This handbook provides a comprehensive and authoritative overview of pastoralism, combining major theoretical debates with an interdisciplinary and comparative perspective on pastoral systems across the world.
Approaching pastoralism as a social–ecological system, the volume synthesizes current knowledge about how pastoralists make a living and organize social life while managing herds in diverse and often highly variable environments. Understanding pastoralism in this holistic way requires an approach that bridges disciplines: not only anthropology, but also rangeland ecology, animal science, agricultural economics, veterinary epidemiology, and related fields. The handbook’s chapters are organized into eight parts that examine: the emergence of pastoralism; its biophysical foundations; the economics of pastoral production; adaptive strategies; social and political organization; new methodological and analytical approaches; development and policy perspectives; and possible futures for pastoral systems. Together, these contributions advance the field by offering both a state-of-the-art guide and a source of inspiration for future research. The volume is designed to serve as a reference for scholars seeking to launch innovative, impactful studies, as well as for policymakers and practitioners working to design effective interventions that support pastoral livelihoods.
This handbook is an indispensable resource on pastoralism for students, researchers, and professionals.
This handbook provides a comprehensive and authoritative overview of pastoralism, combining major theoretical debates with an interdisciplinary and comparative perspective on pastoral systems across the world. This handbook is an indispensable resource on pastoralism for students, researchers, and professionals.
1. Introduction to Pastoralism Section I: The emergence of pastoralism
2. Coevolution in pastoral systems: The example of African sheep and goats
3.
Archaeology of pastoralism: Forty years of archaeological studies of
pastoralism across the world
4. Archaeological, historical, and ethnographic
analyses of changes in pastoral systems Section II: Colonialism, capitalism,
and commodities
5. Cattle Ranching: Handmaiden of Settler Colonialism
6.
Livestock and Global Capitalism
7. Livestock Commodities in a Globalizing
World: Between Pastoralism and Capitalism Section III: Biophysical components
of pastoralism
8. Rangeland Ecology
9. Livestock nutrition in pastoral
systems
10. The ecology of health and infectious diseases in changing
pastoral systems
11. Demographic Dynamics in Pastoral Systems Section IV:
Pastoral adaptations
12. Pastoral mobility
13. Contributions of pastoralism
to climate change
14. Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation
15. Valuing
pastoralist goods, services and culture
16. Ecosystem services and
pastoralism Section V: Social and political organization of pastoralism
17.
Pastoralist Social Organization
18. Continuity and Change in Pastoralist
Identities
19. Development and Gender in Herding Societies
20. Political
organization
21. How Pastoralists Access Natural Resources
22. Between-group
contest competition among pastoralists Section VI: Approaches to studying
pastoralism
23. Spatial Analysis of Pastoral Mobility
24. Simulation as an
Approach to Pastoral System Analyses
25. Methodologies for understanding
rangeland ecology
26. Animals intentional acting and cultural understanding
of behavior: the place and role of animal agentivity in pastoralism
27.
Contributions of ethnographic and community-based methods to
interdisciplinary studies of pastoralist health and wellbeing
28.
Participatory Action Research in Pastoral Systems: Tools for Empowerment,
Innovation, and Resilience Section VII: Development of pastoralism
29.
Trends in Pastoralists' Sedentarization: Causes, Consequences, and Policies
30. Divergent livelihood pathways in pastoralist areas of the Horn of Africa
31. Humanitarian crises and responses in the Horn of Africa
32. Pastoralism
and Conservation: Compatibilities, Conflicts, and Promise
33. Politics of
Land Grabbing in Pastoral Territories Section VIII: Futures of pastoralism
34. Provisioning of social and economic services to pastoralist communities
in Africa: models, impacts and prospects for improvement
35. Rethinking
policies for pastoralists: Experiences from four world regions
36. Pathways
and possibilities for pastoralist youth
Mark Moritz is Professor of Anthropology at Ohio State University, USA. He has conducted research on pastoral systems in Central Africa and Southern Arabia, using a combination of ethnographic methods, spatial analyses, comparative analyses, and agent-based modeling to explore questions about common-pool resources, the ecology of infectious diseases, and economic transformations.
Igshaan Samuels is a specialist researcher in Range and Forage Sciences at the Agricultural Research Council in South Africa. He is the Global Co-chair of the Global Alliance for the United Nations-declared International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists in 2026.
Nikolaus Schareika is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Göttingen, Germany. He has extensively worked in pastoral societies, particularly in groups of Woaae and Fulani people in West Africa.
Eva Schlecht chairs the joint section Animal Husbandry in the Tropics and Subtropics at the Universities of Kassel and Göttingen, Germany. With over 30 years of research across Africa, Asia, and the Near East, she examines livestockenvironment interactions, related ecosystem services, and how animal husbandry supports livelihoods and food security.
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