Doctoral Dissertation Research: Becoming Mobile Pastoralists: Desedentarization Among the Ful'be of Tanout, Niger

西非的游牧人口居住着世界上一些最易受风险影响的气候和自然环境。传统观点认为，游牧民族为了躲避自然灾害和流动生活方式的困难，不可避免地会久坐不动。然而，在西非，某些富尔贝牧民对这些假设提出了挑战。尼日尔共和国Tanout区的观察表明，在过去20年里，一些久居的家庭完全放弃了耕种，转而从事纯粹的牧场、流动的生计。这篇博士论文研究项目询问了这些家庭为什么以及如何进行这种生计转变，以及这是增加了还是减少了他们的经济保障。这项研究假设，为了改善生计保障，家庭已经做出了向流动牧业过渡的理性选择，作为一种风险管理策略。转向流动牧业的决定是在家庭内部进行谈判的，这一决定对妇女和男子、年轻人和老年人的影响不同。这项研究将有助于对当地人口如何在动态和危险的环境中利用流动性、社会网络和当地知识来改善生计保障的总体理解。

Nomadic populations of West Africa inhabit some of the most risk-prone climatic and physical environments in the world. Conventional wisdom assumes that nomadic pastoralists will inevitably become sedentary in order to escape from natural hazards and the difficulties of mobile lifestyles. In West Africa, however, certain Fulbe pastoralists challenge these assumptions. Observations in Tanout arrondissement in the Republic of Niger suggest that over the past two decades, some sedentary households have given up cultivation entirely for a purely pastoral, mobile livelihood. This doctoral dissertation research project asks why and how these households have made this livelihood shift and whether it has increased or decreased their economic security. The research hypothesizes that the households have made a rational choice to transition to mobile pastoralism as a risk management strategy in an effort to improve livelihood security. The decision to shift to mobile pastoralism has been negotiated within the household and that decision has affected women and men, young and old differently. This research will contribute to general understandings regarding how local populations use mobility, social networks, and local knowledges to improve livelihood security in a dynamic and risky environment.