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Pastoralism, conflict, and change
Provider: Faculty of Science

Activity no.: 5251-21-03-31 
Enrollment deadline: 15/06/2021
PlaceVon Langen F111
Rolighedsvej 23, 1958 Frederiksberg C
Date and time19.10.2021, at: 08:45 - 22.10.2021, at: 13:00
Regular seats25
Course fee100.00 €
ECTS credits5.00
Contact personCharlotte Bukdahl Jacobsen    E-mail address: cja@ifro.ku.dk
Enrolment Handling/Course OrganiserChristian Pilegaard Hansen    E-mail address: cph@ifro.ku.dk
Aim and content
Remarks
The course will be held at the Frederiksberg Campus of the University of Copenhagen and will be open to 25 participants. We invite applications from PhD candidates from (but not limited to) social sciences whose research project is in line with the thematic scope of the course. Candidates apply by sending a one page CV and a 500 words project outline. This outline should specify how their PhD project relates to the overall theme of this course, and give clear indications on the theoretical and methodological approach adopted. Send the application to Charlotte Maybom, Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen at chma@ifro.ku.dk no later than 15 June 2021.


Pastoralism contributes to and secures the livelihood of millions of people worldwide, and pastoralists have showed remarkable ability to adapt to dry environments and large climatic variability. Yet, pastoralism is under pressure due to a variety of historical and contemporary factors.

Historically, governments in many countries in Asia and Africa have pursued policies that have resulted in pastoralist displacement and marginalization. In recent decades, tensions and conflicts between pastoralists and other groups (small-scale farmers, private investors, etc.) have increased over natural resources, such as pasture, land, and water. Such conflicts claim thousands of lives each year. The climate increasingly changes and undermines the availability of pasture and water for pastoralists and their livestock. Structural changes associated with increased commercialization and commodification of land and cattle, which link to broader patterns of agrarian transformation, lead to enclosure, dispossession and restrictions on transhumance practices. In many of the areas that pastoralists have traditionally occupied, there is land speculation involving urban business and elites, including military personnel and politicians. All over, conflicts between pastoralists and other societal groups are multi-facetted and entangled with issues of culture, identity, ethnicity and religion. In some cases, the conflicts link to national and regional instability and insecurity, terrorism and violent extremism.

The course aims at presenting theoretical and empirical approaches relevant for scholarly work on pastoralism in the perspective of conflict and change. We will look into structural explanations of farmer-herder conflicts, including notions of scarcity and the political economy associated with pastoralism. It concerns land rights, land tenure and access, and social-spatial-temporal analysis of how land policies affect pastoralists. It also includes work on conflict theory and conflict dynamics as well as climate change adaptation, uncertainty and resilience.

This PhD course is relevant for PhD students who are examining and trying to understand how cattle, conflict, environmental change and the wider political economies contribute to shaping the conditions for pastoralism. The PhD course includes lectures from leading scholars on pastoralism, conflict, and change, and offers opportunities for participants to present and discuss their own research and to interact and engage with scholars and students undertaking studies on similar, or related, topics. The course concludes with a half-day public seminar.

After the course, the participants will
1. Be familiar with key debates on causes and dynamics of pastoral conflicts, environmental change and livelihood
2. Have methodological and analytic skills for conducting research on pastoralism
3. Have gained experience in critically reading and discussing research and scholarly work of other researchers.

Teaching and learning methods
In advance of the course, participants must
1. Read the course curriculum
2. Prepare an individual course essay
3. Read and prepare detailed comments to the individual course essays of their fellow group members
4. Read written comments to the essays of their fellow group members.

During the course:
1. Lectures: Theoretical/conceptual/methodological/empirical perspectives of relevance to pastoralism
2. Course essay sessions: Groups of participants and an assigned senior lecturer meet to discuss the course essays.

Lecturers
• Ian Scoones, Professorial Fellow, Institute of Development Studies, Sussex
• Monica Lengoiboni, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente
• Tor A. Benjaminsen, Professor, Department of International Environment and Development Studies (Noragric), Faculty of Landscape and Society, Norwegian University of Life Sciences.
• Christian Lund, Professor, University of Copenhagen
• Iben Nathan, Associate Professor, University of Copenhagen
• Thorsten Treue, Associate Professor, University of Copenhagen
• Charlotte Maybom, PhD fellow, University of Copenhagen
• Christian Pilegaard Hansen, Associate Professor, University of Copenhagen

Remarks
The course will be held at the Frederiksberg Campus of the University of Copenhagen and will be open to 25 participants. We invite applications from PhD candidates from (but not limited to) social sciences whose research project is in line with the thematic scope of the course. Candidates apply by sending a one page CV and a 500 words project outline. This outline should specify how their PhD project relates to the overall theme of this course, and give clear indications on the theoretical and methodological approach adopted. Send the application to Charlotte Maybom, Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen at chma@ifro.ku.dk no later than 15 June 2021.

The course fee is 100 €. It includes coffee breaks, lunch on all days and one dinner. Participants will have to cover own transport and accommodation.

We will notify successful applicants by 30 June 2021, and the participants will shortly thereafter receive the list of literature, guidelines for drafting of the course paper and practical information about the course. The course paper is due on 1 October 2021. Comments to fellow student paper are due on 15 October 2021. Participation in the course is contingent upon submission of a satisfactory course paper and commenting on paper of fellow student.

Upon completing all the above course activities, participants will be awarded 5 ECTS credits and a course certificate.

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