ABSTRACT
This chapter draws on the materials assembled in Johnson’s comparative survey on ‘The Nature of Nomadism’ in conjunction with various case studies. Nomadic pastoralists, or pastoral nomads, like many present day hunter-gatherers occupy marginal habitats. The term ‘nomadic pastoralist used evaluates pastoralism as an ecotechnology first and mobility second. The major gain in capability and capacity from the adoption of a pastoral ecotechnology, however, is that it allows the exploitation of marginal environments unsuited for other forms of exploitation, notably agriculture. Pastoral nomadism is a livelihood form that is ecologically adjusted at a particular technological level of the utilization of marginal resources. The special habitat of nomadic pastoralists is perhaps best defined in counterdistinction to that of agriculture. Carrying capacity can be associated with either the long-term population dynamics of livestock and people, or the short-term dynamics of mobility and its effects on the sharing of local prism habitats.
