with a short history of this leading paradigm, the present article provides arguments to reconsider the Khoekhoe pastoral traditions, a segment of Khoekhoe culture that is crucial to understanding the origin and history of herding/pastoralism in southern Africa. It is argued that, contrary to the biological and linguistic dimensions of the Khoekhoe, these pastoral traditions testify to East African connections.

Livestock industry is one of the largest economic activities in Tanzania, yet the majority of livestock keepers live in extreme poverty. Poverty among pastoral community is a widespread problem in Tanzania despite the existence of several livestock-related policies and development programmes. For instance, in a bid to address this situation, the government of Tanzania introduced various initiatives, including the adoption of the 2006 Livestock Policy, in order to improve the livestock sector and the well-being of livestock keepers.
This study therefore assessed the impact of livestock policy implementation on the well-being of people whose livelihoods depend solely on livestock production. The study also examined factors affecting the implementation of the NLP for the past ten years.
This study used both secondary and primary data, collected by using several data collection methods such as focus group discussions (FDG), questionnaires, and interviews. The selected groups for consultation and interviews during the study included; policy implementers from the Ministry responsible for livestock industry in Tanzania, Regional and District livestock officers in Shinyanga and Arusha, civil societies working within pastoral communities in Tanzania, leaders of Tanzania Pastoralists Association, and Members of Parliament elected from areas with high livestock population.
The findings of this study indicate that despite the fact that the government developed several programmes, laws and strategies to implement the NLP, the livestock sector has been performing poorly for the past ten years of the policy implementation. Consequently, the contribution of the livestock sector to the well-being of livestock keepers and National Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been declining since 2005, despite all these policy-related efforts. For instance, the livestock sector contribution to GDP has been declining for the past ten years from 18% to 7.4% in 2015. Furthermore, the findings of this study found that despite the fact that Tanzania is the third country with largest number of livestock in Africa; livestock production contributes little to the income of small livestock keepers.
Implementation of NLP has been hampered by many factors such as lack of resources for policy implementation; poor participation of pastoralists during the development of policy implementation strategies; and poor policy coordination during implementation. Other factors are failure to take into account all three pillars of pastoralism (people, livestock and resources) during policy formulation and its implementation strategies; and failure to use theories and approaches that are pro-poor during policymaking and implementations.
The NLP favors modern ranching and commercialization of the livestock sector despite existing evidence that they have failed. Poor knowledge of traditional pastoralism, coupled with negative perception towards traditional pastoralism among policy makers and implementers have largely diluted the impact of NLP on traditional livestock keepers, failing to positively affect their lives.

A series of crises which Karamoja experienced in recent decades has compromised the viability of livelihood strategies on which its largely agropastoralist and pastoralist population had traditionally relied. The paper investigates the effects which this development has had on some of the region’s most vulnerable inhabitants: adolescent girls and young women who participate in BRAC’s Youth Development Programme (YDP). It uncovers the scale of livelihoods transition which has eroded previously well-defined gender roles and forced Youth Development Centre (YDC) members, and many other Karamojans, to become involved in the newly-emerged monetised economy through small-scale income generating activities (IGAs). The paper also considers participation in BRAC’s savings scheme targeted at YDC members who – given the recent emergence of cash economy in Karamoja – currently have little experience of managing financial flows and insufficient capital to expand their economic activities.

This study compares and contrasts recent and contemporary nuptiality among Maasai men of Kenya and Tanzania, and represents the first cross-national comparable data set on Maasai marriage (n=2,394 men aged 20 and above). By comparing nuptiality between Kenyan and Tanzanian Maasai, this study examines marriage among the Maasai in particular and rural sub-Saharan African populations undergoing socio-economic change in general. Maasai men marry later, on average, than the national average in both Kenya and Tanzania, and the age at first marriage appears to be declining. Relative to national levels, polygynous marriages account for a significantly higher proportion of Maasai marriages. Country-level differences in entry into and type of (monogamous or polygynous) marriage are described and explanations sought. The Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania are arguably the best-known pastoralist population in the world, and the current study represents an opportunity to update and review the body of evidence linking pastoralism with polygyny. Linkages between socio-economic divergence and nuptiality are identified, with specific reference to uptake of formal education.

