Pastoral Nomads
Woɗaaɓe and Fulani in the West African Sahel
The study of pastoral nomads particularly in Africa is a main focus in the work of Nikolaus Schareika. His empirical research is concentrating on Fulani and Woɗaaɓe people in West Africa. Emphasis is on pastoral nomads’ condition of living with and off herd animals on the move as a theoretical and methodological entry point to social anthropology.
Major themes in the study of the pastoral Woɗaaɓe and Fulani particularly in south-eastern Niger are
- local environmental and herding knowledge
- social and political dynamics in Woɗaaɓe lineage and clan communities
- processes of verbal interaction and negotiation (in Fulfulde language)
Ongoing research looks at processes of transformation in pastoral societies under the influence of capitalism, markets, land conflict and changing social networks within the pastoral community. The ethnographic study of empirical cases such as Fulani groups in Cameroon and Niger builds on a comparative and generalizing approach to current dynamics in pastoral societies (see related activities and projects Agro Pastoralists and Lands of the Future).
Djohy, Georges, Honorat Edja, and Nikolaus Schareika. 2017. “Mobile Phones and Socio-economic Transformation among Fulani Pastoralists in Northern Benin.” Nomadic Peoples 21: 111–35.
Djohy, Georges. 2017. Pastoralism and Socio-technological Transformations in Northern Benin. Göttingen Series in Social and Cultural Anthropology 10. Göttingen: Göttingen University Press.
Bukari, Kaderi N. 2017. Farmer-herder Relations in Ghana: Interplay of Environmental Change, Conflict, Cooperation and Social Networks. Göttingen: eDiss – Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.
Bukari, Kaderi N., and Nikolaus Schareika. 2015. “Stereotypes, Prejudices and Exclusion of Fulani Pastoralists in Ghana.” Pastoralism 5 (1).
Schareika, Nikolaus. 2014. “The Social Nature of Environmental Knowledge among the Nomadic Woɗaaɓe of Niger.” Ecology and Society 19 (4). doi:10.5751/ES-07056-190442.
Schareika, Nikolaus. 2011. “Die Mühlen der Lineage: Friktionen und Fraktionen um das Projekt Getreidebank bei den Woɗaaɓe Südostnigers.” In Auf dem Boden der Tatsachen: Festschrift für Thomas Bierschenk, edited by Nikolaus Schareika, Eva Spies, and Pierre-Yves Le Meur, 185–95. Köln: Köppe.
Schareika, Nikolaus. 2011. “Subject, Leader, Chief, Commander: Woɗaaɓe Politics between Clan and Communal Structure.” In Une anthropologie entre pouvoirs et histoire: Conversations autour de Jean-Pierre Chauveau, edited by Eyol Jul-Larson, Pierre-Joseph Laurent, Pierre-Yves Le Meur, and Eric Léonard, 477–508. Paris: Karthala.
Krätli, Saverio, and Nikolaus Schareika. 2010. “Living off Uncertainty: The Intelligent Animal Production of Dryland Pastoralists.” European Journal of Development Research 22: 605–22.
Schareika, Nikolaus. 2010. “Pulaaku in Action: Words at Work in Woɗaaɓe Clan Politics.” Ethnology 49: 207–27.
Schareika, Nikolaus. 2010. “Rituell gezeugt: Verwandtschaft als symbolische Interaktion bei den Woɗaaɓe Südostnigers.” In Verwandtschaft heute, edited by Erdmute Alber, Bettina Beer, Julia Pauli, and Michael Schnegg, 93–117. Berlin: Reimer.
Schareika, Nikolaus. 2007. “Söhne des Feuers, Brüder der Milch: Politische Prozesse bei westafrikanischen Nomaden am Beispiel der Woɗaaɓe in Südostniger.” Habilitationsschrift, Institut für Ethnologie und Afrikastudien, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.
Schareika, Nikolaus. 2004. “Bush for Beasts: Lake Chad from the Nomadic Woɗaaɓe Point of View.” In Living with the Lake. Perspectives on History, Culture and Economy of Lake Chad, edited by Matthias Krings and Editha Platte, 171–90. Köln: Rüdiger Koppe.
Schareika, Nikolaus. 2004. “Lokales Wissen: ethnologische Perspektiven.” In Lokales Wissen – sozialwissenschaftliche Perspektiven, edited by Nikolaus Schareika and Thomas Bierschenk, 9–39. Münster: Lit Verlag.
Schareika, Nikolaus. 2004. “Nomadic Cattle Husbandry among the Woɗaaɓe in the Lake Chad Basin.” In The Future is an Ancient Lake. Traditional Knowledge, Biodiversity and Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture in Lake Chad Basin Ecosystems, edited by Caterina Batello, 58–60. Rom: FAO.
Schareika, Nikolaus. 2003. Know to Move, Move to Know. Ecological Knowledge and Herd Movement Strategies among the Woɗaaɓe of Southeastern Niger. Rom: FAO.
Schareika, Nikolaus. 2003. Westlich der Kälberleine. Nomadische Tierhaltung und naturkundliches Wissen bei den Woɗaaɓe Südostnigers. Berlin, Münster: Lit Verlag.
Schareika, Nikolaus. 2001. “Environmental Knowledge and Pastoral Migration among the Woɗaaɓe of South-eastern Niger.” Nomadic Peoples 5: 65–88.
Schareika, Nikolaus, Frieder Graef, Marion Moser, and Klaus Becker. 2000. “Pastoral Migration as a Method of Goal-oriented and Site-specific Animal Nutrition among the Woɗaaɓe of South-eastern Niger.” Die Erde 131: 125–41.
Schareika, Nikolaus. 1998. “Élevage bovin et économie familiale chez les Fulɓe au Nord-Bénin.” In Regards sur le Borgou: Pouvoir et altérité dans une région ouest-africaine, edited by Elisabeth Boesen, Christine Hardung, and Richard Kuba, 311–28. Paris: L’Harmattan.
Schareika, Nikolaus. 1997. Lokales Umweltwissen und Formen der Weidewanderung bei den Woɗaaɓe Ostnigers: Arbeitspapiere zu afrikanischen Gesellschaften 14. Berlin: Das Arabische Buch.
Schareika, Nikolaus. 1994. Die soziale Bedeutung der Rinder bei den Fulɓe (Benin). Münster und Hamburg: Lit Verlag.
