In East Africa, historically, conditions have developed for the formation of nomadic extensive cattle breeding as a special form of life support. However, nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralism is always associated with great difficulties of survival.

Like other extensive social forms, nomadic pastoralism will eventually disappear. Now the problem is not to prevent this process, but to implement the idea of creating optimal conditions for the nomadic population to move to a different socio-economic state while preserving traditional cultural values.

East Africa is a special biogeographic zone of the continent. This part of it is characterized by an elevated geographical position, where on the mountain plateau there are deep discharge valleys with lakes, high mountains, large areas of savanna or dry steppes, sometimes turning into semi-desert and stony desert. The rough terrain, the proximity of the ocean, the movement of air masses, the instability of precipitation, the predominance of low - fertile and shallow lateritic soils, as well as the significant prevalence of tsetse flies-all these are just the main factors in the ecology of the region. Natural conditions have always allowed us to engage in both agriculture and cattle breeding here. In comparison with other parts of the continent in East Africa, cattle breeding has long been one of the main conditions for the survival of the population and has been the basis for the formation of historical and cultural traditions. It is this feature that has allowed a number of researchers to contrast East Africa with the rest of the continent, not only geographically, but also culturally 1

Among the population engaged in cattle breeding, its mobile part stands out - nomadic pastoralists (nomads). Their economic activity is associated with seasonal migration, and this forms many features of their culture. From the point of view of life support opportunities, nomadic pastoralists have historically been far from the easiest places to develop living space. They were displaced to the periphery of natural zones primarily by sedentary masses of farmers. The nomadic way of life of these societies in Africa was also promoted by the traditions of ancient pastoralism that were reproduced among them from generation to generation, which arose as an adaptation to special natural conditions, under which it was almost impossible to maintain any other way of existence 2 In the process of adapting to a complex harsh environment, nomadic peoples developed various forms of economy, specific material and spiritual culture, and peculiar social structures. Ancient pastoral cultural traditions have proved so stable, and their individual elements are so conservative, that in the conditions of historical migrations, they are often considered to be very difficult to maintain.-

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Population groups in East Africa continued to reproduce even when society found itself in completely different living conditions and was forced to radically change its former economic and cultural type. It is because of this that many, even now settled agricultural peoples of the region, have preserved elements of the ancient pastoral culture.

The optimal purpose of the extensive reproduction of pastoralist farming over the centuries was to maintain their existence. Under the objective conditions of this type of economy, a contradiction is inevitably created between population growth and an almost insignificant or absent increase in food production. Therefore, cattle breeding as a type of economy is constantly in a mode of feed shortage, which worsens during periods of natural disasters, political, economic and social complications. In conditions of constant life risk, nomadic cattle breeding has developed its own cultural characteristics. The main one is to prioritize the number of animals in the family herd, rather than the quality of its individuals. Each cattleman strives first of all to preserve his herd as a guarantee of the family's life support. Therefore, traditional pastoralists rarely slaughter their animals for food, and even less often they sell them. Food is usually used for sick, wounded individuals or ritually slaughtered (on the occasion of the initiation of young people, marriage, birth of a child, burial, religious ceremonies, etc.). The basis of the food ration of pastoralists has always been fermented milk products, blood and grain obtained in exchange from farmers or from their small primitive hoe farming.

In the traditional African pastoral economy, there is a peculiar system of land use, based on which there is no private ownership of pasture and cultivated areas. All land is defined as a common people's possession, and tribal boundaries are very conditional and in times of general disasters are freely crossed by tribal divisions of different levels. At the same time, according to an unwritten law developed by the practice of nomadic pastoralism, pastoralists unquestioningly observe the traditional order of use of pastures, depending on seasonality and the manifestation of the elements. This order is never violated by anyone, despite the lack of public control, since this tradition is a guarantee of the survival of the entire nation as a whole.