The Orientation Framework acknowledges that the scientific understanding of pastoralism has undergone a veritable U-turn from the principles that directed pastoral development for most of its existence. It acknowledges the mistakes of the past. It engages with pastoralists’ sophisticated knowledge, supporting the understanding of mobility as key strategy to increase livestock productivity. The way forward is sketched in an explorative and participatory way. The core principle is to strengthen pastoral systems, building on pastoralists’ own specialisation and expertise.
The document is organised in three parts. The first concerns the understanding of pastoral systems in general and the context of pastoral development. The second part focuses on the experience of pastoral development in Ethiopia. The third part combines these lessons in light of MISEREOR’s approach to development in order to define six axes of activity to strengthen pastoral systems: i. recognise and support their specialisation to use environmental variability for food production; ii. increase pastoralists’ options for targeting pasture resources; iii. create appropriate water supplies in strategic locations; iv. improve access to well-adapted services; v. support the understanding and visibility of pastoralism; and vi. promote dialogue in support of people-led pastoral development.

This publication belongs to a series of planned books on Palestine emerging from the Lower Jordan River Basin Project, a collaborative effort between the universities of Birzeit and Bergen. This project has a resource management profile, in which human resource management is seen within the context of economic, political and ecological perimeters. The main objective is to build up research and competence among Palestinians and Norwegians with regard to the culture, history and human ecology of the Lower Jordan River Basin of Palestine and Jordan. Research activities and competence building in the program have been defined within three sub-thematics: 1) land, 2) water, and 3) cultural heritage. The project was started in 1998 and is currently into its second phase. This second phase of the project involves education and training of researchers, field projects and research in connection to the thematics of the project, and also includes support towards establishments of graduate programmes and a

The thesis describes the major factors contributing to the shrinkage of pastoralist resources in the Ethiopian Lakes Region and the process of transformation of traditional pastoralism. It
investigates the impacts of external interventions on local community in relation to management of natural resources and how communities dynamically respond. It also identifies the role of local community and their institutions regarding resource and conflict management.

In this research both primary and secondary data are used. Qualitative data was collected from different rural and urban areas of the Lakes Region from key informants and through in-depth interview. For analytical purpose, quantitative data about rainfall and temperature characteristics and trend is also incorporated from secondary sources. Other secondary sources such as census and research reports are also used regarding population growth, urbanization, and land use pattern and
investment trend.

The role of traditional pastoralism, once the dominant economy in the Ethiopian Lakes Region is declining due to the shrinkage of pastoralist resources. Internal dynamics and external interventions have forced the pastoralists to transform their livelihood. Political and institutional shocks at macro level, environmental degradation, declining role of traditional institutions, rapid urbanization, population growth, national parks, private and state farms and floriculture and horticulture industry are contributing for further shrinkage of resources. In the meantime the pastoralists and agro-pastoralists economy
is undergoing several transformations. Sedentarization, privatization, intensification and diversification became pervasive phenomenon. In a struggle to maintain survival need as a pastoralist, the pastoralists of the Lakes Region are losers, while in innovatively adapting to the external and internal stimulus they are winners in appropriating their share of life sustaining resources. This strategy has supported the continuation and proliferation of triangular transhumance. As a result there is a continuous organization and reorganization of relationships within the communities settling in the Lakes Region.

Swimmers in the Sand. On the Neolithic Origins of Ancient Egyptian Mythology and Symbolism

• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: Dryada (April 23, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 8087025261
• ISBN-13: 978-8087025260
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 9.9 x 0.8 inches

Author: Miroslav Bárta, photographs Martin Frouz
The book is printed on a certified FSC paper
Distribution: www.amazon.com


The origins of ancient Egyptian civilisation have been attracting the attention of archaeologist ever since the beginnings of Egyptology more than 200 years ago. This book presents a new and original interpretation of the rock art in Egyptian Western Desert which is of a key importance for our understanding of the roots of ancient Egyptian civilisation. Indeed, her very origins can be most likely dated to the 6th millennium B.C. In this time and the centuries to follow the paintings in the Cave of the Swimmers known from a blockbuster English Patient and in the Cave of Beasts discovered only few years ago were created. These caves are located in a distant and hardly accessible part of Egypt, on the border of Egypt, Libya and Sudan.

