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Archived announcements
| 7 Jun 2016 | IUAES inter-congress, Dubrovnik May 4-9, 2016The 2016 Inter-Congress of the IUAES in Dubrovnik was an exciting and productive event. The Commission on Nomadic Peoples sponsored five panels with a total of thirty nine papers presented. The panels were:
The final program from Dubrovnik IUAES inter-congress is downloadable here. |
| 7 Jun 2015 | Al-Uqbi decision by Israeli Supreme CourtThe Israeli Supreme Court decided during the last days of May to reject the appeal by the al-Uqbi Bedouins for access to their native lands. Read a short letter by Oren Yiftachel, Professor of Geography at Ben-Gurion University, regarding the decision, as well as access a critique and overview of the decision and an opinion piece by Yiftachel and his colleagues debunking the ‘dead Negev doctrine’. |
| 6 May 2014 | Nomadic Peoples is now published by the The White Horse PressWe are pleased to announce that our journal Nomadic Peoples is now published by the The White Horse Press. |
| 6 May 2014 | Winner of best essay contest announcedThe CNP has chosen Maira Seeley as the winner of the 2013 Annual Nomadic Peoples Best Student Essay. A student at the University of Oxford, Seeley’s essay is titled “Orality, Moral Authority, and Bedouin Women’s Poetry in Contemporary Jordan.” It will be published in a future issue of Nomadic Peoples journal. |
| 9 Jun 2013 | CNP 2009-2013 Report by the ChairIn July 2009, the Commission on Nomadic Peoples (CNP) took part in the 16th Congress of the IUAES in Kunming, Yunnan, China between 27-31st July. The CNP sponsored three academic panels of 50 papers over three days. John Galaty and Michael Bollig organized a panel on Resilience to Resistance: Pastoralist Strategies in Response to Contemporary Political and Ecological Disruption and Change in Africa with 20 papers; Elliot Fratkin and Anatoly Khasanov organized a session on Pastoral Development: a Global Assessmentwith 15 papers; and Fachun Du and Julia Klein organized a panel on Ecological Resettlement : Local Participation and Policy Improvement with 20 papers. The latter panel was co-sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Colorado State University. [Read the Full Report] |
| 05 Feb 2013 | 2013 Annual Nomadic Peoples Best Student EssayThe Commission on Nomadic Peoples is pleased to announce the establishment of the Best Student Essay Prize on the broad topic of nomadic peoples as defined in the Journal of Nomadic Peoples. |
| 25 Jan 2013 | Book Release: The Passion of Max von Oppenheim: Archaeology and Intrigue in the Middle East from Wilhelm II to Hitler by Lionel GossmanBorn into a prominent German Jewish banking family, Baron Max von Oppenheim (1860-1946) was a keen amateur archaeologist and ethnologist. His discovery and excavation of Tell Halaf in Syria marked an important contribution to knowledge of the ancient Middle East, while his massive study of the Bedouins is still consulted by scholars today. He was also an ardent German patriot, eager to support his country’s pursuit of its “place in the sun”. Excluded by his part-Jewish ancestry from the regular diplomatic service, Oppenheim earned a reputation as “the Kaiser’s spy” because of his intriguing against the British in Cairo, as well as his plan, at the start of the First World War, to incite Muslims under British, French and Russian rule to a jihad against the colonial powers. After 1933, despite being half-Jewish according to the Nuremberg Laws, Oppenheim was not persecuted by the Nazis. To the contrary, he placed his knowledge of the Middle East and his connections with Muslim leaders at the service of the regime. Ranging widely over many fields — from war studies to archaeology and banking history — The Passion of Max von Oppenheim tells the gripping and at times unsettling story of one part-Jewish man’s passion for his country in the face of persistent and, in his later years, genocidal anti-Semitism. Download a PDF flyer for full details. |
| 25 Jan 2013 | Book Release: Modern Pastoralism And Conservation: Old Problems, New Challenges edited by Troy Sternberg And Dawn ChattyChanging pastoral dynamics make knowledge of pastoralism vital to understanding landscapes, development and governance across dryland regions. Modern Pastoralism and Conservation: Old Problems, New Challenges presents new pastoral research from Africa, the Middle East and Asia. The volume (previously published in China) addresses the nature and viability of pastoralism in practice and examines current pastoral conditions in diverse locations. Pastoralists engage with changing climatic and environmental conditions whilst encountering policy, population and socio-economic challenges. Issues of transformation and sustainability are at the heart of the book, whose chapters highlight the contemporary practice of pastoralism in order to enhance understanding of this unique livelihood and lifestyle. Download a PDF flyer for full details and a table of contents. |
| 26 Oct 2012 | Invitation to Book LaunchA book launch for Pastoralism and Development in Africa: Dynamic Change at the Margins, edited by Andy Catley, Jeremy Lind and Ian Scoones, will be held at London House, Goodenough College, at 6 pm on November 29th, 2012. Seats may be reserved by emailing H. Dudley. For more information on the book and event download a PDF flyeror visit the dedicated webpage. |
| 26 Oct 2012 | New Edition of Chatty's From Camel to Truck: The Bedouin in the Modern WorldA new edition of Prof. Dawn Chatty's 1986 book From Camel to Truck: The Bedouin in the Modern World will be released by White Horse Press January 2013. Download a PDF flyer for full details and a table of contents. |
