Time to outbreed animal science? A cattle-breeding system exploiting structural unpredictability: the WoDaaBe herders in Niger

Cutting-edge research on agri-food systems contends that mainstream agricultural science is ill-equipped to address issues of complexity, diversity and uncertainty. The paper tackles this issue looking at animal breeding, an area of agricultural science that has so far remained marginal to the analysis concerned with dynamics and uncertainty. The focus is on systems operating with low external inputs and a structurally unpredictable environment. The paper builds on the author’s DPhil research on cattle breeding amongst the WoDaaBe herders in Niger. The breeding/production system is geared towards exploiting unpredictable variability as a key resource (rather than contrasting or externalising it) and securing a reliable flow of production. Selection wise, the system makes use of both genetic and extra-genetic inheritable resources (extended inheritance). At the core of the system is the organisation of the cattle population in matrilineal lineages, as the main method for structuring animal diversity and ensuring the transmission of economically crucial functionality, both within the breeding population and across cattle generations. Examples of such functionality are competence as feeders (season-specific diet preferences in face of a great variety of grasses and browses, efficient heath management of negotiating of difficult terrain) and competence/specialisation for minimum-stress interaction with other herd members and with the herder (stable hierarchy, preferential relationships and social bonds, selective trust). The paper argues that the breeding/production system run by the WoDaaBe (exploiting animal-human-environment interaction, using extended inheritance and geared towards high reliability) constitutes a form of enhanced production and land development only marginally represented by the current scientific model of animal breeding (environment-blind, focusing on genetics and geared towards streamline efficiency).ESR

La encrucijada del patrimonio manuscrito de África Oriental: ¿Del polvo a lo digital o polvo digital?

Ever since colonial times, West Africa Arabic manuscripts have been the object of ambiguous attention on the part of administrators, conservators and scholars. As a result, collections were first concealed or disclosed (depending on the predatory or protective nature of Western attentions), then targeted by modern scientific initiatives focused on bibliographic description, content analysis and preservation. A review of their accomplishments and shortcomings will help understand how many such projects often failed to meet – or even understand – the expectations of their intended and potential users. Or if they did meet such expectations, they misunderstood or underestimated the nature of the tools they employed and the rapidly evolving technological and cultural environment that nurtures and supports them. Only by understanding these evolving trends and realities, and therefore engaging information professionals equipped with the appropriate knowledge and skills to take advantage of them, will new initiatives to preserve and document West African Arabic manuscript heritage succeed in providing continuous and relevant access to its intellectual content and material culture.Ever since colonial times, West Africa Arabic manuscripts have been the object of ambiguous attention on the part of administrators, conservators and scholars. As a result, collections were first concealed or disclosed (depending on the predatory or protective nature of Western attentions), then targeted by modern scientific initiatives focused on bibliographic description, content analysis and preservation. A review of their accomplishments and shortcomings will help understand how many such projects often failed to meet – or even understand – the expectations of their intended and potential users. Or if they did meet such expectations, they misunderstood or underestimated the nature of the tools they employed and the rapidly evolving technological and cultural environment that nurtures and supports them. Only by understanding these evolving trends and realities, and therefore engaging information professionals equipped with the appropriate knowledge and skills to take advantage of them, will new initiatives to preserve and document West African Arabic manuscript heritage succeed in providing continuous and relevant access to its intellectual content and material culture.Desde la época colonial, los manuscritos arábigos conservados en África Oriental han sido objeto de una atención ambigua por parte de las administraciones, los conservadores y los investigadores. Como resultado, las colecciones han sido, primeramente, ocultadas o reveladas (según haya sido la naturaleza depredadora o protectora de Occidente). Más tarde, han sido objeto de iniciativas científicas modernas centradas en la descripción bibliográfica, el análisis del contenido y la conservación. Una revisión tanto de los logros como de los errores ayudará a entender cómo algunos proyectos han fallado a menudo a la hora de contemplar –o incluso entender– las necesidades de los potenciales lectores. Si se han contemplado dichas expectativas, se ha malinterpretado o infravalorado la naturaleza de las herramientas que se han empleado, así como el rápido desarrollo tecnológico y cultural que las sostiene. Sólo si entendemos las realidades y tendencias inherentes y si atendemos, consecuencia, a la información que proporcionan, los profesionales, equipados con nuevas competencias y recursos, podrán desarrollar nuevas iniciativas para preservar el patrimonio documental de África Oriental. De este modo, se conseguirá permitir un acceso continuo y relevante al contenido intelectual de dicho patrimonio y a la cultura material que representa

Recensione di Penna, Sandro. Within the Sweet Noise of Life. Seagull Books, 2021

Review of Within the Sweet Noise of Life, by Sandro Penna (Seagull Books 2021).Recensione di Within the Sweet Noise of Life, di Sandro Penna (Seagull Books 2021)

Understanding Common Perceptions of the Drylands

Drylands occupy over 40% of the earth’s surface and are home to more than 2 billion people. Drylands are key to the food and nutritional security of the planet and vital to the economies and livelihoods of dryland inhabitants. Yet, drylands are commonly perceived as unproductive, economically inefficient and marginal lands where small-scale farmers and pastoralists practice environmentally degrading activities. Driven by inadequate understanding and misconceptions of the drylands, policy-makers devise inappropriate policies and interventions. The BRECcIA project developed an online Drylands Perceptions Survey to understand the perceptions of researchers, practitioners and policy makers working in the drylands of Kenya, Malawi and Ghana. This paper presents results from a pilot of 40 responses and is part of a wider ongoing study. Results show that many respondents subscribe to a number of common drylands statements or assumptions, although other statements are challenged and respondents disagree with the assumptions. In another set of cases, respondents had mixed views and a more nuanced picture emerged that is context dependent. Through the BRECcIA project, the survey findings are being used to shape the development of new and revised dryland training courses with a more critical policy and research focus for policy-makers, practitioners, researchers and students in Kenya

