Pastoralism

Pastoralism is a form of farming, such as agriculture and horticulture. It is animal husbandry: the care, tending and use of animals such as camels, goats, cattle, yaks, llamas and sheep. It also contains a mobile element, moving the herds in search of fresh pasture and water.

Pastoralism is found in many variations throughout the world. Composition of herds, management practices, social organization and all other aspects of pastoralism vary between areas and between social groups. Many ‘traditional’ practices have also had to adapt to changing, modern circumstances. Also the ranches of the USA and the sheep stations and cattle stations of Australia are seen by some as modern variations.

Origins

Some researchers believe that pastoralism followed mixed farming (rainfall-dependent agriculture with animal husbandry). A model presented by Bates and Lees suggests that it was the introduction of irrigation to farming which resulted in the selective pressures for specialization (Lees & Bates, 1973). The increased productivity of irrigation agriculture ultimately resulted in population growth and pressure on resources, which lead to greater land and greater labour requirements for intensive farming. Marginal areas of land were often all that was left for animal rearing. To acquire enough forage, large distances had to be covered by herds. This resulted in a higher labour requirement for animal tending. As a result of the increasing requirements of both intensive agriculture and pastoralism, the two practices diverged and specialization took place. Both developed alongside each other, with continuing interactions (Lees & Bates, 1974). Other proponents of this view include Levy (1983) and Hole (1996).

Another theory is that pastoralism derived directly from hunting and gathering. In this view, hunters of wild goats and sheep already had knowledge of herd dynamics and the ecological needs of the herd animals. These groups were already mobile, and followed wild herds on their seasonal round. The process of domestication began before the first wild goat or sheep was tamed as result of the selective pressure of hunter prey-choice acting upon the herd. In this way, wild herds were selected to become more manageable for the proto-pastoralist nomadic hunter and gatherer groups. In order to become fully fledged pastoralists, a major psycological (Ingold, 2000; Smith,1992), ecological, and economic shift (Alvard and Kuznar, 2001) had to occur in order to be able to defer harvesting herd animals until a later date. In this theory, pastorailsm only occurs after this shift has been made.

Resources

As explained in the origins section, pastoralism takes place mainly in marginal areas, where cultivation (and the higher energy achieved per area) is not possible. Animals feed on the forage of these lands; an energy source which humans cannot directly utilize. The herds convert the energy into sources available for human consumption: milk, blood and sometimes meat (Bates, 1998:105).

There is a common conception that pastoralists exist at basic subsistence. This assumption is not true; groups often accumulate wealth and can be involved in international trade. Complex exchange relationships exist with horticulturalists, agriculturalists and other groups; pastoralists rarely exist exclusively with the products of their herd.

Resource management

Pastoralism is well adapted to the environments where it exists; it is a successful strategy to support a population with the limited resources of the land. The key to the pastoralist adaptation is maintaining a small population, mobility & dynamism and complex information systems. Progress is forsaken for the goal of subsistence existence.

Mobility

Mobility allows pastoralists to simultaneously exploit more than one environment, thus creating the possibility for arid regions to support human life. Rather than adapting the environment to suit the “food production system” (Bates, 1998:104) the system is moved to fit the environment. Pastoralists often have an area with a radius of 100-500km.

Different mobility patterns can be observed:

Nomadic pastoralists: 1) it is a generalized food-producing strategy with its main base relying on the intensive management of herd animals for their primary products of meat and skin, and for their secondary products such as wool or hair, milk, blood, dung, traction, and transport; 2) because of the different climates and environments of the areas where nomadic pastoralism is practiced and because of the ecology of their herd animals, this management includes daily movement and seasonal migration of herds; 3) because a majority of the members of the group are in some way directly involved with herd management, the household moves with these seasonal migrations; and 4) while the products of the herd animals are the most important resources, use of other resources, such as domesticated and wild plants, hunted animals, goods available in a market economy, is not excluded.

Transhumance: where members of the group move the herd seasonally from one area to another, often between higher and lower pastures. The rest of the group are able to stay in the same location, resulting in longer-standing housing.

Mobility throughout altitudes and the resulting precipitation differences is important. In East Africa, different animals are taken to different regions throughout the year, to match the seasonal patterns of precipitation.

