Pastoralism in Africa Past, Present and Future [Hardcover]

Pastoralism has shaped livelihoods and landscapes on the African continent for millennia. Mobile livestock husbandry has generally been portrayed as an economic strategy that successfully met the challenges of low biomass productivity and environmental variability in arid and semi-arid environments. This volume focuses on the emergence, diversity, and inherent dynamics of pastoralism in Africa based on research during a twelve-year period on the southwest and northeast regions. Unraveling the complex prehistory, history, and contemporary political ecology of African pastoralism, results in insight into the ingenuity and flexibility of historical and contemporary herders.

Hans-Peter Wotzkais Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology at the University of Cologne. His publications includeAridity, Change and Conflict in Africa(with Michael Bollig, Olaf Bubenzer and Ralf Vogelsang, Heinrich-Barth-Institut, 2007) andProceedings of the Third International Conference on the Archaeology of the Fourth Nile Cataract(Heinrich-Barth-Institut, 2012).

Michael Bolligis Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Cologne. His publications includeRisk Management in a Hazardous Environment: A Comparative Study of Two Pastoral Societies(Springer, 2006);The Practice of War: Production, Reproduction and Communication of Armed Violence(with A. Rao and M. B?ck, Berghahn Books, 2007); andAfrican Landscapes: Interdisciplinary Approaches(with O. Bubenzer, Springer, 2009).

While the volume will be of interest primarily to African specialists, students of pastoralism also will find it instructive. End-of-chapter reference listings, a compact index, and 100 tables, maps, and photos support the papers.? Choice

The book is massive  525 pages of text including notes and relÓ.