The rock-art preserved in these caves features several unique motifs that will become cornerstone of ancient Egyptian iconography and mythology. Among them may be named the motif of the sky goddess and the earth god, prototypic representation of an ancient chieftain in the much later pharaonic guise or the concept of cave creatures protecting the entrance to the Netherworld. 

During the Fifth and Fourth millennia B.C. the vast areas of Western Desert suffered from a major depredation of climate that most likely caused a gradual evacuation of the region and instigated appearance of permanent settlements in the Nile valley which led to genesis of ancient Egyptian culture.  The present study aims to present a theory according to which at least some parts of the discussed rock art in the Western Desert was created by an ancient mind that later on contributed to the intellectual emergence of ancient Egyptian civilisation in the Nile valley.


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As one of the predominant and specialized livelihood systems persisted for centuries in the Horn of Africa in general and in Ethiopia in particular, pastoralism is highly dependent on livestock by definition and involves the mobility of herds to access grazing and water. The paper argues that it has been one of the most resilient livelihood systems because of the ability of pastoralists to adapt to resource scarce, ecologically fragile, and climatically highly variable circumstances. However, significant shifts in natural, socio-economic and institutional conditions have resulted in high levels of vulnerability, and as a result pastoralists particularly in Ethiopia are heavily impacted by drought. The paper needs to uncover the fact that an understanding of the particular constraints and strategies of pastoralists is an important first step in designing appropriate emergency interventions to support their economies in times of crisis. Any disaster planning in pastoral areas must start from an understanding of the main characteristics of pastoral societies. Nationally, longstanding negative perceptions of pastoralism continue to influence decision makers. For example, despite increased attention to pastoral-related issues and
pastoral areas in recent years, Ethiopia often encourages pastoral communities to settle and take up agriculture. Settlement as a government strategy and the responses of pastoralists in different villagization sites are discussed. It is also indicated that the deteriorating condition of rangelands linked to resettlement greatly undermined local livelihoods and land tenure security. As observed from the living standards and the various literatures on the topic of pastoralism, pastoral livelihoods are today highly vulnerable because of the loss of valuable natural resources, increasing restrictions on herd mobility and unsound sedentarization programmes pursued by successive governments. The net effect has been increasing poverty, recurrent food insecurity, and the deterioration of livestock herds both in number and quality. With regard to preparing for disasters and emergencies, to help pastoral people to avoid impending disaster threats, the paper presented feasible disaster preparedness framework which can serve as feedback to various stakeholders who aspire to work on the promotion of pastoralism in Ethiopia and the Horn.

Certain social groups played an important role in ancient Egypt in despite of their scarce visibility in official sources and prestigious monuments. However, they were part of the ruling elite (in a broader sense), and their activities, decisions and power were crucial for the stability and operating of the kingdom. Traders, wealthy peasants, local potentates or village chiefs appear thus as informal but nevertheless indispensable agents and mediators for the king and his officials. In other cases, informal practices like patronage, influence and networks of contacts enabled authority to circulate and penetrate into diverse social milieus and spheres of activity and cemented social cohesion. Finally, mobile populations carried out specialized activities as traders, herders and gatherers and were essential in the exploitation of resources in certain zones.

This thesis explores the tradition of red geometric rock art from Zambia and its association with Later Stone Age (LSA) archaeology. A number of new rock art sites belonging to this tradition located along the Luangwa Valley, Zambia were recorded during fieldwork, and are herein presented and described. In addition to providing a record of these images, it addresses the contention that red geometric art from south-central Africa was executed by LSA foragers who, through economic and socio-cultural change associated with their acquisition of livestock in this region, became a culturally ubiquitous migratory parent-group for the LSA herder communities recognised from the interior and coastal areas of southern Africa. The thesis evaluates the current direction of research by providing a clear assessment of the archaeological evidence cited in support of the proposed origins and authorship of this tradition. Comparisons between imagery from South Africa, Malawi, and Zambia indicate that observable similarities do not provide conclusive evidence for an intimate connection, while an overview of the Zambian Early Iron Age and an analysis of lithic inventories from published, dated LSA sites suggest that there is at present no faunal, ceramic or lithic evidence to confirm the theory that southern African herders, who according to Smith & Ouzman (2004) and Eastwood & Smith (2005) executed the red geometric art, originated in Zambia. Finally, aspects of local ethnohistory are explored, concluding that the current hypothesis assigning its authorship to a culturally and possibly genetically ubiquitous peoples labelled the 'Batwa' (e.g. Smith 1995, Smith 2006) is liable to inaccurate interpretation. The thesis concludes that, as we have yet to provide a definitive proof of authorship of the red geometric tradition, researchers should proceed more cautiously in attributing the art to an extensive (and often contentious) cultural framework such as the origins of LSA pastoralism.

