Question

explain the major characterstics of pastoral nomadism

Answer 1

 

NOMADISM, a way of life and human existence that is connected with permanent and more or less regular movements of people between different locations. The migrational movements of nomads are connected with clearly defined routes and destinations where the nomads spend equally clearly defined periods of time with the ultimate goal of pursuing economic activities and ensuring their livelihood. Three forms of nomadism can be distinguished: nomadic hunters and gatherers, pastoral nomads, and non-sedentary people whose economic activities focus on tinkering and trading.  But this entry is only concerned with the pastoral nomads in Iran and Afghanistan. 

i. Pastoral Nomadism

ii. Iran

iii. Afghanistan


i. Pastoral nomadism

This form of nomadism is a very old way of life that differentiated in time and space, and developed a variety of genres de vie. Pastoral nomadism is difficult to define with an overarching and all-embracing definition. But the following characteristics are more or less ubiquitous attributes of pastoral nomads: (1) dependence on domesticated animal husbandry; (2) migration along established routes between focal grazing areas; (3) mobility of herds, people, and their habitats; and (4) predominant economic dependence on the herds and their products. In other words, the nomadic way of life always tried to (and had to) maintain an equilibrium between the resources of the natural environment and the needs of the people. Animals and herds thus became an essential link between man and his natural environment. It goes without saying that such characteristics put pastoral nomads in competition and conflict with sedentarized populations, especially with agriculturalists. “Pastoral nomadism is a livelihood form that is ecologically adjusted at a particular level to the utilization of marginal resources. These resources occur in areas too dry, too elevated, or too steep for agriculture to be a viable mode of livelihood, and the nomadic pastoralist thus makes use of resources that otherwise would be neglected. Historically, pastoral nomadism is best described as a specialized offshoot of agriculture that developed along the dry margins of rainfall cultivation” (Johnson, p. 2). This statement, taken from the beginning of a comparative analysis of pastoral nomadism in Southwestern Asia and Northern Africa, is well suited to serve as a general introduction, though it needs to be adjusted because pastoral nomadism occurs in regionally specific expressions, forms, and shapes. Its wide distribution between North and West Africa and Central Asia, as the margins of the core areas of pastoral nomadism, has resulted in tremendous differences with regard to habitat, forms of political and social organization, durations of displacement, animals herded, seasonal locations, the role of agriculture, trading mechanisms, horizontal vs. vertical nomadism, and other related factors. (cf. Johnson, pp. 158-76). Differing combinations of these components of pastoral nomadism are causes of the aforementioned variety in the nature of nomadism. In contrast to these differences there is widespread agreement, however, regarding the public and political perception of pastoral nomads. In 1967, the German anthropologist R. Herzog summarized the main aspects of a critical distance on the part of national and centralized governments toward nomads and nomadism. Critics make (1) demographic arguments about the pressure of a rapidly growing sedentary population on the land; (2) economic arguments about the presumably higher productivity of the land through agriculture; (3) historical arguments according to which nomads are considered to be barbarians and sources of political unrest; (4) administrative arguments that point to the almost impossible political control of nomads; and (5) military arguments that stress regional insecurities due to difficult control mechanisms of central governments. While these factors were surely important in the past, at present they are of minor importance since the heyday of nomadism is over.

ii. Iran

Iran, like neighbouring Turkey to the West and Afghanistan to the East, belongs geologically to the vast Tertiary mountain belt stretching from Europe via the Middle East to Central and Eastern Asia. Mountain features, in combination with Iran’s distinctly arid climate, therefore, are determining factors in the country’s geography and for the development of a pastoral nomadism for which terms like “mountain nomadism” or “vertical nomadism” are appropriate characterizations, since the montane milieu is a major characteristic of Iran’s pastoral nomadism.
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