It is a well-documented fact that there isn’t much written about and published on pastoralism in India. The answer to this is to conduct more research and convince others to do the same. At CfP we conduct and commission research on pastoralism -- and you can read more about it here. However, whatever little that does exist in the world of pastoralism is quite hard to find on the internet. For a non-specialist, a primer on pastoralism, or an introduction to the Gujjars of Uttarakhand or the swimming Kharai camels of Kutch are easy topics to find on the internet. But what if you want to read about pastoralism in Jammu and Kashmir or about the decline in pashmina wool or about pastoralism in Telangana? We want to put everything related to pastoralism in one place to make such information easily accessible and to increase the prominence of individual pieces of work.
CfP is building a repository of materials on pastoralism, with a particular focus on India. We hope to create a catalogue and an archive of a wide range of materials including academic publications, audio-visual recordings, films, popular articles, policy and legal documents, and so on. Our goal is to create an extensive resource base for anyone interested in pastoralism. As a first step, our research team is scouring the internet for published material on pastoralism. This is the easy bit. Eventually, we hope to have the majority of all existing titles on pastoralism as a part of our catalogue. The second step is to include material that is either not available online or requires some level of translation. CfP is interested in facilitating the digitisation of these materials so that they can be accessed by a wide audience.
We hope that CfP’s online repository becomes a valuable resource for all individuals regardless of their level of expertise. Further, we hope that a visit to the repository will guide viewers to the individuals and organisations who produced the material and to continue the conversation across multiple platforms. This ensures that material on pastoralism is organised, and easily accessible and more importantly that pastoralism is being discussed and celebrated in India.
