Economy and Image of New Nomadic Activities in North Africa

Programme

Many regions traditionally dominated by pastoral activities have been subject to far reaching transformations, generally including total or partial break-up of nomadic systems. Our project focuses on causes, processes, and effects of these transformations and will thus analyse contemporary pastoral activities and their interaction with their societal contexts.

At the beginning, our research will be structured by three central issues. During the research process, emphasis on one or two of these issues will become necessary:

First, we will examine contemporary characteristics of pastoral livelihood strategies. Our aim is to assess, on the one hand, their role and potential within complex livelihood systems, and, on the other hand, their potential to produce crucial inputs - e.g. livestock and meat - for regional food supply chains.
Second, we will position these strategies in their broader historical context, focusing mainly on historical origins of structures which, today, determine "nomadic" livelihood strategies.
Third, we will enquire about how meanings and images concerning nomadism, pastoralism, and mobility are negotiated within different strata of society, and, how these negotiations, reversely, structure the conditions under which "nomadic" activities are increasingly abandoned or continue to exist.

The project is subdivided into two complementary case studies. Whereas Ingo Breuer (M.A.) will work with several groups in both urban and rural areas in Morocco, Constance Heinig (M.A.) will focus her work on different groups within the urban and suburban areas of Cairo, Egypt. Jörg Gertel (Prof. Dr.) will supervise and coordinate the project.

Publications

Prof. Dr. Jörg Gertel

Globalisierung, Entankerung und Mobilität. Analytische Perspektiven einer gegenwartsbezogenen geographischen Nomadismusforschung. In: Mitteilungen des SFB "Differenz und Integration" 1 (2002), 57–88.

with I. Breuer and C. Heinig: Zur Klassikifation von Grenzen und Übergängen nomadischer Aktivitäten. In: Materialien des SFB "Differenz und Integration" 1 (2002), 23–31.

Kairo – Nahrungsunsicherheit und Verwundbarkeit im Kontext der Globalisierung. Habil. Stuttgart 2001.

Informeller Sektor: Zur Erklärungsreichweite des umstrittenen Konzepts. Das Beispiel Khartoum. In: Geographische Rundschau 51 (1999), 705–711.

La mondialisation du pain au Caire. Profits des multinationales et insécurité locale. In: Revue de Géographie de Lyon 73 (1998), 219–225.

(ed.): The Metropolitan Food System of Cairo. Saarbrücken 1995 (Freiburger Studien zur geographischen Entwicklungsforschung 13).

withP. Kuppinger: Space, Social Reproduction and Food Security in Cairo/Egypt. In: GeoJournal 34 (1994), 277–286.

Krisenherd Khartoum. Geschichte und Struktur der Wohnraumproblematik in der sudanesischen Hauptstadt, Saarbrücken 1993 (Freiburger Studien zur geographischen Entwicklungsforschung 2).

Constanze Heinig, M.A.

with J. Gertel and I. Breuer: Zur Klassikifation von Grenzen und Übergängen nomadischer Aktivitäten. In: Materialien des SFB "Differenz und Integration" 1 (2002), 23–31.

Ingo Breuer, M.A.

with J. Gertel and C. Heinig: Zur Klassifikation von Grenzen und Übergängen nomadischer Aktivitäten. In: Materialien des SFB "Differenz und Integration" 1 (2002), 23–31.