Cows, Bulls, and Gender Roles : Pastoral Strategies for Survival and Continuity in Western Sudan

Abstract

The dissertation examines pastoral nomadic economic strategies in terms of social organization and gender roles. It makes two assertions: (1) that sedentarization is a pastoral nomadic strategy, and (2) that segmented gender roles, assigned contextually and situationally facilitate (along to public and private domains, with the various economic strategies), the overall goal of maintaining the pastoral nomadic lifestyle.