21 June 2012 |
IUAES 2009 Papers Published in China
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21 June 2012 |
Indigenous pastoralists evicted in Ethiopia, reports Human Rights Watch(Nairobi) June 18, 2012 – The Ethiopian government is forcibly displacing indigenous pastoral communities in Ethiopia's Lower Omo valley without adequate consultation or compensation to make way for state-run sugar plantations, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The report contains previously unpublished government maps that show the extensive developments planned for the Omo valley, including irrigation canals, sugar processing factories, and 100,000 hectares of other commercial agriculture. [Read the full announcement] |
21 June 2012 |
China to end nomadic life, reports Radio Free AsiaA U.S.-based rights group has hit out at plans by the Chinese government to force three ethnic minority groups to abandon the last traces of their nomadic lifestyles in the next three years. "The Chinese Government continues to aggressively pursue and expand its national project for displacing nomadic herders off their traditional lands and resettling them in agricultural and urban areas," the Southern Mongolia Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC) said in an e-mailed statement on Tuesday. Citing a statement posted on the official website of China's central government, the group said it marked "a major and seemingly final step toward eliminating the remaining population of nomad herders and eradicating the thousands of years-old nomadic way of life in China." [Read the full announcement] |
17 March 2012 |
Dana +10 Workshop April 10-14Ten years after the Dana Declaration on Mobile Peoples and Conservation was agreed in Wadi Dana, Jordan, it is time to follow up on the achievements of the past decade and consider the future. Working with the representatives of the World Alliance of Mobile Indigenous Peoples –WAMIP and others similar groups, the Dana + 10 workshop will, among other outputs, develop a statement to be delivered at the Rio+20 meetings in June 2012 to continue to promote the human rights of mobile indigenous people in the context of biodiversity conservation and democratic environmental governance in the face of continuing expansion of protected areas, land grabbing, and further dispossession. The workshop ultimately aims to continue to raise and maintain awareness of the special vulnerabilities and needs of mobile indigenous peoples. [Read the full announcement] |
17 March 2012 |
Tuareg EmergencyAccording to UNHCR, fighting between Tuareg rebels of MNLA (National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad) and government forces resumed on January 17 in Mali, in violation of an agreement concluded in 2009 that had formally ended the Tuareg rebellion. UNHCR has deployed emergency teams in countries surrounding Mali to help take care of the needs of more than 20,000 people who were forced to flee fighting in northern Mali. The majority of the displaced people are in Niger, Burkina Faso and Mauritania. The fighting between Tuareg rebel groups and government forces in the region in northern Mali Azawad began in mid-January. "These past three weeks, at least 10,000 people have crossed the border into Niger. Some 9,000 of them found refuge in Mauritania and 3,000 in Burkina Faso," said a UNHCR spokesman, Adrian Edwards, during a press conference in Geneva. |
17 Sept 2011 |
Israel to forcibly evict Bedouins from West BankAmira Hass of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz has reported that “The Civil Administration is expected to begin forcefully moving Bedouin in the West Bank to a permanent location as part of a plan to remove all the Bedouin in Area C (under both Israel's civilian and military aegis) from lands they have been living on for decades.” Visitors may access her complete report from Haaretz's website, or from our own archive. |
| 20 April 2011 | Nomadic Peoples articles to be published as a Chinese-language anthology |
| 25 Oct 2010 | 2010 IUCN and CEESP Briefing Note |
| 17 Dec 2009 | IUAES 2010 Turkey |
| 25 Jul 2009 | IUAES 2009 CNP Programme |
| 08 Jun 2009 | Humboldt Research Award |
| 01 Aug 2009 | Chair Report Update |
| 22 Oct 2008 | IUCN Dana Announcement |
| 31 Jun 2008 | Mursi Update |
| 24 Jun 2008 | New Nomad Action Initiative |
| 02 May 2008 | Mobile Indigenous Peoples at the UN Permanent Forum |
| 31 May 2005 | Indigenous People Want Power to Veto World Bank Plans |
| 31 Mar 2003 | Example of good practice in conservation with Bedouin in Syria |
The Commission is pleased to announce the publication of some of the papers presented at the CNP panel at the IUAES Congress in Kunming, Yunnan, China in 2009. A selection of papers were edited by Dawn Chatty and Troy Sternberg and appear in the book Modern Pastoralism and Conservation: Old Problems New Challenges. It contains chapters by A. Khazanov, S. Kratli, S. Mezhoud and C. Oxby, S. Moiko, A. Kronberg Garcia, D. Chatty, T. Sternberg, E. Yeh, and M. Foggin and G Zhaxi.Other archived Announcements
Botswana: Joy as Bushmen win landmark legal case
Scenes of jubilation greeted the Botswana High Court's ruling today in favour of the Kalahari Bushmen.The court ruled today that the Botswana government's eviction of the Bushmen was 'unlawful and unconstitutional', and that they have the right to live on their ancestral land inside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve.