Ethiopia has shown encouraging economic development in the past years. The swirls of economic bubbles are impacting the different regions of the country. At the moment, there are several national and regional development projects being implemented in
the Gambella Region in Western Ethiopia. However, being part of the development scheme of the federal state does not necessarily guarantee that this peripheral region will be integrated and brought closer to the political, cultural and economic core. This report is an attempt to contribute to this debate by focusing
on two major themes: large-scale agriculture and the villagization programmes. It examines the dynamics of Gambella’s political economy and the process of incorporating the region – and the Nuer transhumant communities in particular – into the national
economy. Specifically, it explores how processes of commercial farming investments and the villagization programme impact Nuer pastoralists. A policy recommendation to be concluded from this research is to acknowledge the nexus between two pastoral development approaches – pastoral area development vs. pastoralism development – so as to make them run in tandem without one excluding the other. By recognising them as mutually reinforcing, pastoralism could be promoted while resources are developed.

This research addresses the aetiology of current chronic socio-environmental vulnerability of rural households to the hazard known as ‘drought’ in the country of Djibouti.

Tracing the main forces of change affecting the sustainable practice of pastoralism is akin to studying the social production of vulnerability. The exercise forms an integral part of Wisner et al’s Disaster Pressure and Release (PAR) model which is used here to shed light on the mechanisms and the path of change from root causes of vulnerability up to the appearance of unsafe conditions. Based on information from primary research conducted with pastoral communities, relevant secondary sources and raw historical rainfall data, the study generates novel data on communities’ exposure to risk, their vulnerability and coping capacities associated with food insecurity in the face of drought.

The first part of the thesis explores the ‘root causes’ of vulnerability to drought in Djibouti, i.e. the process of border-making, the imposition of geographical boundaries to pastoral life, division and power disequilibrium between the Afar and the Somali-Ise and the gradual weakening of traditional organizational systems’ legitimacy. The second link in the chain of explanation corresponds to dynamic processes which are by-products of root causes. They include regional and internal influences on rurality and the effects of Djibouti’s progressive entry into the world economy on rural livelihoods. Finally, the third part of the thesis investigates the nature and creation of ‘unsafe conditions’ of the Afar and Somali-Ise pastoral communities under study. These conditions correspond to hazardous locations of living, the fragility of pastoral livelihoods and the reinforcing impacts from non-drought hazards on their vulnerability to drought.

The thesis demonstrates that rather than the hazard itself, it is the historical accumulation of factors of vulnerability and eventually the nature of current rural households’ unsafe conditions that are responsible for their present chronic vulnerability to drought in the study areas.

As the pace of global climate change accelerates, residents of the arid and semi-arid lands of northern Kenya face significant obstacles to maintain viable communities. Colonial and post-colonial political governance and economic models have broken down traditional mechanisms for coping with ecological stress. An archaeological example from the Chalbi Desert is presented as evidence of longue-durée persistence of human occupations through extreme climatic fluctuations. Occupations spanning from ca. 5000 to 600 years BP indicate the presence of robust regional exchange networks and either continuous or repeated occupation of this hot, dry, mosaic woodland. These systems are contrasted against the extrinsically imposed models that began in the late 1800s with the arrival of colonialism in which political economies are more focused on ethnic-territorial and global interests rather than regional cooperation. A long-term ecological model on how traditional systems evolved to cope with vulnerability associated with extreme climate conditions is needed to build resilient communities.

