The Pastoral Continuum The Marginalization of Tradition in East Africa [Hardcover]

Spencer presents the definitive study of the ways of life of the cattle-herding peoples of East Africa, drawing on many years of research. This region has offered a prime example of a traditional culture resisting the inevitability of change; it provides the best-known and most extensive instance both of cattle-pastoralist society and of social organization based primarily on age.The Pastoral Continuumexamines the richness and resilience of the culture of these peoples, illuminates the role of indigenous practices and institutions in adaptation and survival, and offers a unique view of the place of pastoralism in the modern world and its prospects for the future.

Introduction
PART I: THE PASTORAL COMMITMENT AND THE LOGIC OF TRADITION
1. Pastoralists and the Spirit of Enterprise
2. Polygyny and the Manifestations of Inequality
3. The Dynamics of Age Systems in East Africa
PART II: THE HISTORICAL CONTINUUM AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF PASTORALIST IDEALS
4. The Chamus Tradition of Pre-Pastoral Origins
5. The Thrust of Pastoral Innovations in Chamus.
6. The Emergence of Individualism and New Forms of Inequality
PART III: PASTORALISM AND THE THRUST OF CHANGE
7. Population Growth, Development, and the Malthusian Dilemma
8. Pastoralists and the Threshold of Change
9. The Extension of the Continuum and the Spread of the Desert
References. Index.
Introduction
PART I: THE PASTORAL COMMITMENT AND THE LOGIC OF TRADITION
1. Pastoralists and the Spirit of Enterprise
2. Polygyny and the Manifestations of Inequality
3. The Dynamics of Age Systems in East Africa
PART II: THE HISTORICAL CONTINUUM AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF PASTORALIST IDEALS
4. The Chamus Tradition of Pre-Pastoral Origins
5. The Thrust of Pastoral Innovations in Chamus.
6. The Emergence of Individualism and New Forms of Inequality
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