Richard Axelby’s talk for the FSC Hohenheim

The climate and geography of the western Himalayas provides an ecological niche ideally suited to the practice of transhumance pastoralism. Central to the success of this activity are complex sets of access arrangements constructed around wide-ranging social networks. However, the changing economics of pastoral production – primarily increased demand for meat driven by wealthy consumers – are altering of these ‘communities on the move’. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted over a period of ten years, the focus of this talk was on the access arrangements that govern the use of a single grazing pasture in the Chamba District of Himachal Pradesh, India.