Ecology of Pastoralism

P. Nick Kardulias

• Publisher: University Press of Colorado
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9781607323426
• eBook ISBN:
  9781607323433
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

In The Ecology of Pastoralism, diverse contributions from archaeologists and ethnographers address pastoralism's significant impact on humanity's basic subsistence and survival, focusing on the network of social, political, and religious institutions existing within various societies dependent on animal husbandry.

Pastoral peoples, both past and present, have organized their relationships with certain animals to maximize their ability to survive and adapt to a wide range of conditions over time. Contributors show that despite differences in landscape, environment, and administrative and political structures, these societies share a major characteristic—high flexibility. Based partially on the adaptability of various domestic animals to difficult environments and partially on the ability of people to establish networks allowing them to accommodate political, social, and economic needs, this flexibility is key to the survival of complex pastoral systems and serves as the connection among the varied cultures in the volume.

In The Ecology of Pastoralism, a variety of case studies from a broad geographic sampling uses archaeological and contemporary data and offers a new perspective on the study of pastoralism, making this volume a valuable contribution to current research in the area.

1
Introduction

Pastoralism as an Adaptive Strategy

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P. NICK KARDULIAS

A Pastoral Ecology

Animal husbandry has been one of the main subsistence patterns for many cultures around the world since the Neolithic period. In the past, pastoral peoples have proved to be central players in major historical transformations, including the emergence of major empires such as those of the Mongols and Arabs. In the study of pastoralists, anthropologists and archaeologists pay specific attention to the ecological factors that govern pastoral activities, unlike analysis performed by economists or specialists in development. The studies in this volume demonstrate the careful way pastoral peoples past and present have organized their relationship with certain animals to maximize their ability to survive and adapt to a wide range of environmental conditions over time. In addition, the contributors demonstrate that pastoralism has a significant impact not only on basic subsistence but also on the network of social, political, and religious institutions of the respective societies. The book builds on the work of others who have studied herding cultures from an anthropological perspective (e.g., Campbell 1964; Dyson-Hudson and Dyson-Hudson 1980; Galaty and Johnson 1990; see also Spooner 1973; Khazanov 1984; Barfield 1989, 1993; Chang and Koster 1994; Kradin, Bondarenko, and Barfield 2003; Salzman 2004; Parman 2005).

The contributors take a broad view of ecology. The biological approach to ecology considers the relationships between organisms and their surroundings, with a focus on the utilization of the various resources that sustain life (hydrology, soils, geology, fauna, and flora) within particular climatic regimes. The balances among these various elements determine the ability of a certain zone to sustain a given number of organisms (i.e., carrying capacity). Human ecology is specifically concerned with how people fit into local environments and as a result ties the physical features of a region to the cultural mechanisms people deploy in their efforts to adapt to the environment (Bates 2001:28). For several reasons, the study of pastoralism is an ideal way to explore ecological relationships because it involves symbiotic connections between humans and domesticated animals, with a series of cascading effects in political, social, economic, and religious organization. Conversely, an ecological framework offers perhaps the best way to explain the inherent flexibility of herding/animal husbandry systems. Such groups adapt well to a wide range of environmental and social conditions. On the one hand, they can never really be completely isolated or self-sufficient. They need, or at least seek out, links to other groups and areas through trade, migration, and raiding. On the other hand, pastoral folk often demonstrate a remarkable ability to thrive in marginal zones and exhibit political autonomy in doing so. While they are often participants in market systems, they can manipulate such economic systems through the pliable network of social and political relationships they possess. This ability to mediate their involvement with outside groups is the key to the endurance of such cultures. Dyson-Hudson and Dyson-Hudson (1980:27) opined that “to advance our understanding of the complex relationships between ecology and human social organization, we need detailed studies both of animal and of human behavior.” A key goal of the various contributors to this volume is to present just such analyses, providing information about environmental conditions while also heeding Fratkin’s (1997:236) call to consider the political setting.