Much of the literature on the ‘land grab’ has thus far focused on the international drivers of foreign agricultural investment, with far less attention paid to the roles of developing country states and domestic political economy in changing forms of agrarian production. This paper analyses how global and domestic processes combine to produce patterns of agrarian transformation in Ethiopia, one of themain targets of foreign agricultural investment. The paper presents a typology of changes in land use and examines in detail three case studies of investments in Ethiopia drawn from this typology. The paper concludes that the most dramatic changes are taking place in lowland, peripheral regions where large-scale, capital-intensive farms employing wage labour pose a serious risk to pastoralists whose ‘use’ of land is contested by the state. Although the government has been careful to avoid mass displacement of settled smallholders, there are also important changes taking place in highland areas, with the government encouraging investments that combine the resources of investors with the labour and land of smallholders. These investments have resulted in exposure to new forms of market risk.

Archaeologically detectable human occupations along the Galana River inside Tsavo National Park, Kenya begin around 6,000 years B.P. and continue until 1,300 years B.P. This time period in East Africa is widely known to predate and include the Pastoral Neolithic—geographically and temporally linked early cattle herding cultures comprised of autonomous communities with loose cultural connections to one another. Data from some sites located in the Great Rift Valley, Lake Victoria Basin and Central Kenyan Highlands indicate that after 3,000 years B.P., residential mobility patterns increased and pastoralists adopted a strong dependence on maintaining and culling herds of domesticated animals. There was also a regional shift from stone tool production to iron working technologies beginning after 2,000 years B.P. This pattern is not borne out in Tsavo, where artifact analyses indicate that the sites’ inhabitants had restricted mobility, relied primarily on exploitation of an endoaquatic resource base and continued to produce stone tools throughout the 4,700-year period when the sites were occupied. Regional and global proxy data indicate subdecadal periodicity in El Niño/La Niña pressure oscillations and more-arid-than-present conditions in East Africa during the late Holocene. This thesis finds that exploitation and “domestication” of a wide array of available resources is a means of buffering against environmental uncertainty.

Pastoralists rely on coping and adaptation strategies that have historically allowed them to achieve high levels of productivity, manage the hazards and unpredictability of life in the marginal areas that they occupy and moderate the impacts of shocks (Butt et al., 2009; Hesse and Pattison, 2013; Morton, 2006). But despite the unique suitability of these strategies to their livelihoods, the food security of many pastoralist populations – especially in Africa – is increasingly under threat. Crises faced by pastoralists have increased in frequency and intensity in recent decades. Assistance has taken many forms, but nutrition and food security have been the priorities of most humanitarian interventions, which have usually involved direct provision of food in-kind to affected populations. But can such food aid address food security? Does it contribute to the erosion of livelihoods? Does it lead to a change in mobility patterns?

This evidence synthesis represents the first ever attempt to identify, synthesize and evaluate existing evidence on both the short- and long-term impacts of in-kind food assistance on pastoralist populations and their livelihoods in humanitarian crises. It forms part of a series of humanitarian evidence syntheses and systematic reviews commissioned by the Humanitarian Evidence Programme.

