Oxford University Collective for Pastoralist and Nomadic Peoples

Oxford University Collective for Pastoralist and Nomadic Peoples

This collective is for people who either belong to or work with pastoralist and nomadic communities at the University of Oxford. Our aim is to provide a space for all of us to share our research, work, and resources, ask for advice and collectively advocate for pastoralist and nomadic people. While there is a huge bias against these communities in global policymaking, our collective can emerge as an "ally group" based in Oxford and we can work together to eradicate misunderstanding about these communities. We want to help to spread the message of the indigenous, traditional, nomadic and tribal peoples who signed the Dana +20 Manifesto, who wrote: “rangelands are important reserves of biodiversity … our ways of life play a vital role in sustaining and managing … [the] ecosystems that we cherish”.

Academic issues

The academic issues which we are interested in discussing include:

· Tackling biases against nomadic people, including, but not limited to, the sedentist bias in policy; supposed connections between goat pastoralism and flooding; arguments which point to pastoralism as causing overgrazing and the “tragedy of the commons”

· Understanding how pastoralists are being affected by climate change, and how their interactions with their ecosystems are changing in this context of increased unpredictability.

· The history of pastoralism and livestock herding, including the historical roots of current problems and parallels between contemporary pastoralism and that of the medieval world.

· Attempting to comprehend and conceptualise the diversity of herding methods and lifestyles

Advocacy

We also are in contact with, or plan to collaborate with, the following organisations and initiatives: ·

The UN’s International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralism in 2026; UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues | United Nations For Indigenous Peoples; Dana Declarations, and the Dana +20 Manifesto; League for Pastoral Peoples; PASTRES (Pastoralism, uncertainty, resilience); Pastoralism, Uncertainty and Resilience – PASTRES – Research project learning with pastoralists about how to respond to uncertainty; Commission on Nomadic Peoples – A leading academic organization working with mobile peoples, including Indigenous, traditional, nomadic, and tribal peoples.

Points of Contact:

Sacha Mouzin sacha.mouzin@anthro.ox.ac.uk

Abdul Khan abdul.khan@ouce.ox.ac.uk

Sina Maghaminick sina.maghaminick@ouce.ox.ac.uk

Patrick Hegarty-Morrish patrick.hegartymorrish@history.ox.ac.uk

Mathilde Morin mathilde.morin@stx.ox.ac.uk

Oxford University Collective for Pastoralist and Nomadic Peoples is part of TORCH Student Networks