Animal-herding (pastoralism) is a subsistence strategy that is practised by populations of low-producing ecosystems worldwide. Increasingly, it is vanishing due to land pressure and ecological degradation, particularly in the developing world. While previous books have examined the social, cultural and economic dimensions of the pastoral way of life, there has been little systematic examination of the biology and health of pastoral groups. The Human Biology of Pastoral Populations fills this gap by drawing together our knowledge of the biology, population structure and ecology of herding populations. It investigates how pastoral populations adapt to limited and variable food availability, the implications of the herding way of life for reproductive patterns, population structure and genetic diversity and the impacts of ongoing social and ecological changes on the health and well-being of these populations. This volume will be of broad interest to scholars in anthropology, human biology, genetics and demography.
• Only book-length treatment of the comparative biology of pastoral populations • Links human biology and culture in biocultural perspective • Interdisciplinary focus, including both the biological and social sciences
Contents
1. The biological diversity of herding populations: an introduction Michael H. Crawford and William R. Leonard; 2. Genetic structure of pastoral populations of Siberia: the Evenki of Central Siberia and the Kizhi of Gorno Altai Michael H. Crawford, Joseph McComb, Moses S. Schanfield and R. John Mitchell; 3. Genetic structure of the Basque herders of northern Spain Rosarió Calderón; 4. History, demography, marital patterns and immigration rate in the South Sinai Bedouins: their effect of the coefficient of inbreeding (F) E. Kobyliansky and I. Hershkovitz; 5. Uncertain disaster: environmental instability, colonial policy, and the resilience of East African pastoral systems Sandra Gray, Paul Leslie and Helen Alinga Akol; 6. Changing pattern of Tibetan nomadic pastoralism Melvyn C. Goldstein and Cynthia M. Beall; 7. Human biology, health and ecology of nomadic Turkana pastoralists Michael A. Little; 8. Economic stratification and health among the Herero of Botswana Renee L. Pennington; 9. Ecology, health and lifestyle change among the Evenki herders of Siberia William R. Leonard, Victoria A. Galloway, Evgueni Ivakine, Ludmila Osipova and Marina Kazakovtseva; 10. Disease patterns in Sámi and Finnish populations: an update Simo Näyhä, Pauli Luoma, Saara Lehtinen, Terho Lehtimäki, Mary Jane Mosher and Juhani Leppäluoto; 11. Yomut family organization and demography William Irons; 12. Pastoralism and the evolution of lactase persistence Clare Holden and Ruth Mace.
Reviews
Review of the hardback: '… this volume of high quality papers will be of most interest and reward to the specialists in nomadic pastoral societies who already have a lot of factual knowledge about these societies.' The Agricultural History Review
Review of the hardback: '… this is the fullest coverage, to my knowledge, of the human biology of pastoralists … this is a very interesting and unique overview of issues pertaining to human biology among pastoralists, and covers a wide range of themes and geographical areas … it does add considerable breadth to our understanding of the dynamics of contemporary pastoralist populations.' Annals of Human Biology
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