While herding/animal husbandry systems retain their cultural integrity despite links with outside groups, they are also syncretic cultures, that is, they transform rather easily from less structured to more formal organizations. Such groups have undergone more adjustments than many other cultures, yet they have been able to retain their sense of place and purpose. Pastoral strategies are easily transferred from place to place and are not linked to territory in the same way as sedentary farmers. The products of herding and animal husbandry systems (such as leather, meat, milk) are universally desired by other groups and constitute a form of fluid wealth that can be converted into multiple forms of capital, savings, and credit, thus enhancing the economic flexibility of such groups. In addition, the animals themselves possess an inherent adaptability. They are subject to easy mutations, can live in cold or intense heat, and can adjust to resource depletion through migration. In addition, sheep and goats are non-selective grazers, so they can live in many different climates, some of which are completely unsuitable for agriculture. In this manner, herding/animal husbandry creates a viable ecological niche for humans where none would have existed otherwise. This is not to say there are no dangers associated with a pastoral system. At times, pastoralism can be as sensitive or more sensitive to seasonal variations in temperature. For example, an early or late frost can lead to the deaths of many lambs in sheepherding societies, creating a problem of volatility in animal population and structure.

Politically, such groups can exhibit strong central organization, but without a massive concentration of resources, because of the need to disperse resources to build alliances, form factions, and so on. As a result, pastoral groups are usually able to organize hierarchically between groups yet retain egalitarian structures within groups. While their contrasting subsistence patterns can bring pastoralists and sedentary agriculturalists into conflict, there are also significant instances of an almost symbiotic cooperation. Despite the difference in mobility, herders can develop social and political organization that often mirrors that of farmers in complexity if not in exact form. Just as their herds can expand and contract in number under various environmental conditions, pastoral societies can fluctuate in size and structure depending on a number of factors. The segmentary lineages of East African cattle pastoralists are perhaps the prime example of this process (Evans-Pritchard 1940). Lineal groups that normally compete with one another may unify against an external threat but then dissolve back to the looser association once the outside danger has passed. In eastern and Central Asia there have been times when the process of consolidation crossed a threshold and chiefdoms and states arose out of a pastoral context. In short, pastoral societies have been and continue to be dynamic and critical to our understanding of cultural evolution. The chapters in this book explore some of these dimensions of herding/animal husbandry systems in various areas of the world, with a focus on Eurasia, Africa, and North America.

Studying Pastoralism

While studies of pastoral societies have occupied the anthropological imagination almost since the inception of the discipline, research on the topic has increased dramatically since the mid-1970s. Several factors account for this expansion. One is that, in some regions, pastoral people represent a traditional form of life that is rapidly disappearing under pressure from the modern world, which restricts their movement across political boundaries or entices members away from animal husbandry with promises of a better life in settled communities. At the same time, many countries present the image of the traditional herder as a unifying cultural theme, part of a national ethnic identity. As a result of this interest, some have come to study pastoralists as representatives of the customary life that had existed for millennia but is rapidly vanishing. A second reason is the opening of regions to investigation by Western scholars. The collapse of the Soviet regime in particular has made it possible for scholars to study regions largely closed to the West for much of the twentieth century. This is particularly true for the vast swathe of the Eurasian steppe that is home to many pastoral groups. There has been a veritable explosion of research by Western schola...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright
• Contents
• Figures
• Tables
• Preface
• 1 Introduction
• 2 The Study of Nomads in the Republic of Kazakhstan
• 3 The Ecology of Inner Asian Pastoral Nomadism
• 4 Agropastoralism and Transhumance in Hunza
• 5 Animals, Identity, and Mortuary Behavior in Late Bronze Age–Early Iron Age Mongolia
• 6 Kalas and Kurgans
• 7 FulBe Pastoralists and the Neo-Patrimonial State in the Chad Basin
• 8 Flexibility in Navajo Pastoral Land Use
• 9 Accidental Dairy Farmers
• 10 Real Milk from Mechanical Cows
• 11 Island Pastoralism, Isolation, and Connection
• 12 The Ecology of Herding
• About the Contributors
• Index