Pastoralists (nomadic herders) live throughout the arid and semi-arid areas of Kenya, where they have historically been marginalized, with little development and security. Continuing traditions of cattle rustling and ethnic violence present significant barriers to development, and external peacebuilding efforts achieve limited results in such conflicts. A uniquely pastoralist grassroots peacebuilding process emerged to address pastoralist conflict, which generated sustainable peace in Laikipia yet was never studied. A review of extant literature conducted for this dissertation led to the conclusion that the peacebuilding field does not sufficiently study such grassroots volunteer peacebuilding, and support for such efforts is hampered by Western teleological approaches that have limited capacity to deal with emergence and complexity. This dissertation addresses these deficiencies by enhancing understanding and utilization of emergent peacebuilding in Kenya’s pastoralist cultures. In this study, Kenya Pastoralist Network and Mediators Beyond Borders–Kenya Initiative co-researchers collaboratively developed a participatory action research (PAR) project focused on a 2009 peacebuilding effort known as the Laikipia Peace Caravan (LPC). The dissertation explored how effective and sustainable grassroots peacebuilding emerges in pastoralist cultures. The PAR approach was utilized to support pastoralists in empowering themselves regarding the ways in which their neotraditional peacebuilding works, and how it can become more sustainable. Multi-ethnic co-researchers engaged in study design, data collection, inquiry and qualitative analysis, conducting semistructured multilingual interviews with 49 diverse Laikipia community members, officials and LPC professionals. Archival research was collected from a range of sources.
This study found that effective and sustainable pastoralist peacebuilding emerged from expansive utilization of diverse pastoralist social networks, cycles of learning and adaptation, integration of practical wisdom and cultural sensitivities, and systemic transformation of transactional, attitudinal and structural societal domains through dialogue processes, modeling and grassroots self-organization. The dissertation outlines and provides evidence for a novel conceptual framework, emergent peacebuilding design, which involves a multidimensional systemic approach to peacebuilding that emerges from social networks, embraces diversity and complexity, is inclusive of traditional methods, and adapts as necessary to meet changes in context and process.

Livestock raiding among Northern Kenya’s pastoralists has profoundly changed in the last decades. It is commercialized, extremely violent and fought out with modern weaponry. This contribution shows that it also serves as a ploy in conflicts that aim at territorial expansion, boundary adjustments and other political considerations. These conflicts are part of Kenya’s troubled politics of decentralisation and as such they must be viewed in context with the politicized violence in Central Kenya. Yet the nexus between this political dimension and pastoralist conflicts remains obscure, and raiding is still largely portrayed as a cultural tendency. Based on data from fieldwork in East Pokot and surrounding areas in Kenya’s Central Rift Valley Province, this article explores the forces behind these dynamics.

The conventional view on the Kalahari in southern Africa expresses that the area is unsuitable for livestock herding. For this reason, it is argued that livestock herders avoided the Kalahari in the past and were only able to establish themselves in the later half of the twentieth century, when deep-reaching boreholes were introduced in the area. An effect of this concept was that the archaeological record of pastoralists in the Kalahari either was perceived as non-existent or received little attention from scientific enquiry.
  Based on an archaeological survey in the Kalahari of the northeastern part of Namibia, the purpose of this study is to construct an alternative approach to the archaeology of livestock herding. The aim is to contribute to a better understanding of the areas unrecorded land-use history.
  I depart from the notion that the main ecological constraint for dryland pastoralism is the availability of dry season water and fodder resources. For this reason, the fundamental basis for a pastoral land-use system is places that contain dry season resources. By reviewing recent ecological research, historical and anthropological accounts and previous archaeological research, I establish a link between livestock herders’ procurement of dry season key resources and the practice of digging wells. The link can be motivated from the pastoral ambition of accumulating livestock and high water requirements in the restrained dry season. On this basis, I suggest that artificial wells are useful indicators of pastoral land use in the Kalahari.
  The most crucial task for the study is to address the archaeological visibility of pastoral well sites. By a research approach integrating the theoretical understanding of pastoralism and a methodology including ecology, archaeology, history and the knowledge of the people who keep livestock in the region today, the archaeological survey revealed 40 well sites, including nearly 200 well structures that have all been used for watering livestock.
  However, it would be unfortunate if a study of pastoral wells would solely address the ecological foundation and the archaeological visibility of pastoralism. I suggest that the wells signify the labour of peoples with common or separate histories, with or without own herds, but probably talked about in relation to herds. I will also argue that the wells can be used for tracking and reconstructing a pastoral land-use system that predated the colonial era. Furthermore, the wells can be used to identify changes of the land-use that took place during the twentieth century, which involved that livestock herding was more or less abandoned in large parts of northwestern Kalahari.
  The study surmises that the critical historical perspective is valuable for development projects and conservationist interventions active in the region, especially in the light of the recent trends in the dryland ecology, which shows a larger appreciation for the indigenous understanding of the management of dryland ecosystems. With modifications, the developed approach can be applicable for land-use historical research elsewhere in southern Africa.

