From Cattle to Capital

Following this ongoing research interest, we aim at a better understanding of transformations of livestock systems across the globe. Our premise is that the conventional categories of ranching and pastoralism are not adequate tools when it comes to the task of describing and explaining the diversity, complexity, and dynamics of livestock systems. We argue that it is necessary to go beyond these categories to explain how livestock systems are transformed by capitalism and how they resist capitalist forces. These social, cultural, and economic transformations have major implications for pastoral and rural populations across the world, including increasing economic inequality, disappearance of the commons, declining community relations, degradation of grazing lands, and reduced resilience to challenges like climate change. We use a comparative approach that highlights how communities involved in livestock systems adopt, adapt to, and challenge capitalist logics and offer new ways to raise livestock in the twenty-first century.

Duration
2019 to present

Team
Prof. Dr. Mark Moritz (The Ohio State University)

Funding
Wenner-Grenn Foundation

Publications
Schareika, Nikolaus. 2023. Capitalizing Contradictoriness: Ranchers between State and Open Range – and vis-à-vis Pastoralists. Pastoralism 13: 22. [DOI]

Schareika, Nikolaus, Christopher Brown, and Mark Moritz. 2021. Critical Transitions from Pastoralism to Ranching in Central Africa. Current Anthropology 62 (1): 53-76. [DOI]