Nomadic pastoralism (nomadism) Historically, it was formed in direct dependence on the characteristics of the habitat of pastoralists in two of its types: nomadic and semi-nomadic proper. There are no fundamental differences in them. In general, nomadism as a possibility of existence in harsh natural conditions is a special mode of production, which implies a peculiar economic and social characteristics of the respective societies 3 The economic basis of nomadism is extensive grazing as the main occupation of the population. On the basis of this economy, both nomadic and semi - nomadic nomadism developed fundamentally identical socio - economic systems of relations, tribal social structures that grow out of social and genealogical ties. Differences between nomadic species are expressed primarily in the composition of animal herds, the degree of social mobility, and the range of nomadism. However, all these signs of nomadism are not universal criteria for distinguishing nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralism, which are more correctly defined as subtypes of nomadism. Cattle breeding, as we know, has never been the only occupation of nomads. To varying degrees, agriculture, hunting, fishing, gathering, military fishing, caravan escorting, and trade provided them with additional means of life support.

Contrary to the long-established view of nomadism as a primitive, monotonous and conservative historical phenomenon, modern nomad studies

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It has brought a lot of new things to this area of the history of human society on the way to its development of a very diverse natural environment. In particular, studies of nomadic pastoralism in Africa in general, and in East Africa in particular, reflected the fact that natural and historical and cultural characteristics in this region also determined the specifics of nomadism, which was expressed in the originality of its economic forms and social systems. These data confirmed a new view: nomadism as a historical phenomenon in the development of world social forms is not homogeneous. And first of all, because with some exceptions (northern Somaliland, Afar, Tuareg, Fulbe, etc.), African nomadism for the most part differs sharply from nomadism, which is widespread in Asia 4

The specifics of African nomadism are determined by two main factors: the uniqueness of the natural environment and traditions in the ethno-cultural process. Unlike the vast and monotonous Asian steppes, the complex natural conditions of East Africa are characterized by a complex terrain, a high degree of climate aridity, an accelerating process of erosion of a thin layer of soil, and a sharp change of seasons. Pastures here are depleted quickly, but they recover slowly. Their territories as a whole are relatively small and very scattered. Water resources are extremely unevenly distributed, unstable, and often difficult to access. In the vast region of East Africa, only the Danakil Desert (Afar) is a natural analogue of the Asian steppes, which determines that the nomads of northern Somalia mainly have the same economic and cultural type as the Asian nomads. This type of terrain is characterized by the following species composition of herds: camels, horses, sheep-goats and a small number of cattle.

The features found in nomads of East Africa depending on their ecological characteristics have given science grounds for defining two forms of nomadism, conventionally called "Asian" (based on their similarity to nomadism in Asia) and "African". 5 . Pastoral societies of the" African " form are characterized by such a historical and cultural feature as the presence in their organization of an archaic social institution - a system of age classes, which is nothing more than a long-established form of implementation of the principle of social division of labor by age. Such an organization of the division of labor is more rigid, strictly regulated, and more primitive than that of nomadic societies of the" Asian " form, which have either passed this stage of social development altogether or have already passed it, so they do not attach any importance to age affiliation 6

African nomads have a dual social identity. The first is horizontal-local in the system of patriarchal-genealogical relations (as in Asian nomads). It builds all the members of society in the social structure in a hierarchical row, i.e. in a genealogical chain, the beginning of which is the ancestor of the tribe, the ancestor. This social indicator of belonging never changes, it is stable. The second social affiliation is vertical. Its main indicator - the social age of each member of society-is mobile, i.e., together with its age group, it is constantly increasing, since the entire social-age group and all its members are moving along the path to maturity and then to aging.

The intersection of these two systems of social ties creates a special type of tribal organization of nomadic societies among nomads of the "African" form. These are the societies of Borana, Gabbra, Maasai, Turkana and many others in East Africa. In this region of Africa, the "Asian" form of nomadism, in addition to the societies of northern Somalia, can also be attributed, with some reservations, to the societies of Adal, Afar, beja, Sakho.

