In 1227 Genghis Khan died leaving behind a legacy of conquest and the largest land empire in history, only fully realized by his Grandson Kubhlai Khan with the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty in 1267 (Chaliand 2004). Continue reading “Predatory or prey – the rise of nomadic empires”
Category: Nomadism
Market economy vs. risk management: how do nomadic pastoralists respond to increasing meat prices?
Just got paper published in Human Ecology that looks at the old question of what exactly motivates nomadic pastoralists. Continue reading “Market economy vs. risk management: how do nomadic pastoralists respond to increasing meat prices?”
Summer school in Kyrgyzstan
Just returned from an amazing trip to Kyrgyzstan. I participated on a summer school for students from the University of Tromsø (UiT) and the American University of Central Asia (AUCA).
Workshop in Tromsø February 18
In connection with the project “The Erosion of Cooperative Networks and the Evolution of Social Hierarchies: A Comparative Approach” and NIKU‘s 20th anniversary, a workshop will be arranged on Wednesday 18th of February in Tromsø, Norway.
Time: Wednesday February 18 12:30-16:00 Continue reading “Workshop in Tromsø February 18”
HIERARCHIES: New research project from the Research Council of Norway
Last week I got the news that I got a 4 year research grant funded by the Research Council of Norway.
Continue reading “HIERARCHIES: New research project from the Research Council of Norway”
What’s killing the reindeer?
Predatory species compete with humans for the use of resources such as livestock and an important tool for managing possible conflicts is damage compensation schemes distributing the costs between those who benefit from conservation and those who suffer the costs of damage.
Are Nomadic Pastoralists Non-Rational?
Herskovits[1] showed that cattle were a dominant element among East African pastoralists’ culture and life. Cattle were important in many ways, e.g. as a symbol of wealth, dowry, and in ceremonies. Continue reading “Are Nomadic Pastoralists Non-Rational?”
Nomadic Pastoralism: Importance and Distribution
- Livestock is the fastest growing agricultural sector, and in some countries accounts for 80% of GDP.[1]
- Grasslands – the basis for livestock production – cover ~70% of the global agricultural area.[2]
- More of the land surface of the earth is used for grazing than for any other purposes.[3]
- Pastoralism produces 10% of the world’s meat, and supports some 200 million pastoral households who raise nearly 1 billion head of camel, cattle and smaller livestock.[4]
- >1 billion people depend on livestock, and 70% of the 880 million rural poor living on less than USD 1 per day are at least partially dependent on livestock.[5]
Continue reading “Nomadic Pastoralism: Importance and Distribution”
Nomadic Pastoralism: A (Tentative) Definition
In the early days, research was all about establishing typologies. So also in the study of nomadic pastoralism, which was concerned with establishing typologies of “pure pastoralists or nomads” where the units of analysis were “ideal types”[1]. Continue reading “Nomadic Pastoralism: A (Tentative) Definition”
Tibetan lives: Nomads in the Aru Basin
So I just bought a scanner to scan the many pictures I have from my stay in Tibet in 2000 and 2001. While I spent most of my time in the capital, Lhasa, I have yet to get to those pictures. Consequently, I have selected a few pictures showing some aspects of the daily life of the nomads in the Aru Basin. Continue reading “Tibetan lives: Nomads in the Aru Basin”
Pastoralism, Climate Change and Policy 