Swinging between Nomadism and Sedentarism: A Case Study of Social and Environmental Change in the Nomadic Society of the Altay Steppes, Xinjiang

Abstract

Abstract The Altay Steppes are part of the vast Eurasian grasslands where nomadic peoples have lived for thousands of years. Mobile pastoral production is still practised in these steppes. In recent years, however, dramatic changes have occurred in the rangeland society and production system. These have mainly resulted from modernization policies at both state and Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region level. Mobile pastoral production is shrinking and herders are switching between subsistence farming and other livelihood alternatives, at times managing to follow specialized livestock production strategies involving seasonal livestock migrations along transhumance routes. This paper uses original ethnographic data in the form of two case studies to describe this flux in a southern Altay Steppe community. Its Kazakh and Altay Uranghay Mongol herders alternate between sedentary subsistence farming and nomadic pastoralism. The paper looks first at the ways people negotiate these swings between different lifestyles and livelihood options. Second, it considers the environmental changes that result from this uncertainty, and particularly the changing patterns of grassland management in the area. Special attention is given to discussion of the complex impact of the national and regional development strategies and of the ways in which those strategies affect the economic and cultural responses of the local community. Study findings suggest a correlation between cultural fragmentation, which undermines grassland management institutions, and grassland fragmentation and pasture degradation.