Moral Economy and Self-interest: Kinship, Friendship, and Exchange among the Pokot (N.W. Kenya)

Bollig, Michael

doi:10.1017/cbo9780511896620.010

Cited by 35 publications

(38 citation statements)

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“…As a result, the pastoral mode of production has generally been perceived as mostly driven by natural forces and less through social ties and networks. In contrast to this view, data from a 1987 demographic study of Ngisonyoka Turkana herds in northwestern Kenya, presented in this study, support ethnographic evidence that has long suggested that acquisitions do make an important contribution to herd growth (Bollig, 1998;Gulliver, 1955;Storas, 1997).…”

Section: Introductioncontrasting

confidence: 58%

Livestock Acquisitions Dynamics in Nomadic Pastoralist Herd Demography: A Case Study Among Ngisonyoka Herders of South Turkana, Kenya

Vries¹,

Leslie²,

McCabe

2006

Hum Ecol

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Despite the attention given to social relations in the pastoral literature, the role of livestock acquisitions-additions of livestock to herds through bridewealth, exchanges, gifts, payments, and begging (requests)-in herd build up has usually been assumed to be relatively minor compared to births and relevant mostly when the need for rebuilding arises after major losses. This study is based on an unusual set of data-the reproductive histories of the female cattle, camels, and goats and sheep of 13 Ngisonyoka Turkana nomadic herders in northwestern Kenya, collected in 1987. The article reports on the means by which mothers were added to the herd and how these changed through time. The results suggest that for this population in the late 1970s and 1980s, acquisitions were not merely relevant when disaster struck, but instead were a continuously important component of herd management. The results demonstrate the crucial role of social networks in the survival of Ngisonyoka pastoralists in their non-equilibrial ecosystem. Social exchanges, such as bridewealth, provide a resource security well suited to the challenges of coping with such unpredictable environments. Researchers and policymakers are urged to make efforts to support such indigenous networks if they want nomadic pastoralists to continue their effective use of arid, marginal lands.

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Section: Introductioncontrasting

confidence: 58%

Livestock Acquisitions Dynamics in Nomadic Pastoralist Herd Demography: A Case Study Among Ngisonyoka Herders of South Turkana, Kenya

Vries¹,

Leslie²,

McCabe

2006

Hum Ecol

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“…Second, livestock are a volatile form of wealth. Although herds have the capacity to grow, they can also be rapidly, severely, and unpredictably reduced by diseases, droughts, and theft (Bollig 1998;Dahl and Hjort 1976). Any pastoralist would do well to find ways to reduce his or her exposure to risk.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk-Pooling and Herd Survival: An Agent-Based Model of a Maasai Gift-Giving System

2011

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We use agent-based modeling to study osotua, a gift giving system used by the Maasai of East Africa. Osotua's literal meaning is "umbilical cord," but it is used metaphorically to refer to a specific type of gift-giving relationship. Osotua relationships are characterized by respect, responsibility and restraint. Osotua partners ask each other for help only if they are in need and provide help only when asked and only if they are able. We hypothesize that under the ecologically volatile conditions in which Maasai pastoralists have traditionally lived, such a system is particularly suited to risk pooling. Here we explore whether osotua increases the viability of herds by comparing herd survivorship and stability under osotua rules to a) no exchange and b) probabilistic rules for requesting and giving livestock. Results from this model suggest that this gift-giving system can dramatically increase herd longevity through a limited pooling of risk.

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“…These ecotonal locations allow for interaction between pastoral and agricultural modes of production enacted through various institutionalised cross-ethnic/ cross-economic ties based on inclusive cross-cultural categories (age-grades, marriages, stock and other friendships, various ceremonies etc.) (Loiske 2004;Spear, 1993: 120; see also Bollig, 1998;Conant 1965;Conant, 1966;Hodder, 1982;Kurita, 1983;Östberg, 2004;Pollard et al, in press). Importantly, it is these institutionalised networks that provide the matrix within which agricultural intensification occurs.…”

Section: 'Institutional Exchange Network'mentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic Specialisation, Resource Variability, and the Origins of Intensive Agriculture in Eastern Africa

Davies

2015

Rural Landscapes: Society, Environment, History

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In Eastern Africa contrasting ecological zones within relatively short distances encourage economic specialisations which are reliant upon one another. Connections between different economic groups are facilitated by a variety of institutionalised networks that encourage the movement of both goods and people across boundaries. The role of livestock as essential capital ensures a strong impetus to increase agricultural production for exchange while, at the same time, the need to acquire livestock through ties to the pastoral community ensures that certain agriculturalists are confined to relatively limited areas at the margins of pastoral zones. In contrast to traditional models of agricultural development, the shift to intensive techniques may not be a radical departure from earlier practices, but rather much less labour intensive and gradually developed, aimed at expanding and improving natural zones of high productivity. This situation may have been exasperated by climatic fluctuations while lineage systems of social organisation encourage the localised marginalisation of politically unified descent groups and the development and expansion of large-scale agricultural works.

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Moral Economy and Self-interest: Kinship, Friendship, and Exchange among the Pokot (N.W. Kenya)

Cited by 35 publications

References 0 publications

Livestock Acquisitions Dynamics in Nomadic Pastoralist Herd Demography: A Case Study Among Ngisonyoka Herders of South Turkana, Kenya

Livestock Acquisitions Dynamics in Nomadic Pastoralist Herd Demography: A Case Study Among Ngisonyoka Herders of South Turkana, Kenya

Risk-Pooling and Herd Survival: An Agent-Based Model of a Maasai Gift-Giving System

Economic Specialisation, Resource Variability, and the Origins of Intensive Agriculture in Eastern Africa

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