The court also ruled that the Bushmen applicants have the right to hunt and gather in the reserve, and should not have to apply for permits to enter it.
One of the judges, Justice Phumaphi, said the government's refusal to allow the Bushmen to hunt 'was tantamount to condemning the residents of the CKGR to death by starvation.'
However, the judges also said that the government is not obliged to provide services to Bushmen in the reserve.
Bushman spokesman Roy Sesana said outside the court, 'Today is the happiest day for us Bushmen. We have been crying for so long, but today we are crying with happiness. Finally we have been set free. The evictions have been very, very painful for my people. I hope that now we can go home to our land.'
Survival's director Stephen Corry said today, 'The court's ruling is a victory for the Bushmen and for indigenous peoples everywhere in Africa. It is also a victory for Botswana. If the government quickly enacts the court ruling, then the campaign will end and the country really will have something to be proud of.'
The court case has been the longest and most expensive in Botswana's history.
An online press file about the court case, including summaries, biographies, legal precedents, photos and video clips, is available at http://www.survival-international.org/bushmenpresspack
To read this online: http://www.survival-international.org/news.php?id=2128
Julian Steward Award for Best Book 2005
J.Terrence McCabe's book Cattle Brings Us to Our Enemies: Turkana Ecology, Politics, and Raiding in a Disequilibrium System (University of Michigan Press, 2005) has received the Julian Steward Award for best book in 2005. The award is made by the Anthropology and Environment Section of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) for the best book published during the last year for ecological or environmental anthropology. The award itself will be presented at the AAA meeting in November 2006.
Gittaohan Nomadic Camel Caravan
Gittaohan is a collaboration Project group made up of people from several nations, which promotes Nomadism and the respectful and ecological use of nomadic animals.
We travel the old Silk Road with two Mongolian bactrian camels, following the steps of all the courageous caravans before us. Gittaohan travels to schools, organisations and festivals and recieve hundreds of people in their camp everyday. For twenty years Gittaohan has made two full lengths of the Silk Road from Italy to Mongolia. Collecting and sharing knowledge of traditional nomadic practices.
We currently are in Turkey and are working on a bactrian camel husbandry program.
From every passionate member of this caravan to everyone who wants to advance and build world consciousness. Welcome!
http://gittaohan.tripod.com Email: git_tao_han@yahoo.fr
Ecological Migration: Environment, Ethnicity, and Human Rights in Inner Mongolia
Panel held at the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Annual Meeting on April 3, 2005, Chicago. For more information,and access to the papers presented please visit the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center website:www.smhric.org
Proceedings from the Global Pastoral Programme Formulation Workshop, Nairobi, Kenya 19-23 April 2004. Held to design a partnership and programme to build momentum for greater recognition of the need for sustainable pastoral development. Full report here (pdf 239KB). An official dossier of documents, presentations, videos & photographs which accompany the proceedings, will be made available on CD-ROM. E-mail Camillo Ponziani , UNDP-GEF, New York to request a copy. See the UNDP Drylands " Global Pastoral Programme " web-page for more details.
Fourth International Conference of Pastoralists, Guadalavier, Spain from 16-18 July 2004.
Museo de la Transhumancia. [Encuentro Internacional de Pastores Trashumantes].
Raising awareness of the need to safeguard pastoral livelihoods in Southern Europe and around the world & highlighting the benefits of transhumance within the context of rangeland/mountain ecosystems. Click here for programme.
Dr. Jean-Pierre Biber (European Forum on Nature Conservation and Pastoralism) and Camillo Ponziani (UNDP-GEF) will be attending introducing participants to UNDP Global Pastoralism Project currently under preparation, as well as to the work being done by the European Forum. An opportunity to present their efforts up to date, document any substantive discussion that ensues, and to gain valuable insight on possible North-South linkages for the UNDP Global Pastoralism Project.
IUAES: Opportunities for IUAES research development in collaboration with other research organizations worldwide
Report of the IUAES President of the meeting of Presidents of International Unions belonging to the Council for Science (ICSU). Paris, 9-10th February 2004.
