Abstract
In the nineteenth century, most people in the Maghreb and Afghanistan were pastoralists. They possessed a sophisticated body of ecological knowledge complemented by indigenous veterinary knowledge. Transformations of the Maghreb political economy under French colonialism had deleterious effects on indigenous ways of life. The French state appropriated land and forests, banned common management techniques like firing for pasture regeneration, and, later, criminalized traditional veterinary medicine. These changes and those in trading systems with the imposition of western veterinary medicine and land-management techniques reduced indigenous knowledge and practice. These trends have continued in the postcolonial Maghreb and have been exacerbated by many “development” projects, especially under neoliberalism. Similar development projects in Afghanistan threaten to destroy the sophisticated indigenous veterinary knowledge of Koochi nomads, especially among women. This knowledge, highly valued by Koochi women, is being eroded and their position marginalized by the implementation of patriarchal, western-led development projects operating in a conservative religious climate during reconstruction.
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Notes
- 1.
For an excellent discussion of the debates over “indigenous knowledge” and the slightly less problematic term “local knowledge,” see the chapter 8 in this volume by Christoph Antweiler. He also highlights the fact that all knowledge is “situated” knowledge and must be considered within multiple contexts (e.g., historical, social, economic, and political). See also Davis (2005a) for a discussion of indigenous knowledge and expert knowledge in contemporary Morocco .
- 2.
The first part of this chapter concentrates on Algeria because it was colonized much earlier by the French than either Tunisia or Morocco and because it was in Algeria that the foundation was laid for so much of what was later transferred to these two French protectorates.
- 3.
Pastoralism ranges from the fully sedentary pastoralism (often called agropastoralism) that is practiced with field agriculture to fully nomadic, long-range pastoralism. There exist many different variants of pastoral nomadism (or nomadic pastoralism) that include various kinds of seminomadism or transhumance (moving from low- to high-altitude pastures).
- 4.
For a discussion of the region’s ecology, see Davis (2007, pp. 177−186).
- 5.
Translations from French sources cited in this chapter are my own.
- 6.
Center for Overseas Archives, Aix-en-Provence, France: CAOM, ALG, GGA, 8H/10, Letter from Capitaine Lapasset of the Arab Bureaux to the duc d’Aumale, Governor General of Algeria , 12 January 1848.
- 7.
For details on cantonnement, see Lacoste et al. (1960, pp. 363−364).
- 8.
I conducted 2 years of field work with nomads in Morocco in the late 1990s.
- 9.
A further 3.5 % listed pastoral and agricultural uses, a large category that is hard to breakdown for potential animal- or range-management usage.
- 10.
Western aid agencies such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID ) have been primarily responsible for fostering this ranch-style model of raising livestock and for promoting the privatization of range land.
- 11.
For details on the false French colonial environmental history of North Africa , including the claim that nomads ruined the environment, see Davis (2007).
- 12.
Armed Moroccan military guards are stationed at the only entrance to M’hamid, the main village where many Aarib have sedentarized. Aarib movements are strictly monitored and confined by the government (for details see Davis 2001).
- 13.
I conducted research with Afghan nomads for 3 months in the early 1990s. A story told to me at that time illustrates why it is so important not to romanticize indigenous knowledge or conceive of it as some kind of panacea for development problems. One Afghan nomad I interviewed was skilled at using a local vaccine technique (ear-slit vaccine) for preventing contagious caprine pleuropneumonia. When he tried to use it for anthrax, however, he killed most of his herd.
- 14.
The significant role of women in pastoral societies is beginning to be recognized by some researchers and development agencies. For an instructive overview and a discussion of past oversights, see Flintan (2008).
- 15.
Purdah is the practice of veiling women and keeping them secluded from public view. In practice, the levels of purdah observed vary a great deal from country to county and within countries.
- 16.
The BVW program taught only “western” veterinary treatments to the men and aimed to commercialize veterinary medicine in Afghanistan with a supply chain for veterinary treatments and pharmaceuticals. See Davis (2005b) for details.
- 17.
For other ideas on securing pastoralist livelihoods in ways that benefit people and the environment, see Flintan (2012).
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Davis, D.K. (2016). Political Economy, Power, and the Erasure of Pastoralist Indigenous Knowledge in the Maghreb and Afghanistan. In: Meusburger, P., Freytag, T., Suarsana, L. (eds) Ethnic and Cultural Dimensions of Knowledge. Knowledge and Space, vol 8. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21900-4_10
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