World History Milestones - Essay Example

Insert Insert Grade Insert Insert World History What accounts for the often negative attitudes of settled societies toward the pastoral peoples living on their borders? The nomads, well called the pastoral community, did not have a stringent perception about the property and items that each individual owned. However, due to the perceptions of both the settled communities and the nomads, there were frequent cases of theft and violent raids especially during the nights. Theft of this private property is what really led to the negative attitude that these people hold to date. Basing a close specification on the nomads in Sudan, Skuratowicz (4) argues that there are several other major reasons towards the resentment of the settled communities to the nomads. Competition for such resources as land marked top of the list. This is because the nomads made their temporary homes in favorable places. Being an arid area, water was scarce. Farmers always fought over the small rivers that provided water for the large numbers of tribes. In some cases, the nomads made the temporary homes along the rivers to feed and water their camels and other domestic animals. Other resources like pasture and climate contributed to the choice of temporary homes for the nomads. Again, the nomads held a notion that the settled communities were rich and had lots of private property. This led to raids and theft marking another cause of resentment. Skirmishes erupted from these raids and increased theft hence the war in Darfur. Illiteracy and poor conflict resolution skills led to increased fights among these two communities; hence the negative attitudes. According to Skuratowicz (4), Sudan’s pastoralist and nomadic thing has become more of a way of life than a choice. This has been caused by the tough climatic factors that the country faces ever since. Nomads and the already settled communities fight over grazing rights of their animals. The local governance has not been strong enough to help solve problems caused when nomads find way through the farmers land, and has led to even more conflicts and negative attitudes. Even though it is their duty to solve the problems and see to the needs of the citizens, it is almost evident that someone is sleeping on their job towards working against these causes of conflict and negative attitudes. In addition, during the colonization time, the colonizers grabbed and owned the best land then. This led to fights between the colonizers and the colonized. The people of Sudan are nomads in their own land. This is another obvious cause of resentment towards the settlers despite the fact that some obtained those fertile lands in a legitimate systematic way as is noted by Skuratowicz (4). Fights over which community was superior than the other was another factor leading to the conflicts hence negative attitudes. In Darfur, a community was rendered sovereign with regard to the size of the clan. Problems emerged because the settled communities had larger clans than the latter. The economy in this particular country is not well developed. Based on the traditional practices, conflicts had to emerge due to the poor economic status. These people counted wealth in terms of the number of animals one had and the number of children the head of the family could father. This led to conflicts that are attributed to over population over a small piece of land. The government in support of UNDP improved the water supply services, power and electricity services, healthcare, veterinary, shopping, security and policing to fight these conflicts and negative attitudes. In What Ways Did Pastoral Societies Interact With Their Agricultural Neighbors? There are ways that through the programmes by United Nations Development the nomads and agriculturists had to interact. Some of these times were during the interpersonal reconciliation sessions which were characterized by collaboration and the management of scarce God given resources. Secondly, when the Darfur government accepted to lock horns with the UNDP with an aim to bring back peace after the skirmishes and many conflicts between the two warring communities, interaction was involved. This happened after the local governments of the two communities held peace talks with the people. Skuratowicz (4) further explains that due to the fact that at some later date the two communities accepted to work together to fight the challenges that they faced in Sudan and more specifically Darfur, there were the initiatives set to ensure that these people solved their grievances and this marked an important milestone and a way of interacting. According to Michael (107), since Sudan is not a wealthy land in agricultural products like food stuffs, the nomads in that case needed the help of the settled communities to get food and other basic requirements. This interaction was in the form of trade and strengthened the trade relationships of these people to date. Some of the nomads were architects and builders. Having created nice structures, these nomads’ products attracted the settled farmers and this interaction led to intermarriages between the two parties. It also enriched the economic and trade relationships that had been created before. Other ways that these people interacted included informal schooling, seed and crop distribution meetings, the meetings held by the local government like area chiefs among others. Why Have Historians Often Neglected Pastoral Peoples’ Role in World History? Different historians have different takes about noting the role that was played by the pastoralists. Among some of the reasons as to why historians have neglected history of the pastoral people is their lack of permanent homes. Some historians are not pleased by the fact that these people had no homes of their own. This made it a tough job to do a study or survey of these people, leading to their neglect. Moving from one area to another made them lose the sense of belonging. This is because, for instance, the children spoke the language of the people that lived near them. Some historians have shown how difficult it is to do analysis on these people. Poverty and poor infrastructure is one big characteristic of the nomads. Their always on the road nature made it hard to the historians to focus on them. The poverty was due to the fact that while moving from place to another it was hard to own much and worse still carry much as stated by Michael (107). Works Cited Adas, Michael. “Agricultural & Pastoral Societies, second volume.” Temple University Press, 2012. Web. 03 Dec 2012. Skuratowicz, Jerzy. “United Nations Development Programme in Sudan nomads’ settlement in Sudan: experiences, lessons and future action.” 2006. Web. 03 Dec 2012. Read More