This thesis is the result of fieldwork in Tanzania alongside pastoralists. Since mobility is a condition of pastoral existence, the study followed patterns of livestock movements in several sites, along seasonal migratory routes, and in areas where pastoralists have relocated permanently. Large-scale land alienation from their customary territory by the government and the encroachment of agriculturalists threaten the integrity of the pastoralists' livestock economy. Most pastoralists now farm to supplement their dairy diet. Since agricultural development secures a stronger claim on land, pastoralists also pre-empt outsiders' claims for land by expanding their own farming activities. However, the study suggests that the transformation of key seasonal pastures into large commercial farms and subsistence farm plots has a cumulative effect on the availability of pastoral resources. The chronic scarcity of dry season grazing resources exacerbates competition among pastoralist groups. Large pastoral territories are fragmenting into less sustainable pastoral management units and strategies of exclusion are replacing earlier arrangements based on reciprocity of access to facilitate livestock mobility. As a last resort, some pastoralists relocate in agricultural areas where prejudices against pastoralism run high and livestock mobility is further constrained. Altogether, political constraints now shape livelihoods from livestock more so than ecological factors. The loss of livestock mobility increases the vulnerability of herd-owners to occasional droughts, and stationary herds are more likely to cause environmental damage. Pastoralism is often deemed economically unsustainable and environmentally destructive, but the examination of political and social constraints helps understand better the current state of mobile pastoralism.

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