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The genesis of both forms of nomadism in East Africa is primarily associated with the ancient cultural traditions of pastoralism, carried by the nomadic pastoral population of the region in the process of long mass migrations in ancient times. This method of activity was based on the pastoral socio-economic basis. If the nomadism of East Africa of the "Asian" form was determined historically by cultural ties with Asian pastoralism and therefore represents a relatively developed stage in the life of nomadic societies, then the societies of the "African" form retain some features dating back to the era of primitive communal relations. This puts such societies in the historical hierarchy at an earlier stage of development in relation to the Asian nomads. The study of African nomads showed that the further a society went in its historical development, the smaller the role of social and age ties in its life activity. In this process, patriarchal-genealogical ties began to play a more significant role. In combination with the welfare and social status of the individual, they gradually established themselves as a measure of social values that determined the position of members of society and individual groups in the structure and system of social relations.

The diversity of the natural environment largely influenced the formation of specific forms of life support for different groups of the nomadic population of the region. In particular, this was reflected in the selection of the species composition of domestic animal herds. For example, in areas of rocky and sandy deserts, where vast areas are almost devoid of water sources, pastoralists have mastered camel breeding (northern Somalia, Afar, beja, sakho, turkana, gabbra). In areas that are relatively waterlogged, nomadic pastoralists are dominated by cattle (Maasai, Oromo, shilluk, Nandi, and Iraku). Sheep and goats are bred everywhere. Turkana nomads, which live in the rocky desert on the border of Kenya and Ethiopia, are the closest of the" African " nomads to the nomads of Asia - they are camel breeders. However, what brings them closer to the "African" nomads is the presence of a system of age classes in the social organization.

Cultural tradition is also a powerful factor in organizing the way of life of nomadic pastoral peoples. The Oromo (formerly Galla) nomads of Ethiopia, being constantly moving with their herds, often changed their usual nomadic directions. This was due to the public need to conduct initiation rites in a certain traditional place of worship in accordance with the norms of the age class system. At such ritual actions, masses of Oromo nomads gathered, scattered over the vast territories of their nomads ' nomads. Such changes of routes often contradicted the economic needs of nomads. Nevertheless, the Oromo were subject to the force of tradition, which in such cases prevails in the life of society over the conditions of its surrounding nature 7

The ethnocultural identity of the Maasai-a traditional semi-nomadic pastoralism-is largely a consequence of the manifestation of the cultural trait of their ancestors (carriers of the ancient pastoral culture that came from the Bahr el-Ghazal region from the north along the Nile to new areas of Kenya and Tanzania, where conditions favored farming). However, the strength of tradition forced this ethnic group, excluding its individual small groups, to maintain its commitment to nomadic cattle breeding.

An important cultural feature expressed in the pastoral economy is the division of social labor by gender and age. Among the" Asian " nomads, such a division of labor naturally occurs within their main economic branch-in cattle breeding. Camel breeding is an occupation exclusively for adult men. Organizing the watering of domestic animals of all kinds within a nomadic community is a very time-consuming and complex task-it is also a field of men's activities. For the rest

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however, the labor of pastoralists is not strictly regulated according to gender. For example, milking and short-range grazing of cattle can also be performed by women.

Among the" African " nomads, the division of social labor is very diverse, as are the various and diverse manifestations of this form of nomadism. The Turkana of Kenya has a noticeable analogy with northern Somalia. However, in the Turkana society, the criterion of social age is taken into account, which forms divisions of shepherds-warriors from among social peers (who simultaneously passed initiation in their age groups) engaged in grazing camel herds. This feature, as is known, is absent in the "Asian" nomads, since they do not have a system of age classes and there are no stable age associations - labor collectives. In certain situations," Asian " nomads form youth men's associations, but they are spontaneous, temporary, quickly disintegrate, and their composition is unstable.

Among the majority of "African" semi-nomads, the social division of labor is primarily associated with the presence of cattle breeding as the main branch of their economy and agriculture as an additional one. Usually, women are more involved in farming. However, men do the heavy work of clearing the land for sowing, and sometimes women help them. Weeding and harvesting are women's work, and herding herds is a man's occupation. Women, teenagers, and children perform long-term grazing, milking, feeding animals, and caring for calves.

