The Nomadic Alternative

The book offers an ethnographic and historical examination of several nomadic pastoral societies. Each chapter follows basic themes, allowing comparison across cultures and historical periods. These themes include: the ecology of nomadic pastoralism; comparative social organization of pastoral peoples; political relations between nomads and the outside world; the rise and fall of great steppe empires; and the future of nomads in the modern world. The book examines each cultural area using specific ethnographic cases to develop and support the theoretical issues raised. It makes a major distinction between developments that can be explained as a result of internal evolution, and those which are the result of adaptations made to the outside world. Five individual case studies of different nomadic groups are provided, including: cattle keeping in East African pastoralism; the camel nomadism of the desert Bedouins; shepherding amongst pastoral tribes of southwest Asia; the horse rider nomads of the Eurasian Steppe; and yak breeding in high altitude pastoralism in Tibet. (CAB Abstracts)