Pastoralism and Socio-Technological Transformations in Northern Benin
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astoralists throughout Africa face increasing pressures. In Benin, governmental 10 Göttingen Series in Pdevelopment policies and programmes in crop farming are changing power relations Social and Cultural Anthropology between herders and farmers to favour the latter. How are the Fulani pastoralists responding to these threats to their existence? Georges Djohy explores the dynamics in local use of natural resources and in inter-ethnic relations resulting from development interventions. He Georges Djohy combines the approaches of science and technology studies – looking at the co-construction of society and technology – and political ecology – looking at the power relations shaping the dynamics of economic, environmental and social change – so as to throw light on the forces of Pastoralism and Socio-technological marginalisation, adaptation and innovation at work in northern Benin. Having worked there for many years, Djohy has been able to uncover gradual processes of socio-technological change Transformations in Northern Benin that are happening “behind the scenes” of agricultural development involving mechanisation, Fulani Innovations in Pastoral Migration, herbicide use, tree planting, land registration and natural resource conservation. He reveals how farmers are using these interventions as “weapons” in order to gain more rights over larger Livelihood Diversification areas of land, in other words, to support indigenous land grabbing from herders who had been and Professional Association using the land since decades for grazing. He documents how the Fulani are innovating to ensure their survival, e.g. by using new technologies for transport and communication, developing new strategies of livestock feeding and herd movement, and developing complementary sources of household income. The Fulani are organising themselves from local to national level to provide technological and socio-cultural services, manage conflicts and gain a stronger political voice, e.g. to be able to achieve demarcation of corridors for moving livestock through cultivated areas. They even use non-functioning mini-dairies – another example of development intervention – to demonstrate their modernity and to open up other opportunities to transform their pastoral systems. This book provides insights into normally hidden technical and social dynamics that are unexpected outcomes of development interventions. Göttingen, November 2016 Ann Waters-Bayer & Wolfgang Bayer Georges Djohy is an Agricultural Engineer and Anthropologist. He studied Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Parakou (Benin) and holds a PhD in Anthropology from the Faculty of Social Sciences, Georg- August University of Göttingen (Germany). Pastoralism and Socio-technological Transformations He has been involved since 2008 in short and long-term studies among Fulani pastoralists, with a focus on environmental and socio- technological changes. He is currently carrying out a study among Fulani women in northern Benin, within the context of the Postdoctoral Fellowships on Livelihood Management, Reforms and Processes of Djohy Georges Structural Change funded by the Volkswagen Foundation (Germany). ISBN: 978-3-86395-346-1 Göttingen University Press Göttingen University Press eISSN: 2512-6881 Georges Djohy Pastoralism and Socio-technological Transformations in Northern Benin This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Published in 2017 by Göttingen University Press as volume 10 in “Göttingen Series in Social and Cultural Anthropology” This series is a continuation of “Göttinger Beiträge zur Ethnologie”. Georges Djohy Pastoralism and Socio-technological Transformations in Northern Benin Fulani Innovations in Pastoral Migration, Livelihood Diversification and Professional Association Volume 10 Göttingen Series in Social and Cultural Anthropology Universitätsverlag Göttingen 2017 Bibliographische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliographie; detaillierte bibliographische Daten sind im Internet über <http://dnb.dnb.de> abrufbar. “Göttingen Series in Social and Cultural Anthropology” Editors Prof. Dr. Elfriede Hermann Prof. Dr. Andrea Lauser Prof. Dr. Roman Loimeier Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Schareika Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology Georg-August-Universität Göttingen Theaterplatz 15 D-37073 Göttingen This work is protected by German Intellectual Property Right Law. It is also available as an Open Access version through the publisher’s homepage and the Göttingen University Catalogue (GUK) (http://www.sub.uni-goettingen.de). The license terms of the online version apply. Set and layout: Steffen Herrmann Coverpicture: Transport technology; Georges Djohy © 2017 Universitätsverlag Göttingen http://univerlag.uni-goettingen.de ISBN: 978-3-86395-346-1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17875/gup2017-1072 eISSN: 2512-6881 To my wife Tanson Nicole Sarah Djohy my daughter Mercy Damarys Djohy my son Yanis Forgive Djohy and my dad Lucien Djohy my mum Sidonie Atokpon Djohy my grandma Dansi Glitho Ahossouhê Contents Acknowledgments ......................................................................................... 11 Foreword by Nikolaus Schareika ...................................................................... 13 1 General introduction: Pastoralism, technological change and associative struggle as concerns ................................................... 15 1.1 Research problem ................................................................................. 16 1.2 Research objectives ............................................................................... 19 1.3 Research questions ............................................................................... 19 1.4 Scope of the study ................................................................................ 20 1.5 Structure of the book ........................................................................... 20 2 Once robust and vigorous: Does African pastoralism have a future? 23 2.1 Will African pastoralism be sustainable? ............................................... 24 Pessimist narratives on pastoralism ....................................................... 24 Optimistic narratives on pastoralism .................................................... 27 2.2 Dynamics of dealing with uncertainty .................................................. 28 Pastoralism and migration .................................................................... 28 Pastoralism and technological innovation ............................................. 31 Pastoralism and livelihood diversification ............................................. 33 Pastoralism and civil society organizations ............................................ 42 Synthesis: future scenarios for pastoralism ............................................ 50 2.3 Conclusion .......................................................................................... 51 8 Georges Djohy: Pastoralism and Socio-technological Transformations 3 Conceptual framework of socio-technological change study in pastoral settings ............................................................................. 53 3.1 Commons and political ecology of land use ......................................... 53 3.2 Access, property, territorialization, belonging and citizenship ............... 59 3.3 Science and Technology Studies (STS) ................................................. 61 Technology definitions ......................................................................... 61 Technology and society interactions ..................................................... 62 3.4 Development brokerage and brokers .................................................... 66 3.5 Analytical framework ........................................................................... 70 3.6 Conclusion .......................................................................................... 71 4 From battlefield to showcase in livestock production ....................... 73 4.1 National context of livestock production .............................................. 74 Geographic and demographic characteristics ........................................ 74 Ecological background of Benin Republic ............................................ 78 Political and socio-economic patterns of Benin Republic ...................... 79 4.2 Local context of livestock production ................................................... 81 Boundaries and demography of Gogounou District ............................. 81 Ecological and economic features of Gogounou District ...................... 84 Rainfall trend in Gogounou and perceptions of local populations ........ 86 Gogounou at the heart of pastoral development policies ...................... 89 4.3 Conclusion .......................................................................................... 91 5 An itinerant ethnography of socio-technological changes among Fulani pastoralists in northern Benin .................................... 93 5.1 Exploratory field visit ........................................................................... 94 5.2 Long term fieldwork ........................................................................... 98 Participant observation ......................................................................... 99 Individual interviews ...........................................................................