Keywords
Namibia; Kalahari; Omaheke; archaeology; wells; land-use history; pastoralism

While there is a growing body of knowledge on the effects of climatic and other forms of change on pastoralism in Africa, less is known about how recent policy responses and development interventions in the name of climate change and pastoral area development are shaped by certain discourses and narratives and by political interests. This is important because the simplifications that are often a characteristic of environmental policy narratives can fail to acknowledge the politicised nature of many environmental problems in local contexts. The pastoral drylands are no exception as claims to land and other resources remain contested by different actors.
Through content and discourse analyses of national policies, supplemented by interviews with key informants, this research examines the discourses and narratives around pastoralism found within contemporary policy in Ethiopia and Kenya, the interests of actors and actor-networks shaping those narratives, and their consequences for pastoralism.
The findings reveal that while concerns around climate change and calls for strengthening resilience of dryland communities have given a new impetus to pastoral development, old narratives that depict pastoral areas as unproductive and in need of modernisation remain deeply embedded in policy making. These open up spaces for the state, investors, and local elites to extend control over natural resources previously managed under customary institutions. The resultant climate policy solutions and dryland investments are, in turn, leading to new patterns of social differentiation and vulnerability among pastoralists.  While providing some level of climate-risk preparedness, climate adaptation and resilience-building interventions on their own are insufficient to meet the needs of pastoralist communities. I argue that the extent and nature of dynamic change in the drylands of the HoA calls for political responses that address social inequities and power imbalances, that safeguard pastoralist’s resource rights, and that allow for more inclusive forms of governance.

Clitmate change-induced conflict is a major global threat to human security and the environment. It has been projected that there is going to be an increase in climate changes resulting in increased droughts and floods in northern Kenya. Climate change impacts will be differently distributed among different regions, ages, income groups, occupations and gender. People living in poverty are more vulnerable to environmental changes. In relation to these concerns, this article discusses the following issues: climate change, pastoralism and conflicts, gender issues in Turkana, and the future of pastoralism in relation to changing climate conditions. Specifically, the first section looks at the impacts of climate change on pastoralism and the livelihoods of pastoralists, and at the types of climate change-induced conflicts in Turkana. The next section focuses on the impact of climate change-induced conflict on women and men's livelihoods, including discussion of the roles and participation in decision making. Finally, the future of pastoralism in relation to changing climate is discussed. The focus will be on scenarios of the past and future projections of rainfall patterns in Turkana, * Nancy A. Omolo is a climate change consultant in Kenya and a Ph.D. candidate at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.

This article discusses the development of economies based on nonindigenous domestic cattle, sheep, goats, and donkeys in eastern Africa from the Lake Turkana basin south. It specifically addresses a previously noted delay of over a millennium in development of pastoral economies in the region. It argues that this lag could have been caused by novel epizootiological challenges encountered by pastoralists who had thrived in the Lake Turkana basin during the 5th millennium B.P. as they moved south into the Central Rift of Kenya. It reads the archaeofaunas, lithics, and ceramics in early ''Neolithic'' sites in Kenya and Tanzania as responses by immigrating pastoral groups and indigenous hunter-gatherers to an exceptionally dynamic environment, in which both climatic and veterinary factors made intergroup social alliances and exchange crucial.

The paper provides a broad context to the current status of pastoralism and agro-pastoralism in the Horn of Africa from a food security and smallholder livelihoods perspectives. It argues that the significant contribution pastoral and agro pastoral livestock producers make to domestic, national and regional food security is often misrepresented and such contribution to food security is regularly unappreciated by policy makers at State level. Such an attitude is reflected in national and regional government policy perspectives which often do not apportion adequate financial and human resources to help the sector develop to its fullest potential.
The paper argues that pastoralism and agro-pastoralism (i.e. as an environmentally/ socially sustainable livelihood system) is going through a serious self generated and externally driven evolving process which may be irreversible. Thus a change of the pastoralist production system from subsistence to more commercial orientation may be feasible. This reality, the authors believe, is so fundamental that government planners, researchers, international organizations and funders must recognise this if they wish to contribute to the wellbeing of pastoral peoples from a food security dimension in the Horn of Africa region.
Drawing from authors’ experiences from Eastern Sudan, Western Ethiopia and Western Eritrea, they demonstrate the significant economic contribution small producers make to food security within the Region as well as the Middle East, the key challenges they face and recommend ways in which such contribution could be enhanced at national and regional levels.