The actions of herders are carefully planned, but also constantly adjusted, to match changing conditions. The system is dynamic, to suit the unpredictable landscape (Fagan, 1999). All pastoralist strategies exemplify effective adaptation to the environment.

Information

Intrinsically linked with mobility is the complex “maps” that pastoralists keep in their minds, marking out the usefulness of certain areas at different times of year. Pastoralists have a detailed understanding of ecological processes and environmental inputs (Wilson, 1992). Information sharing is essential for creating such deep knowledge. This is made possible by formal visiting rules and networks, keeping dispersed societies linked.

Elders discuss and cautiously plan in advance, using the knowledge they acquire, in order to act in the most appropriate way.

Disruption of management strategies

This ability for careful control and planning was wiped away with colonialization. In the Sahel region of Africa, mobility was restricted, settlement was encouraged and the population tripled with improved sanitation and medical care (Fagan, 1999). The previous balance of the pastoralist system was disturbed.

Tragedy of the commons?

Hardin’s Tragedy of the Commons (1968) described how common property resources, such as the land shared by pastoralists, ultimately become overused and ruined.

Following this paper, the pastoralist land use strategy suffered criticisms of being unstable and a cause of environmental degradation (Fratkins, 1997).

A particularly strong example of this is based in the Sahel zone in Africa, where human mismanagement by pastoralists was blamed for desertification and depletion of resources (Fratkins, 1997). The problems were actually due to previous interference and particularly severe climate conditions. However, Hardin’s paper suggested a solution to the problems, offering rational basis for further privatization of land. This encouraged more intrusion and the transfer of land from tribal peoples to the state or to individuals (Monbiot, 1994). However, modernization and privatization programmes negatively affected the livelihood of the pastoralist societies and actually worsened the ecological impact (Wilson, 1992).

Examples of this throughout the world are believed to provide further evidence that the pastoralist way of life is an efficient system; one of the few ways of supporting a population in a difficult environment and representing a sustainable approach to land use (Wilson, 1992). With traditional pastoralist strategies, the “tragedy” is avoided through the management practices described above.

Social organisation

Each pastoralist adaptation occurred in different contexts; there is therefore no specific form of social organization associated with pastoralism. However, pastoralist societies are often organised in tribes, with the ‘household’ (often including extended family) as a basic unit for organization of labour and expenses (Bates, 1998). Lineages can be the basis for property rights. An in-depth discussion of one particular nomadic pastoralist social structure can be found in the Bedouin article.

Mobility allows groups of pastoralists to split and regroup as resources permit, or as desired with changes in social relations.

Examples of pastoralist societies

Traditional:

Ariaal of Kenya
Yörük of Turkey
Maasai of Africa
Navajo of North America
Bedouin of North Africa and the Arabian Peninsular

Bibliography

Alvard, M. S. and L. Kuznar (2001). Deferred harvest: the transition from hunting to animal husbandary. American Antiquity 103(2): 295-311.
Fagan, B. (1999) "Drought Follows the Plow", adapted from Floods, Famines and Emperors: Basic Books
Fratkin, E. (1997) Pastoralism: Governance & Development Issues. Annual Review of Anthropology, 26
Hardin, G. (1968) The Tragedy of the Commons. Science, 162, 1243 - 1248
Hole, F. (1996). "The context of caprine domestication in the Zagros region'". in The Origins and Spread of Agriculture and Pastoralism in Eurasia. D. R. Harris. London, University College of London: 263-281.
Ingold, T. (2000). The Perception of the Environment. London: Routledge.
Lees, S & Bates, D. (1974) The Origins of Specialized Nomadic Pastorlaism: A Systematic Model. American Antiquity, 39, 2.
Levy, T. E. (1983). Emergence of specialized pastoralism in the Levant. World Archaeology 15(1): 15-37.
Monbiot, G. (1994) The Tragedy of Enclosure. The Scientific American
Smith, A. B. (1992). Pastoralism in Africa. London, Hurst & Company.
Wilson, K.B. (1992) Rethinking Pastoral Ecological Impact in East Africa. Journal of Tropical Ecology, 8, 4

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