| dc.description.abstract | This study considers the labor organization of a group of northern
Kenyan pastoralists. Since 1960, the Samburu have experienced
substantial cattle loss and land circumscription and the work focuses
both on herding and non-herding labor responses to a changing regional
economy. The viability of Samburu pastoralism rests on specific labor
forms which permit intensified production and economic diversification.
Based on twenty-four months of fieldwork, primarily during the
1983-84 drought, the study emphasizes the interplay between the social
and technical organization of labor. Social institutions of descent and
age guide natural resource and delineate work roles, while encouraging
the varied forms of cooperation which greatly extend the family
workforce. The diversity of technical strategies, which are strongly
shaped by cultural preferences, contrasts with the paucity of production
materials.
Several key findings have applicability to a range of pastoral
locales, particularly proof of the positive relationship between labor
input and animal output and of the higher efficiency of labor in larger
versus smaller-scale herding units only under stable production
conditions. Further, the quantitative material on dry season versus
drought labor use as well as evidence for differential livestock
survival rates represent unique accounts in themselves.
Beyond insights into pastoralism, however, the analysis is
structured so as to contribute to several important issues in smallscale
rural production. The accounts of the interconnection of
technology and social forms and of the integration of "on-farm" and
"off-farm" enterprise have implications for defining the scope of any
labor investigation. The discussions of the terms "labor" and
"technology" pose wider questions of the content of such basic concepts.
Finally, the methodological discourse on labor measurement should assist
those similarly trying to distinguish between "use" and "demand" in
predominantly noncapitalist societies. | en |
