article

Herds and households among Pashtun pastoral nomads: limits of growth

Ethnology22Published In 1983 • Pages: 307-325

By: Glatzer, Bernt, Casimir, Michael J..

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This study considers herd management, herd growth, labor and household budget among Pashtun nomad pastoralists of western Afghanistan. The theoretical premise is that pastoralism is to be thought of as part of an ecosystem whereby nomad economy and social organization must be understood in relation to the group's interdependence within the wider society. The authors ask whether factors such as the carrying capacity of the land or the availability of labor tend to influence productivity. They find that a faster growth rate for flocks can be expected if fewer animals are under a herder's care. Productivity is also measured in terms of milk yields. Such rates seemed not to be affected greatly by modernization or state intervention.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Pastoral activities
Property in movables
Household
Community structure
Production and supply
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Pashtun
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2002
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Asia
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Central Asia
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
article
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Ethnographer
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Delores Walters ; 1988
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1975-1977
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1971-1977
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Durrani Pashtuns, districts of Bala Boluk (Farah Rud) and Shindand in Farah Province, western Afghanistan
NotesAdditional notes
By Bernt Glatzer and Michael J. Casimir
Includes bibliographical references (p. 324-325)
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
64005713
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Pushtuns