Resources and Life Course Management Among Rural Pastoralists

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This project supports two anthropologists studying how pastoralists in Botswana think about and manage their "life course", meaning their family size, demographic composition, and wealth. The focus is on men's reproductive decisions in a society where cattle is the main form of wealth and the kinship system reckons descent primarily in the female line. Using a combination of methods including in-depth interviews, participant-observation, time-allocation studies and small-scale surveys, the researchers will learn how people manage their income, wealth, and family ties in order to attain their desired level of security and well being. Specific hypotheses to be tested are drawn from evolutionary theory. This research is important because we must understand men's reproductive goals and strategies in order to manage the growth of population. Studies like this one provide case material for theory development to allow scholars to predict the impact of policies designed to limit population growth.