Global principles in local traditional knowledge: a review of forage plant-livestock-herder interactions

An understanding of traditional ecological knowledge systems is increasingly acknowledged as a means of helping to develop global, regional and national, but locally relevant policies. Pastoralists often use lands that are unsuitable for crops due to biophysical and climatic extremities and variabilities. Forage plants of pastures are utilized by herding communities by applying locally relevant multigenerational knowledge. We analyzed the forage-related knowledge of pastoralists and herders by reviewing scientific papers and video documentaries on forage plants and indicators, their use in land management, and plant-livestock interactions. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with key knowledge holders in Iran, Mongolia, Kenya, Poland and Hungary. We found 35 indicators used by herders to describe forage species. The indicators described botanical features, livestock behavior during grazing, and the impact of plants on livestock condition and health. The indicators were used in context-specific management decisions, with a variety of objectives to optimize grazing. We identified ten global principles, including, among others, a livestock-centered perspective, close monitoring and targeted pasturing of various (preferred or avoided) forages, and the use of different livestock types and well-planned spatial movements at multiple scales to optimize the utilization of available plant resources. Although pastoralists vary greatly across the globe, the character and use of their traditional forage-related knowledge do seem to follow strikingly similar principles. Understanding these may help the local-to-global-level understanding of these locally specific systems, support bottom-up pastoral initiatives and discussions on sustainable land management, and help to develop locally relevant global and national policies.Peer reviewe

Resilient patriarchy: public authority and women's (in)security in Karamoja, Uganda

This paper draws on fieldwork conducted in 2011 and 2016 to explore the differing experiences of Karamojong women following the Government of Uganda's most recent disarmament programme. Besides being deprived of their guns, Karamojong communities have lost most of the cattle on which their livelihoods and way of life were centred. The study assesses whether or not women's experience of patriarchy has changed in these new circumstances, and, if so, how this impacts on their security and control of resources, or the absence of them. It maps, using information primarily supplied by women, public authorities from below, and evaluates if and how they respond to women's protection and survival needs, as well as if current development/humanitarian interventions are of sustainable benefit to Karamojong women. The paper concludes that apparent shifts in gender relations are probably superficial, contingent on continuing food aid, and that economic development and positive social change for women remain elusive

Comment 1: Pastoral Localization of Humanitarian Aid: The Need to Re-Qualify the Pastoral Context

While over the last twenty-thirty years the scientific understanding of pastoralism has undergone a U-turn, the world of development and humanitarian intervention is still catching up with this transformation. Therefore, when discussing the localization of aid into the pastoral context it is crucial to first of all come to terms with the fact that a sound and coherent understanding of such a context cannot be taken for granted. This commentary starts by briefly recalling the salient elements of the transformation: the paradigm shift in Ecology in the 1970s, hinged on the way of understanding variability and leading to resilience theory; the way adaptive pastoralism works with environmental variability, rather than against it, by interfacing it with variability in the production system; and the importance, when working with pastoralism, of using a relational approach and focussing on processes, rather than focussing on ‘states’ and linearity of causes and effects. Two implications that seem particularly relevant to the challenge of localization are then discussed: the need to engage critically with the methodological legacy, and the need to recognize the web of forces criss-crossing the arena of pastoral development, and therefore affecting humanitarian aid with pastoralists: the legacy of narratives and mindsets, not only in the policy environment but also amongst scholars, technicians, practitioners and the donor community

La encrucijada del patrimonio manuscrito de África Oriental: ¿Del polvo a lo digital o polvo digital?

Desde  la  época  colonial,  los  manuscritos  arábigos  conservados  en  África  Oriental  han  sido objeto  de  una  atención  ambigua  por  parte  de  las  administraciones,  los  conservadores  y  los investigadores.  Como  resultado,  las  colecciones  han  sido,  primeramente,  ocultadas  o reveladas (según  haya  sido  la  naturaleza  depredadora  o  protectora  de  Occidente).  Más tarde,  han  sido objeto  de  iniciativas  científicas  modernas  centradas  en  la  descripción  bibliográfica,  el  análisis del  contenido  y  la  conservación.  Una  revisión  tanto  de  los  logros  como  de  los errores  ayudará  a entender  cómo  algunos  proyectos  han  fallado  a  menudo  a  la  hora  de  contemplar– o  incluso entender– las   necesidades   de   los   potenciales   lectores.     Si   se   han   contemplado   dichas expectativas,  se  ha  malinterpretado  o  infravalorado  la  naturaleza  de  las  herramientas  que  se han  empleado,  así  como  el  rápido  desarrollo  tecnológico  y  cultural  que  las  sostiene.  Sólo  sientendemos   las   realidades   y   tendencias   inherentes   y   si   atendemos,   consecuencia,   a   la información   que   proporcionan,   los   profesionales,   equipados   con   nuevas   competencias   y recursos,  podrán  desarrollar  nuevas  iniciativas  para  preservar  el  patrimonio  documental  de África   Oriental.   De   este   modo,   se   conseguirá   permitir   un   acceso   continuo   y   relevante   alcontenido  intelectual  de  dicho  patrimonio  y  a  la  cultura  material  que  representa