Projekt

More than ever before, the Fulani pastoralist communities in Benin are confronted with various uncertainties that jeopardize their traditional livelihood of livestock keeping and drive them into a vicious circle of vulnerability, marginality and poverty. Women and young people, who both play important roles in the Fulani pastoralist systems, are particularly affected. While the applicant's junior fellowship project comprised an in-depth ethnographic investigation of women in the context of emerging professional associations, the proposed follow-up project extends the research focus to the youth. In Benin, continued livestock losses and problems of herd mobility have made the situation of young people precarious. Destitute young Fulani herders are often in a generalizing way accused or suspected of engaging in violence, either in the form of banditry or by joining armed groups such as Boko Haram and Al-Qaeda- or ISIS-affiliated groups. To this end, the project proposes to analyze the new livelihood trajectories of the Fulani youth in northern Benin, based on the hypothesis that a better understanding of livelihood dynamics in the face of uncertainties would contribute to policies aimed at youth capacity building in urban agroindustrial trades, agripreneurship and other future-oriented opportunities. A mixed-methods approach will be applied, generating both qualitative and quantitative data with Fulani research partners in rural, peri-urban and urban areas in three districts of the two most important livestockkeeping provinces in northern Benin, Alibori and Borgou. The results shall be disseminated through scientific articles, policy briefs and a book on "Gender and the (re)negotiation of uncertainty in Fulani pastoralist societies".

• Prof. Dr. Eva Schlecht

  Universität Göttingen
  Fakultät für Agrarwissenschaften
  Department für Nutztierwissenschaften
  Abteilung Tierhaltung in den Tropen und Subtropen
  Göttingen
  

• Dr. Georges Djohy

  University of Parakou
  Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation
  National School of Statistics, Planning &
  Demography
  Parakou
  Benin
  

• Prof. Dr. Andreas Bürkert

  Universität Kassel
  FB 11: Ökologische Agrarwissenschaften
  Fachgebiet Ökologischer Pflanzenbau und Agraröko-
  systemforschung in den Tropen und Subtropen
  Witzenhausen
  

• Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Schareika

  Universität Göttingen
  Sozialwissenschaftliche Fakultät
  Institut für Ethnologie
  Göttingen