Arun Agrawal's "Greener Pastures: Politics, Markets, and Community among a Migrant Pastoral People", published in 1998, is an essential ethnographic study of Raika, a dominant pastoralist group in western India. Raika, also known as Rabari, are primarily found in the arid region of Rajasthan, with some presence in Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, and Madhya Pradesh. They are recognized for their deep connection to livestock rearing, particularly camels, sheep, and goats, and their sustainable practices rooted in their traditional knowledge. Their semi-nomadic or non-migratory lifestyle distinguishes them from other pastoral groups. This book review examines key arguments and themes concerning Agrawal’s survey of the Raika socio-political and economic landscape. The text demonstrates a certain novelty in its choice of narration by introducing chapters through the Raika worldview, before distilling their lives through a theoretical framework to extrapolate conceptualisations of political engagement, market interactions, and community dynamics. A portrayal of pastoral migration, particularly focusing on the ecocentric dimensions of pastoral intergenerational knowledge as integral to the decision-making processes that enable a mobile way of life, becomes critical. This review highlights adaptive strategies of the pastoral community, critiques state interventions, and explores the application of the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework (SLF) to understand their ecocentric practices. The review also addresses the impact of climate change, an area underexplored in Agrawal’s work, and suggests avenues for further research in understanding pastoralist ecologies.
Agrawal examines the Raikas’ interactions with state officials, farmers, and traders, emphasizing the political nature of their negotiations over resources, prices, and exchange terms. These interactions reveal how land tenure insecurity, market integration, and state policies shape pastoral decision-making. Unlike views of pastoral groups as an outdated social formation, Agrawal argues instead that the Raika marginality offers insights into politics, exchange relations, and community formations. The community’s semi-nomadic or non-migratory lifestyle, characterized by small herds of approximately 100 animals, has shifted toward seasonal migration due to restricted access to grazing commons and forest reserves. This mobility is a strategic response to sociopolitical pressures, enabling economic survival through market exchanges and collective action via kinship networks.
Subsequently, Agrawal views the market exchanges as inherently necessitating the political participation of the Raika, as these exchanges are shaped by socio-political drivers that impact pricing and profitability. In lieu of state-led development programmes of the time that aimed at the sedentarisation of the community, he argues that these programmes often fail because they disrupt their mobile lifestyle without addressing fodder access or market dynamics. Agrawal primarily critiques the Pasture and Sheep Development Program in Jodhpur District, initiated in 1974, illustrating how state actors possess the capacity to intervene in the lives of pastoralists but seldom consider the range of factors that should influence planned range management. A legacy of colonial and post-colonial policies, like the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871 and forest conservation laws, has further limited grazing rights, forcing adaptations like seasonal migration or diversification into cultivation. Agrawal highlights the Raikas’ agency in resisting marginalisation through democratic participation and community-based institutions, which facilitate collective decision-making on migration routes and resource allocation.
Agrawal's text successfully portrays pastoralist migration and, further, mobility as a complex decision-making process—a performance deeply interwoven with environmental, economic, and socio-political considerations. He extensively draws upon pastoralist decision-making, particularly in the context of migration and resource management. However, these decisions are not isolated but are part of a larger, adaptive strategy aimed at ensuring their survival and well-being. Furthermore, these decisions are often based on traditional knowledge and sustainable practices, which reflect an ecocentric worldview that values the environment intrinsically. Pastoralist epistemologies often develop with a deep understanding of their environment; the pastoral groups viewing themselves as part of an interconnected ecological system. Their livestock rearing, particularly of camels, sheep, and goats in the case of the Raika, promotes ecological balance and resource efficiency in the arid Thar Desert. Their ethnoveterinary expertise and ecological knowledge are intangible endowments that sustain healthy herds, yielding entitlements like milk, wool, and manure. Agrawal is quick to acknowledge the community’s dependence on natural resources for their livelihood, suggesting that the Raika traditional practices are sustainable and environmentally sound, and their mobility enables them to utilise resources efficiently in a region with low rainfall and high precipitation variability. However, he does not delve deeply into specific value systems and practices that guide the Raikas' interaction with the environment. Which is why Agrawal does not fully explore the cultural values and beliefs underpinning these practices, limiting the depth of his environmental analysis.
Agrawal’s survey of the Raika is a case study in the sustainable livelihoods framework (SLF). The SLF provides a holistic lens to analyze livelihoods, considers various factors including access to assets, vulnerability context, and the influence of transforming structures and processes. Livestock, particularly camels adapted to the Thar Desert, are the primary endowment of the Raika, enabling entitlements like milk and wool. However, restricted grazing access and declining camel populations disrupt this entitlement mapping. Pastoral ability to live in harmony with nature stems from leveraging endowments sustainably, though modern challenges highlight the fragility of their entitlement mapping. Thus, the SLF highlights how social, economic, and political structures influence their resource access, emphasizing the need to protect their endowments to sustain their ecological and cultural contributions.
However, climate change remains an underexplored aspect in Agrawal’s work. Erratic monsoons, prolonged droughts, and rising temperatures reduce fodder and water availability, significantly affecting the Raika, forcing longer migrations or reliance on purchased fodder. Invasive species like Prosopis juliflora and extreme weather events, such as heatwaves and unseasonal rains, degrade pastures and increase livestock diseases, impacting herd health and entitlements. These challenges additionally threaten the Raika’s cultural identity, tied to camel rearing, as declining viability weakens their spiritual connection to camels.
To summarise, Arun Agrawal's Greener Pastures frames the Raika pastoralists as active agents navigating socio-political and economic challenges through strategic mobility and collective action. The text is consummate in analyzing their resilience, emphasizing mobility as a key adaptation to marginalization and sedentarization drivers. However, it obscures how indigenous knowledge shapes decision-making amid climate change uncertainties. The Raika's sustainable practices, rooted in traditional knowledge, leverage endowments like livestock to secure entitlements, yet modern challenges threaten this balance. Further research could deepen the analysis by examining indigenous knowledge, cross-disciplinary comparisons with Raika exogamous subcastes, and the cultural impact of declining camel populations due to reduced grazing lands and climate change. This would enhance understanding of pastoral ecological and cultural contributions, building on Agrawal's work for a more nuanced view of pastoralist livelihoods.
This is an occasional blog post written by a member of Centre for Pastoralism (CfP). The views, analysis, and arguments expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of either Sahjeevan or CfP.
