Pastoralism in Africa: A land-based livelihood practice analogous to swimming against the tide
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Date
2020
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
South Central Review
Abstract
Africa has been written about from the time of “Explorers,” missionaries,
and anthropologists, with several perspectives, narratives and
discourses emerging which are often used to characterise and generalise
about the continent. Many of these are construed as stereotypes especially
among African scholars because of the lack of local context. The
existence of pastoralism in nearly all the 54 countries in Africa at some
phase of their existence, is arguably the most “correct” about Africa.
Pastoralism is a land-based livelihood strategy that involves keeping
livestock through opportunistic utilisation of existing grazing and
browsing resources in natural landscapes called rangelands through
cyclic movement of herds on communally owned land.1 This practice
is informed by seasonality of grazing and browsing resources that characterise
the areas occupied by pastoralists. The movement of herds is
a response to social, political and environmental changes.2 It is usually
regular and seasonal, based on range condition and water, and often
determined by climatic conditions.3 Pastoralists can be nomadic, seminomadic
or transhumant.4 Transhumance involves seasonal predictable
movement of an entire herd between two relatively distant and ecologically
distinct rangeland landscapes that thrive following specific climatic
cycles.5 Nomadism involves continuous, short-range movements while
semi-nomadism involves occasional and relatively unpredictable or opportunistic
movements of herds and household members in search for
fresh forage for their livestock.6 The movement of herds and people in
pastoralism usually follows well-established, traditional routes.
Description
Keywords
Pastoralism, Africa, Land-based livelihood
Citation
Byakagaba, P. (2020). Pastoralism in Africa: A land-based livelihood practice analogous to swimming against the tide. South Central Review, 37(2), 71-78. https://doi.org/10.1353/scr.2020.0016