The analysis of rock engravings located at the northwestern part of the the Adrar of the Iforas’ mountains allowed us to conclude in the existence of an ancient phase composed with naturalistic figures. The authors of these works were part of a pastoral society with a strong tradition of cattle breeding and were most likely initiated to the art of engraving. They visited the valleys at a time when the biotope was still lacustrine or wetland. By comparing their figurations with those of other regions, it is possible to approach the circumstances that brought them to the southern border of the Sahara.
Examination of the geographical distribution of naturalistic engravings suggests that the territory of predilection of this pastoral society, which also raised sheep, included the Tassili n’Ajjer and Fezzan mountains. It was after 7000 BP - date of the appearance of cattle and sheep in these regions - that the tradition of rock engraving was born and it was before 5000 BP that the society responsible for it vanished.
Around 5000 BP, the rise in the level of the water bodies covering the Ine Sakane erg located north-west of the Adrar des Iforas, testifies that the climate of the Malian Sahara was milder than that of the north. The vegetation that was then developing on the valleys of the Adrar des Iforas had to attract cattle keepers and, in this case, the authors of the naturalistic phase.
By fixing the date of extinction of the naturalistic phase to a period prior to 5000 BP, we release for the phases of stylized engravings which will succeed it without cultural filiation, a temporal range in accordance with their iconographic contents. These chronological indications lead us to believe that the figurative conventions of Pharaonic Egypt and that some elements of its cosmogony may have partly derived from Saharan know-how and beliefs.

L’analyse des gravures rupestres situées au nord-ouest du massif de l’Adrar des Iforas nous a permis de conclure à l’existence d’une phase ancienne essentiellement composée d’œuvres naturalistes. Les auteurs de ces œuvres faisaient partie d’une société pastorale à forte tradition d’élevage de bovins et étaient très probablement initiés à l’art de la gravure. Ils parcoururent les vallées du massif à une époque où le biotope était encore de type lacustre ou palustre. En comparant leurs figurations à celles d’autres régions, nous avons pu approcher les circonstances qui les amenèrent dans le sud du Sahara.
L’examen de la répartition géographique des gravures naturalistes suggère que le territoire de prédilection de cette société pastorale, qui élevait aussi des moutons, englobait les massifs de la Tassili n’Ajjer et du Fezzan. C’est après 7000 BP - date d’apparition des premiers bovins et ovins en ces régions - que naquit la tradition de gravure rupestre et c’est avant 5000 BP que s’évanouit la société qui en était responsable.
Autour de 5000 BP, la montée du niveau des plans d’eau couvrant l’erg Ine Sakane situé au nord-ouest de l’Adrar des Iforas, témoigne que le climat du Sahara malien était plus clément que celui du nord. Le couvert végétal qui se développait alors sur les vallées de l’Adrar des Iforas dut attirer des pasteurs et, en l’occurrence, les auteurs de la phase naturaliste.
En fixant la date d’extinction de la phase naturaliste à une période antérieure à 5000 BP, nous dégageons pour les phases de gravures stylisées qui lui succèderont sans filiation culturelle, une fourchette temporelle en accord avec leurs contenus iconographiques. Ces indications chronologiques nous conduisent à penser que les conventions figuratives de l’Égypte pharaonique et que certains éléments de sa cosmogonie ont pu en partie dériver d’un savoir-faire et de croyances sahariennes.

and Keywords Pastoralist societies arose in the arid and semi-arid western regions of southern Africa over the last 2000 years. These were both Bantu-speaking and Khoekhoe-speaking groups who practiced diverse combinations of carnivorous and milch pastoralism but also main­ tained some dependence on hunting and gathering, with varying but generally minimal reliance on agriculture. Historical sources provide many insights into pastoral culture and husbandry practices, but archaeological and ethnographic evidence is critical to the understanding of precolonial pastoralism. Most research has concentrated on the Cape Khoen, but increasingly, a broader view has come to include archaeological and ethno­ graphic evidence from other parts of the region, casting new light on the origins and growth of pastoralism in southern Africa.