The traditional social division of labor is often ignored by these pastoralists, depending on the impact of local natural conditions on their living regulations. Thus, the economy and lifestyle of the Dassanechs living north of Lake Rudolph on the banks of the Omo River depend entirely on the climatic conditions and flooding of the river. In accordance with this, nomads alternate between cattle breeding and farming, as well as changing their lifestyle up to seven times a year. The social regrouping of the population also occurs in their society, depending on the nature of economic activity in each of the periods - natural seasons, and, accordingly, the social division of labor changes diametrically 8 Nomadic life, which is inextricably linked with the surrounding nature, is especially harsh and harsh in relation to a person who is constantly on the verge of survival. In addition, the harsh lifestyle of nomads is constantly affected by factors such as epidemics, looting, internecine wars and armed clashes between tribal units.

In such conditions, the life experience of generations has developed the most rational way for nomadic pastoralists to protect themselves from the environment - a flexible organization of nomadic lifestyle. Only one or two households with a relatively small herd can move through the sparse and scattered areas of pasture throughout the desert, otherwise people and animals will not have enough food and water. A small nomadic community is also a means of saving the family's herd from being robbed and taken away by hostile groups of neighbors. It is for these vital purposes that the family herd is distributed among specialized nomadic communities. In the difficult conditions of nomadic life, it is easier to survive when the family is strong, and the family herd - its economic basis-is indivisible within the family. Therefore, the separation of sons from the father's family is objectively delayed as long as possible. Each family consists of two or three households formed according to the species composition of animals. This is not socially conditioned; the nature of such a family composition is secondary to objective natural necessity.

On a nomadic route, such a family household often combines with one or two equally alien, unrelated households, forming a temporary nomadic community. Combining different social groups into larger social networks-

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societies occur in a general danger, but in the future they often break up or recompose.

In general, local groupings of nomad households are not constant. It can't be otherwise in the desert. Vital resources are scarce, and you have to search for them and collect them. The individual nature of the way of life in nomadic societies destroys any ties of ties, except for genealogical (legendary or real) and socio - age ones. These two systems of connections manifest themselves in the necessary cooperation of peers for military purposes or for performing labor-intensive work, as well as in the ritual activities of society. It is these systems of connections that form the basis of the tribal organization of nomads.

Kinship ties among nomads are much weaker than among sedentary peoples. This is especially noticeable in the exercise of inheritance rights. For nomads, they are generally difficult to implement. Each family-nomadic community leads an individual way of life, it is relatively autonomous and carefully hides information about its herd and farming. Own nomadic economy is a value reference point in the system of economic, social, spiritual and moral norms in a nomadic society. The expression of the nomad's legal independence as a member of society lies in the acquisition of personal autonomy by the nomad and its further preservation. And there is nothing higher on the scale of values for a nomad. At the family level, the bonds of kinship quickly weaken after the sons gain independence from their father, giving way to temporary associations in the form of comradely cooperation 9

Social belonging of any level among nomads is realized through the flexibility of their social organization and through the freedom to restructure their social structure. In any place, especially in an extreme situation, nomads easily and quickly, according to the signs of their social affiliation, unite in temporary, unified, homogeneous groups of age and abilities, for example, in local-peer units of warriors, whose tasks are defined for them even at initiation, i.e. from childhood. These systems of public relations also underlie the military organization of the nomads, a warrior people who are always "under arms", and this element is also a sign of the cultural tradition of nomads.

For all their individual independence, the nomads are by no means a society of social amorphousness, nor are they characterized by anarchy in everyday life. Nomadic pastoralists never violate the life principles developed by the practice of life support and guarantee individual and general survival. So, the general rule for these peoples is the requirement to use first of all poor pastures, and save the best ones until the time of year when the rest of the resources will be depleted. This is a cultural tradition that no herd owner will break, although there is no control over it other than the power of public opinion.

In the public consciousness of nomads, the idea is laid down that in conditions of risk, the main guarantee of the life of each individual and the entire nation is absolute compliance with the general rules traditionally established since the time of their ancestors and passed down unchanged from generation to generation in the process of reproduction of society.

