ABSTRACT
The spatial mobility and circulation systems of pastoral nomads have long fascinated academics and other observers and commentators. Nomadic movement has also preoccupied administrators and politicians who have had to deal with pastoralists. Moreover, it is generally acknowledged that spatial mobility is so built into the social and economic life of nomads that no sense can be made of their social organization, or of their cultural outfit, without consideration of this parameter (Fortes 1971: 1–20). In view of the centrality of movement to pastoral life, it is perhaps surprising that nomadic patterns of circulation have not been evaluated more fully.
