Comparative Study of Pastoral Property Regimes in Africa Offers No Support for Economic Defensibility Model

• Autores: Mark Moritz, Elizabeth Gardiner, Mark Hubbe, Amber Johnson
• Localización: Current anthropology: A world journal of the sciences of man, ISSN 0011-3204, Nº. 5, 2019, págs. 609-636
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The economic defensibility model explains human territoriality by considering the costs and benefits of defending resources that vary in density and predictability. We conducted a comparative study of 30 pastoral societies in Africa to explain the variation in tenure systems using the economic defensibility model. In particular, we examined under what environmental conditions we find open property regimes versus common property regimes. In addition, we considered how pastoralists’ relationships with the outside world shaped property regimes by considering the role of circumscription and encapsulation. Our results show no support for the economic defensibility model across African pastoral societies: open and common property regimes are found under similar environmental conditions. Instead, we find that pastoral societies that are circumscribed are more likely to have common property regimes. We suggest that open property regimes are the default regime in pastoral societies and that common property regimes are a response to circumscription by other groups.