DDRI: Charity or Mobility? Changing Response Mechanisms of Herders Faced with Severe Conditions of Famine in Northern Mali and Central Niger, 1968-2005

过去四十年来，非洲生计系统的多样化日益成为一种现象，因为人们从农村迁往城市中心，寻求正式和非正式的机会，在极端情况下，寻求粮食援助或其他类型的援助。然而，对一些人来说，从农村居民到城市居民的转变是困难的，因为许多人面临着犯罪、失业和获得食品等基本必需品的障碍等问题。本研究调查了最近在马里和尼日尔经历饥荒的牧民，并调查了他们过去是如何获取食物的，他们的策略是如何随着时间的推移而变化的，以及促使这些变化的力量。该研究采用政治生态学作为理论框架，以确定直接或间接影响牧民对干旱和饥荒反应的各种因素。权力关系、获取环境资源和脆弱性的概念驱动着牧民与其他人的关系以及他们在当地社区的行动。将在马里北部和尼日尔中部开展一项试点研究，通过口述历史和结构化访谈确定易受饥荒影响的社区。然后将试点数据与饥荒早期预警系统等区域数据集和档案数据进行比较，以确定研究地区与该地区其他地区此类事件的相对强度，并确定研究地点是否可以被视为代表整个萨赫勒地区西非更广泛的牧区。既反映区域数据预测或档案证据的地方，也反映不同的地方，将通过对家庭的半结构化访谈进行进一步调查，以提供用于与不同研究地点进行比较的定量数据。半结构化访谈的数据将通过卡方分析和回归分析进行分类和比较，以确定不同地区之间的差异。最后，将使用一个全球定位系统单元来记录马里和尼日尔这些地点不同群体之间过去和现在的流动路径，并将在每个实地地点内和不同研究地点之间对这些数据进行时间上的比较。通过调查和分析牧民在历史上和现在是如何应对粮食短缺的，这些反应是如何变化的，以及导致牧民社会历史和当前粮食短缺的力量，这项研究的结果将有助于更大范围的萨赫勒研究。从这项研究中获得的信息将加强对牧民粮食安全的地理认识，并为监测萨赫勒干旱地区粮食安全和脆弱性的变化提供建议。在政策制定方面，本研究可以通过说明政策决策的意外结果如何影响牧民应对粮食危机的能力，从而影响涉及牧民社区的政府项目（包括地方和国家）的政策方向。此外，考虑到马里和尼日尔最近发生的饥荒，这种类型的调查将使学术界和政策制定者了解往往孤立的牧民社区的状况。它将提供具体建议，帮助这些群体，同时确保他们的长期粮食安全和生计能力。最后，通过该奖项提供的支持将进一步推动西弗吉尼亚大学地理学博士候选人的论文和职业目标。

Diversification in African livelihood systems has been a growing phenomenon for the past forty years as people have moved from the countryside to the urban centers seeking formal and informal opportunities and, in extreme cases, food aid or other types of assistance. For some, however, the transition from rural to urban dweller has been difficult, as many face the problems of crime, unemployment, and obstacles in securing basic necessities such as food. This research examines pastoralists who have recently experienced famine in Mali and Niger and investigates how they have procured food in the past, how their strategies have changed over time and the forces that have prompted these changes. The study employs political ecology as a theoretical framework to identify the various actors that directly or indirectly affect pastoral responses to drought and famine. The concepts of power relations, access to environmental resources and vulnerability drive the relations pastoralists have with others and actions in their local communities. A pilot study will be conducted in northern Mali and central Niger to identify communities susceptible to famine by employing oral histories and structured interviews. The pilot data will then be compared against regional datasets such as the Famine Early Warning Systems and archival data to determine the relative intensity of such events in the study area versus the rest of the region and to determine whether or not the study sites might be considered representative of a broader set of pastoral communities across Sahelian west Africa. Localities that both reflect regional data predictions or archival evidence and ones that are different will be investigated further using semi-structured interviews of households to provide quantitative data used in comparison with the different study sites. Data from the semi-structured interviews will be categorized and compared through chi square analyses and regression analyses in identifying variance between the different regions. Finally, a global positioning system unit will be implemented in recording the past and present paths of mobility between different groups at these sites in Mali and Niger and this data will be compared both temporally within each field site and spatially between different study sites. The results of this study will contribute to the larger body of Sahelian studies by investigating and analyzing how pastoralists both historically and presently respond to food shortages, how these responses have changed, and the forces that have led to historical and current food shortages in pastoral societies. Information derived from this research will enhance geographic understanding of food security among pastoralists and provide suggestions for monitoring changes in food security and vulnerability in the drier regions of the Sahel. Regarding policy making, this study can affect policy direction in governmental projects (both local and national) involving pastoral communities by illustrating how unintended outcomes of policy decisions, while well intentioned, affect herders' abilities to respond to food crises. Also, given the very recent famines in both Mali and Niger, this type of investigation will update both the academic community and policy makers as to the status of often isolated pastoral communities. It will provide concrete suggestions for assisting such groups while ensuring their long-term food security and livelihood viability. Finally, the support provided through this award will further the dissertation and career goals of a promising doctoral candidate in the Geography program at West Virginia University.