| 1. |
- De Bruijn, Mirjam, et al.
(author)
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Drylands connected : Mobile communication and changing power positions in (nomadic) pastoral societies
- 2022
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In: Drylands Facing Change. - New York : Routledge. - 9781003174486 - 9781032005089 - 9781032393513 ; , s. 193-211
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Book chapter (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The new connectivity, through mobile phones, social media, and wireless internet, is an agent in social change in the drylands. In this chapter, we present four case studies: the introduction of mobile apps in Mongolia and Kenya, the role of mobile telephony in the Sahel, and the introduction of online learning in the Negev Desert. Each of these case studies develops an argument around the role of connectivity in ‘giving a voice’ to the people living in drylands. Indeed, as the studies show, the new technology of communication is a resource for such populations, especially when we focus on the benefits of improved communication and access to information. However, the effective use of such a resource is hampered by the lack of knowledge of dryland dynamics among the developers of the new technology and by the imposed power relations of the State. Also, the technology may follow its own pathway, being appropriated by the population in unexpected ways and creating new power relations that may also lead to conflict.
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| 2. |
- Hashimshony-Yaffe, Nurit, et al.
(author)
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Making cities in drylands : Migration, livelihoods, and policy
- 2022
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In: Drylands Facing Change. - New York : Routledge. - 9781003174486 - 9781032005089 - 9781032393513 ; , s. 174-192
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Book chapter (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Throughout history, urban centres have existed at the margins of drylands. Nowadays they are expanding in connection to new local, national, and global contexts. Rich research on the urbanization–migration relationship, especially in Africa and Asia, has not given much attention to dryland cities, while emerging research suggests that climate change effects entangled with conflicts in resource use are driving or displacing people to dryland cities. Drawing on livelihoods and translocal perspectives that centralize human agency in (re)producing places and shaping relations between places through migration/mobilities, this chapter explores the driving forces behind the growth of dryland cities and the contribution of rural–urban migration to this process. Our two empirical cases—Khartoum in Sudan and Inner Mongolia in China—demonstrate that dryland cities have been produced simultaneously through migrants’ bottom-up actions, changing human–environment relationships, and shifting policy. Urban growth in drylands is nurtured by resources in the rural area through the mediation of migrants, which calls for research to look beyond the urban–rural dichotomy. Despite following some general characteristics and development directions, the dynamics of dryland cities are shaped by particular environmental and geographical characteristics of the drylands, which are associated with rural migrants’ more flexible and opportunistic but less settled relationships to the cities.
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| 3. |
- Pas, Annemiek, 1985-, et al.
(author)
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Alternative perspectives : A bright side of natural resource governance in drylands
- 2022
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In: Drylands Facing Change. - New York : Routledge. - 9781003174486 - 9781032005089 - 9781032393513 ; , s. 236-252
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Book chapter (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Governance of natural resources in the drylands has often been studied from the perspective of failure, using assumptions of degradation, disequilibrium, and marginalization. Yet a growing body of literature engages with the study of outcomes that are considered positive, providing examples and explanations of cases where conflicts related to natural resource use have been adequately addressed by adapting existing or constructing new institutions of governance. Based on literature providing empirical case studies, this chapter discusses the conditions of four such cases, using the six elements of the constitutionality approach. Based on these cases we provide insight into positive examples of local institution building to improve natural resource governance. Our main cross-case findings show that, in order for institution-building processes to be labelled by local actors as positive, there is a need—besides the support of external catalyzing agents and institutional memory and recognition—for self-determination as an important element in claiming space to actively engage with the institution-building process.
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