Nomadism is a special cultural complex that has proved to be very stable and conservative. In an arid natural environment, only extensive reproduction of the nomadic way of life, which is based on the nomadic mode of production (extensive economy plus extensive production social relations), could become the most rational way of life support.

Throughout the entire history of mobile pastoral peoples, they have a tendency to settle, the desire, under favorable conditions, to use their natural resources in various ways.-

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new forms of agriculture. From ancient times to our time, the process of reducing the nomadic population of the Earth has not stopped. However, this historical fact does not contradict the constantly noted feature of nomadic pastoralists-their resistance to forced transfer to a sedentary lifestyle, which has been widely observed in East African countries in recent decades: Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Somalia. In natural-historical conditions, the process of transition to sedentarism of nomadic groups occurs gradually and imperceptibly for the nomads themselves. They are forced to submit to temporary circumstances, which at some point become stronger than their traditional way of life. At the same time, there is no sharp destruction of the ancient cultural tradition, which is subordinated not only to the way of life of nomads, but also to their spirit of a free, independent people. This tradition is so strong that at any change in the situation, they immediately return to the old, nomadic way of life.

Today, the overall situation for nomadic pastoralists in East Africa has changed dramatically. In addition to the usual harsh conditions of their historical and cultural environment, such powerful factors have been added as the general environmental crisis in Africa; the economic crisis that has broken out in almost all countries where nomadic populations live in recent decades; periodic ethnic and military conflicts that sometimes turn into civil war; and a tangle of crisis-related, as yet unsolvable social problems; the spread of AIDS and other mass diseases, sometimes mowing down entire settlements. All this puts the fate of the nomadic population in a very difficult situation, and in some cases some ethnic groups are threatened with extinction.

In the modern conditions of the existence of nomadic peoples of Africa, there is a tendency to disrupt the balance between man, his herds of domestic animals and their habitat. It is becoming increasingly difficult for nomads to maintain their traditional living standards. Despite their historical cultural isolation, nomadic pastoralists in real life are strongly connected to the economy of the surrounding sedentary farmers. Even among peoples such as the Maasai, whose culture is completely devoid of agriculture, with a highly valued pastoral diet, the natural need for grain food is quite high. This, in turn, through the exchange of farm products, binds pastoralists to agricultural peoples. Being located within the borders of modern states, the nomadic population is increasingly involved in the development of the national economy and the policy pursued by the state. Nomads are becoming increasingly dependent on external political and economic forces and their control. The traditional independence of nomads - as their cultural value-is increasingly being devalued.

Among the drastic changes in the nomad habitat conditions, in addition to the objective factors mentioned above, the factor of large - scale reduction of historically defined nomad land territories - pasture, water and salt resources-is put forward in the first place, without which their life loses meaning. Land is constantly lost by pastoralists, large territories are transferred to private ownership for plantations and ranches. Large areas of land are being transformed into nature reserves and national parks, where any economic activity is prohibited. Since the organization of these zones, in addition to environmental tasks, pursues purely financial and economic goals - attracting a lot of tourists to fill the state budget (and in countries like Kenya, tourism provides half of it), this process cannot be countered.

In the context of independent states, the mobile part of their population sometimes creates political tension in the border areas, since traditional nomadic routes have been formed for centuries and, of course, have been used for a long time.,

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without taking into account any political boundaries. Recently, there have been many such situations between Somalia and Ethiopia (clashes between Oromo and Somali nomadic groups), Kenya and Ethiopia (Gabbra and Turkana nomads roaming on both sides of the state border), Kenya and Tanzania (arbitrary, i.e. traditional transitions of semi-nomadic Maasai), etc. In this regard, nomadic groups of pastoralists are of particular concern to State administrations.

