Important Dates
Lecture by Jeannett Martin and Nikolaus Schareika: Pandemic at the Edge - Adaption and Transformation of Pastoralism in Times of COVID-19
23.11.2021, 18.30 Uhr
RW I - S 57 and Zoom
Abstract
West African pastoralists are described by some scholars as being experts in dealing with uncertainties (Nori 2019, Krätli und Schareika 2010). Others have argued that pastoralism as a livelihood is under severe pressure in this region, if not at its end. Recent contributions suggest that this pressure on pastoralist livelihoods worldwide has become even more since the beginning of the pandemic of COVID-19 (Simula et al. 2020).
We seek to contribute to this debate by asking how pastoralism in the West African Republic of Benin, a country where infection rates are very low according to official figures, adapts and transforms under the current conditions and in the context of wider ecological, economic and political transformations. Our insights are based on preliminary results from an ongoing research project financed by the German Research Foundation (DFG).