Herds and Households among Pashtun Pastoral Nomads: Limits of Growth

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This article deals mainly with herd management and household budget among Pashtun nomadic pastoralists in western Afghanistan. Other aspects, such as shepherd contracts, labor organization, and economic relations with the nonpastoral world, are described briefly. The ecological data relevant to this article have been published elsewhere (Casimir et al. 1980). We will not attempt to construct a model ofthe nomadic economy, nor even of western or Central Asian nomads, but our data may be typical for those small-stock husbanders in the Arid Belt who do not suffer severely from the direct impact of modernization and of national integration and who are not seriously threatened by an expanding sedentary society. Apart from a few serious and successful attempts towards generalizing models of pastoral economy (e.g., Dahl and Hjort 1976), and despite all we know today about pastoral nomads, broad generalizations still evade us. One might even ask whether the term, pastoral nomadism, denotes a frame for meaningful generalization at all (cf. Salzman 1980). From the ethnographic material on pastoral nomads published recently it seems by far easier to falsify former theories and generaliza? tions than to establish new ones. For example, it is no longer valid to assume that there is no individual ownership of pastures (Barfield 1978; Tapper 1979; Beck 1980). Dyson-Hudson (1972:21) over ten years ago called for adequate data on pastoral nomads relating to specific situations. This lacuna has since been filled to a great extent, yet some sectors of the economy of pastoral peoples are still not adequately studied and economic variations between nomadic groups of different areas ofthe world are far from being sufficiently understood. This paper is meant as a small contribution to a more encompassing understanding of nomadism and tries to supplement recent literature on pastoral economy. In recent years the opinion that the traditional economy of pastoral nomads need not necessarily lead to a degradation of arid environments but that pastoralists are rather to be considered as part of the ecosystem in equilibrium has gained ground (Biro 1977; Casimir et al. 1980; Konszacki 1978; Swift 1977;