In modern life, the traditional complex of pastoral knowledge necessary for survival in the harsh environment of nomadic societies has now been supplemented with new life requirements, without which pastoralists can no longer do without. For successful farming, every herd owner involved in the modern system of commodity-money relations must know the market situation; prices for livestock, transport; the amount of taxes, the level of inflation; have information about where and when it is more profitable to sell animals; what and where it is cheaper to buy from the goods necessary for the family; vaccinate animals and other animals. much more. All this closely connects the nomadic pastoralist with modern economic and social relations, as well as with the city.

With all the modern changes in the life of nomads, cattle, as before, remain an unstable source of well-being. The desire to preserve the herd as a guarantee of survival still causes a high degree of mobility and a desire to reproduce the traditional way of life. At the same time, modern processes and factors of different nature are increasingly narrowing the range of opportunities to realize the cultural image of nomadic society.

The crisis state of nomadic cattle breeding was noticed in the 1960s and 1970s not only by the administrations of African states, but also by many international organizations, as well as researchers, primarily ecologists, ethnologists, doctors, and economists. In numerous works, scientists have re-evaluated the historical role of the nomadic population of the Earth. Thus, in the light of modern research in the field of ecology and traditional economics, it has become obvious that the previous thesis that nomadic pastoralists destroy the flora and fauna of their habitat is erroneous 10 Now it is considered proven that the combination of pastoralists and sedentary farmers in one natural zone is an objective condition for natural harmony. Most researchers argue that extensive nomadic pastoralism is the optimal form of using semi-arid and arid lands. Moreover, it is the directed pastoral activities of the nomadic population, in addition to the vital activities of the masses of wild animals, that have created vast steppe zones in East Africa. Extensive cattle breeding has emerged as a unique system of adaptation to the environment. This way of life support created a balance between nature and the population in the ecological niche, preserving, maintaining the fragile African habitat 11 . Thus, in the life of specialized societies of nomadic pastoralists, their dependence on nature has a direct and inverse relationship between two natural components in the ratio of "man and environment".

Nomadic pastoralists have not found themselves in a threatening situation today, and attempts to improve and support their livelihoods were made several decades ago, for example, in the Republic of Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania. However, at that time, the state support programs were based on a completely discredited, long-standing stereotype of ideas about the alleged backwardness, inflexibility and initial irrationality of the African traditional economy. These programs were designed for a radical restructuring of the African economy, both agricultural and pastoral, based on European technologies, i.e. on methods of intensive economy. Such experiments had no results, since the programs were drawn up by city officials, who practically did not represent the state.-

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imagine the life of the people of their own countries. It was forgotten that a person and his culture are formed by the environment, that people, no matter how much they improve the technology that ensured the independence of society from nature, will always remain part of this nature, and the relationship "man-environment" will forever be the law of preserving the life of society.

A striking example of social and economic development programs for African farms in Tanzania is the project to create free villages after 1967 (ujamaa), In 1974, the first project proposed a voluntary association of people in settlements for the development of modern agricultural technology on public lands. Everything here was alien to traditional culture, especially to the nomadic population. This project failed. The second project, in fact, provided for the forced relocation of 5 million people. Nomadic pastoralists were forced to move in the direction of "development villages". The concentration of large numbers of people and livestock around villages quickly led to the degradation of pasture land around settlements. The project also failed to produce positive results. The villages were deserted, the nomads returned to the traditional way of life, to the usual small-scale farming 12

Despite obvious setbacks, the political leadership of Tanzania in 1982-1983 tried to implement a new program aimed at creating an association of cattle ranches. As a result of its implementation, ranches and farms began to rapidly displace nomadic pastoralists from their traditional pasture lands. A significant part of the nomads, as part of social assistance, were settled in permanent villages built specifically for them. At the same time, the tsetse fly spread strongly in the same territories. The pastoralists, true to their traditional experience, immediately left these settlements together with their herds and, despite the demands of the administration, moved on to their former routes. Artificial innovation in the real-world environment has not justified itself. The tradition was more stable 13 .

The program of the late 1980s provided for a complete cultural reorientation of the nomadic population of the country. This program was based on the idea of instant transfer of nomads to sedentarism and reorientation of them to modern farm forms of management, i.e. it meant a radical change in the economic and cultural type of nomadism. Time has shown that this policy has no future.

