How the East African Pastoral Nomads, Especially the Rendille, Respond to the Encroaching Market Economy

Abstract

The maximizing strategy for livestock herding of the East African pastoral nomads has been accused as irrational and thereby destroying the ecological balance of rangeland. Carrying capacity and pastoral productivity promoted in state policies, however, are arbitrary concepts. This paper finds the maximizing strategy of indigenous herders more adaptive to the precarious and drought-ridden tropical arid zone, using the Rendille herding as the main example. The Rendille further buffer themselves from market economy through manipulation of the local dual economy and the symbiotic personal relationship with the local livestock dealers.