Lifestyle and Livelihood Changes Among Formerly Nomadic Peoples: Entrepreneurship, Diversity and Urbanisation

Contemporary policymakers, as their predecessors, continue to view nomadic people as a weak minority, and their way of life and raising livestock as a backward and inefficient paradigm. Wherever nomads are not the dominant group, the trend to settle them continues even today as in the past. This book describes the changes forced upon formerly nomadic groups and how they still attempt to maintain their traditional, social, and cultural practices in their new settings. The book deals with the several modes of livelihood of these communities, including entrepreneurship, and demonstrates the impact of investment-oriented urbanization policies leading to eviction from ancestral lands, and hurdles for nomadic mobility, ultimately threatening their survival. The book illustrates how some groups like the Borana and the Maasai practice livelihood diversity and raise productive livestock, and how other groups migrate to urban centers in search of employment and remit money to family members left in the rural areas.

The book aims to raise awareness among the research community, especially those who work on regional and demographic labor policies. It helps in understanding why society needs to help build business and livelihood strategies without harming the values of nomadic groups.

A. Allan Degen is an Emeritus Professor at Ben-Gurion University (Israel). A graduate of Tel Aviv University, Prof. Degen was the incumbent of the Slome Chair for Desert Animal Production, Chairman of the Department of Dryland Agriculture, and Head of the Unit for Desert Animal Production and Husbandry. He has authored or co-authored over 25 books or chapters and 325 papers in peer reviewed journals.

Léo-Paul Dana is Professor at Dalhousie University (Canada) and at ICD Business School of Paris (France). He is also associated with the Chaire ETI at Sorbonne Business School (France). A graduate of McGill University (Canada), he has served as a Marie Curie Fellow at Princeton University (USA) and Visiting Professor at INSEAD.