Risk, Uncertainty and Pastoralism: an Introduction

Environmental Stochasticity and Long-Term Livestock Viability—Herd-Accumulation as a Risk Reducing Strategy

“…Following this line of reasoning, we here define risk avoidance in an unpredictable environment as the adoption of strategies that reduce the possibility of being exposed to risk, i.e., to reduce the probability of encountering hazards, and to buffer the impact of a hazard when it occurs. Halstead and O'Shea (1989) argue that societies in general employ a wide range of strategies or 'buffering mechanisms' to counteract scarcities, ranging from myths to alternative modes of subsistence (see also Bollig and Göbel 1997). Following Halstead and O'Shea (1989), strategies for countering risk can be grouped into four major categories: (1) diversification, from the keeping of multiple livestock species (e.g., Khazanov 1994;White 1997) to investing in non-pastoral activities (e.g., Bayer and Watersbayer 1990;Berzborn 2007;Lesorogol 2008;Mearns 2004;Sperling 1987;Thornton et al 2007); (2) exchange, livestock exchange networks such as stockfriendship (e.g., Bollig 2006:287, Göbel 1997White 1997); (3) mobility, taking advantage of spatial and temporal heterogeneity in available forage (e.g., Bollig and Göbel 1997;McCabe 1997;Thompson et al 2008;; and (4) storage, large herd size (Bollig and Göbel 1997;Hjort 1981;Ingold 1986; see e.g., Colson 1979 for other categories).…”

Scale Dependency and the “Marginal” Value of Labor

“…It has been suggested (1) that labor plays a part in decisions regarding movement patterns (e.g., Turner 1999), (2) that labor is important during periods of crisis (e.g., Hedlund 1979;Scoones 1992), and (3) that the lack of labor has to be considered a risk factor in pastoral production as the availability of labor is assumed to play a part in the optimal care, control and exploitation of livestock herds (Bollig and Göbel 1997;Göbel 1997;White 1997). More explicitly, it has been suggested that labor limits (1) the number of subherds that can be managed (Sieff 1997), (2) the numbers of animals within herds (Barth 1964;Sieff 1997), (3) and herd growth (Dahl and Hjort 1976).…”

Landscapes of Inequality?: A Critique of Monumental Hierarchy in the Mongolian Bronze Age

“…The length and frequency of movements is highly variable depending on the social landscape and environmental situation (Barfield 1993;Ekvall 1968;Fernandez-Gimenez 2000;Mearns 1993;Simukov 2007Simukov [1934 ;Vainshtein 1980). When crises arise, the pastoralists must make unscheduled moves, adapt to protect their herds, and fall back on others to share their grazing and shelter resources (Bollig and Göbel 1997;Murphy in press;Roe et al 1998;Xie and Li 2008).…”