Seeing cattle like a state: sedentist assumptions of the Namibian livestock identification and traceability system

Mauerman, M., Tjiseua, V. and Groves, D. W. (2023) Seeing cattle like a state: sedentist assumptions of the Namibian livestock identification and traceability system. Nomadic Peoples, 27 (2). pp. 171-197. ISSN 1752-2366 doi: 10.3197/np.2023.270202

Abstract/Summary

Livestock identification and traceability systems (LITS) are an increasingly prominent component of national livestock development policies around the world. In theory, LITS allow governments to track and respond to disease and livestock theft efficiently. However, this paper argues that LITS are suffused with sedentist assumptions that are at odds with the livestock management practices of pastoralist communities. Drawing on qualitative interviews with implementing bureaucrats and affected pastoralist communities as well as one author's experience of growing up and managing cattle in a pastoralist community, we review the sedentist assumptions that animate the Namibian Livestock Identification and Traceability System (NamLITS) and describe how pastoralists in north-western Namibia perceive that NamLITS has affected their economic, social and political lives. We then show the strategies that pastoralists use to comply and circumvent NamLITS, and conclude with lessons for governments and development practitioners considering livestock tracing systems and mobile communities affected by them.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/114146
Identification Number/DOI	10.3197/np.2023.270202
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Life Sciences > School of Agriculture, Policy and Development > Department of International Development
Uncontrolled Keywords	Demography
Publisher	Liverpool University Press
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