Pastoralist social organization

The chapter presents major results of anthropological research on the social organization of pastoralists. It shows that nomadic mobility, the presence and ownership of herd animals, and the need for flexible adaptation to highly variable ecological and political environments shape pastoralists’ modes of social organization. The chapter equally shows that the different forms of pastoralist social organization are crucial to managing a closely linked configuration of herd animals and human beings whose identity is vested in the former, as pastoralists. Key elements of pastoral social organization are the simple and extended family that reach out into wider forms of community structure such as segmentary lineage systems. Pastoral groups are also part of a larger social universe, including regional interethnic neighborhoods, urban populations, and global connections. Social practice in pastoral groups is marked on the one hand by a high degree of individual initiative, on the other, by, partly ritual and symbolic, procedures that set clear boundaries of identity and value orientation and foster group cohesion.