Adopting Cultivation to Remain Pastoralists: The Diversification of Maasai Livelihoods in Northern Tanzania
- 23 February 2010
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Human Ecology
- Vol. 38 (3), 321-334
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-010-9312-8
Abstract
Over the past four decades, Maasai pastoralists in Tanzania have adopted agriculture, integrating it with their traditional pastoralism. This livelihood diversification has complex origins and profound implications for Maasai social organization, culture, and demography, and ultimately for their health and well being and for the local and regional environment. In this paper, we examine the process by which this engagement with, and increasing dependence upon, agriculture came about in Ngorongoro District, northern Tanzania. The process there was more complex and influenced by a wider variety of factors than has been reported by previous descriptions of Maasai livelihood diversification. It generally involved two stages: planting a garden first, and later expanding the garden to a farm. We found that some households adopted cultivation out of necessity, but far more did so by choice. Among the latter, some adopted cultivation to reduce risk, while for others it was a reflection of changing cultural and social norms. Motivations for adopting cultivation differed among people of different wealth categories. Diversification was part of wider cultural changes, and was also influenced by power differentials among Maasai age sets and by government policies.Keywords
This publication has 26 references indexed in Scilit:
- Between Cash Cows and Golden Calves: Adaptations of Mongolian Pastoralism in the 'Age of the Market'Nomadic Peoples, 2012
- City Work in a Time of AIDS: Maasai Labor Migration in TanzaniaAfrica Today, 2004
- Partitioned Nature, Privileged Knowledge: Community‐based Conservation in TanzaniaDevelopment and Change, 2003
- Fortress Conservation: The Preservation of the Mkomazi Game Reserve, TanzaniaThe International Journal of African Historical Studies, 2002
- Landscapes of Diversity: A Local Political Ecology of Livelihood Diversification in South-Western NigerEcumene, 2001
- Grounding Pastoralists: Law, Politics, and Dispossession in East AfricaNomadic Peoples, 1999
- Biodiversity, conservation and development in Mkomazi Game Reserve, TanzaniaGlobal Ecology and Biogeography, 1999
- Drought and economic differentiation among Ariaal pastoralists of KenyaHuman Ecology, 1990
- Origins of Specialized Pastoral Production in East AfricaAmerican Anthropologist, 1990
- Wealth and pastoral dairy production: A case study from MaasailandHuman Ecology, 1988