A Relational View of Pastoral (im)mobilities

Abstract

Pitched against the apparently more civilised and modern 'settled' folk, pastoralists have historically been penalised for the seemingly primitive and outdated practice of mobility. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in western India, this article challenges this reductive dichotomy and unpacks the many (im)mobilities produced, accessed, experienced and imagined by pastoralists. Adopting a relational lens, it shows how mobilities and immobilities co-constitute and are contingent on each other across social, geographical and temporal scales. Embedded within their own social and political history, the many forms of (im)mobilities can not only ontologically dispel the homogenizing effects of rigid typologies, but also but also practically offer pastoralists the capacity to adapt to changing times.