Aspects that ICSU considers important to develop include: capacity building, especially in Africa; human security; linking social sciences with natural sciences; ethics; and traditional knowledge.
This meeting was followed by a sub group meeting on February 11th at the French Academy of Medicine to discuss activities in the areas of science for health and well-being, invited by the International Union of Biological Sciences.
ICSU is beginning to establish collaboration centers in various world regions where needed. Proposals are sought for interdisciplinary short courses for capacity building.
IUAES Commissions are asked for suggestions of concrete aspects in which they may like to collaborate, particularly initiatives that could be part of capacity building with other scientific Unions. Please submit suggestions for collaboration to the Chair, Dawn Chatty.
Click here for full report.
Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (SMHRIC).
SMHRIC report a situation in Inner Mongolia where “Since few years ago, there have been a regional-scale massive forced eviction against ethnic Mongolian nomadic herders in Inner Mongolia by the Chinese government under the slogans of "abolishing the Mongolian backward and primitive nomadic life-style" and "recovering the grassland eco-system". The entire herders population has become the target of relocations from their pastoral lands, and the entire livestock population has already been banned from herding. See the campaigns section of their website for more – or email: Enhebatu Togochog atenhebatu@hotmail.com
Dana Declaration at the World Parks Congress, Durban, South Africa, September 2003
The World Parks Congress (WPC) in Durban was a key platform for the promotion of the Dana Declaration on Mobile Peoples and Conservation . The congress set out future priorities related to protected areas policy in the coming decade. These priorities were linked to a 'Plan of Action' suggesting the practical measures that need to be taken to realize this mission. Read the press release by Dawn Chatty, Chair of the Commission on Nomadic Peoples who attended the conference.
Key outcomes of the representations of the Mobile Peoples group at the World Parks congress were The Durban Accord: A Global Commitment for People and the Earth's Protected Areas and also The Durban Action Plan. Of the Recommendations formally approved at the Congress that most relevant to the aims of the Commission on Nomadic Peoples is: WPC Recommendation 5.27 Mobile Indigenous Peoples and Conservation. Click here for detailed reports provided at the Dana Declaration website page on the World Parks Congress.
Dana Declaration on Mobile Peoples and Conservation
In April 2002, some 30 experts from around the world, with various professional social science, natural science and policy-making backgrounds, attended a conference in the Wadi Dana Nature Reserve, Jordan. This conference was organized by the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford in collaboration with Durrell Institute of Conservation Ecology, University of Canterbury; World Commission on Protected Areas (IUCN); World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Oxfam (UK).
The Dana Declaration, a Statement of Principles, is an important product of that meeting, where the group discussed how environmental protection and wildlife conservation projects affect the lives and livelihoods of nomadic and other mobile peoples.
The aim of the Dana Declaration is to ensure that future conservation policies and programmes respect the rights of indigenous and traditional communities, and to highlight the many areas of common interest between mobile peoples and conservationists. It is hoped that it will lay the
groundwork for participative and multi-disciplinary approaches to conservation that will address the specific interests of mobile people, to the benefit of all parties.
The Dana Declaration is being widely disseminated to indigenous peoples’ organizations, NGOs, academics, professional bodies and practitioners.
Please review our web site at: http://danadeclaration.org/ and consider joining our e-mail list serve.
Report of the International Workshop
"The Changing Face of Pastoralism in the Hindu Kush-Himalaya-Tibetan Plateau Highlands" Lhasa, TAR, May 12-19, 2002
A strategy workshop jointly organized by The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development(ICIMOD) and The Tibetan Academy of Agriculture and Animal Sciences (TAAAS).
Proceedings and case studies will be published in 2003. For further information contact Camille Richard, Rangeland Specialist. crichard@icimod.org.np
Report of Double Conference IUAES in Moscow
“Urban encounters between nomadic and sedentary people (Moscow I)” and “The city as counterpoint of civilization: European Asiatic and Russian Dimensions (The Experience of the Millennium) (Moscow II)”
Sukhanovo, Moscow, Russia, 7-12 June 2002
Hosted by the Russian Academy of Arts and organized by the IUAES Commission on Urban Anthropology and the IUAES Commission on Nomadic Peoples. Supported by the International Social Science Council (ISSC, Paris) and UNESCO.
Research has continued on pastoral nomads, however marginalized they have become. But the populations who have faced urbanization have rarely been the focus of attention. Sometimes nomads are forced to adopt a sedentary lifestyle although their worldview continues to be based on a nomadic life. The relationship between nomads and urbanites is characterized by a mixture of adaptation, co-operation, suspicion, trust and conflict. This symposium sought papers that address the cultural, political, or economic aspects of the encounter. The relation was approached from the perspective of nomadic or of sedentary peoples, or the perspectives of both groups may be juxtaposed. Click here for a shorter summary or here for a more detailed report .