The nomadic Maasai lost their ancestral territories throughout their history. Their lands were used for laying pipelines, building roads, dams, constructing reservoirs; for nature reserves and hunting reserves. The land of the Maasai was reduced during the implementation of state measures to combat fly fever. The measures of both the colonial and state administrations aimed at compensating for the territorial losses of the Maasai did not lead to the expected transition of nomads to intensive forms of management. The programs drawn up by city officials have always been focused only on the modern economy created by the state, and not on the people involved in it.

However, attempts to implement all these projects had a result, namely: the Maasai were pushed to the outskirts of their territory, their pastures were reduced so much that nomads lost the opportunity to leave the used areas for restoration, as was the case in their traditional nomadic system, which maintained the natural balance of the environment. The land from overgrazing was gigantically overloaded. In an area where soil erosion, deforestation and desertification are also occurring for environmental reasons, such a policy of the authorities brings an ecological catastrophe closer, which will affect people and their natural environment as a whole.

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In such conditions, the Maasai are forced to change a lot in their traditional way of life. Not being able to maintain large herds of cattle before, they began to make up for their losses with ever-larger herds of small cattle. Thus, their traditional economy, based on cattle, from self-supporting the life of this ethnic group, turned into an exchange-oriented economy, partially commercialized, connected to the external market 14

To ensure their livelihood, nomads are increasingly forced to exchange and sell livestock in order to get the grain they need for food, which now makes up 53% of their diet in the dry season. The market economy destroyed the networks of traditional social ties of nomads, deepened social differentiation, strengthened individualism in their environment, while depriving them of public guarantees and support. Reproduction of traditional social organization is also disrupted. First of all, this was reflected in the actions of the institute of the age class system. Almost all of its norms were consistently violated: the terms and age of initiation; the age norms of marriage, which led to competition for brides between adjacent generations of fathers and sons, which did not exist before. Sons began to separate from their fathers ' farms earlier, which weakened the family community. Young warriors, instead of traditional economic pastoral affairs, are forced to engage in modern business in order to have the necessary funds for marriage and organizing their own household. A typical way to quickly raise the necessary capital is by speculating in cattle, reselling animals driven from the interior to the coast. This clearly shows a violation of traditional value orientations and the inclusion of nomads in the modern economic system in order to achieve living standards.

In a number of independent East African States, the problem of the participation of nomadic pastoralists in the modern State economy was solved in two stages. The first is the transfer of nomads to settlement, the second is the organization and inclusion of them in a complex cattle-breeding and agricultural economy. Due to the high mobility of nomadic pastoralists, they do not respond well to state registration and control: it is not easy to collect taxes from them, they neglect national borders, choose their own places for temporary settlement and try to solve controversial life issues in their own ways. All this fuels the administrative idea of transferring nomads to a sedentary lifestyle.

Repeated attempts to solve this problem did not bring success also because this idea and its implementation were perceived differently by ordinary nomads and the elite of society. Rich pastoralists can more easily tolerate state control, and they have a guaranteed choice of actions. The middle and poor segments of the pastoral society, forced to settle on the plots of land allocated by the State administration as reservations, are experiencing a shortage of pasture areas. State market control over the prices of livestock products forces pastoralists to withdraw from the allocated land plots and sell their products in informal markets, where there is no price competition from imported livestock products at subsidized prices. The situation was similar with the Baggara nomads in the Republic of Sudan, with the Maasai in Kenya and Tanzania, and with the Borona in Ethiopia 15

In line with the increased participation of nomadic pastoralists in modern market relations, changes in the traditional cultural norms of their life are accelerating. Thus, the division of labor between women and men is now different from what it was before. Women began to participate in the market trade in dairy products, which was not previously in their lives. As a result, they received more rights

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on livestock products and income from them. This, in turn, led to the fact that the male part of society became more intensively engaged in the sale of live cattle in the markets. In general, family herds began to decline, which caused a decrease in the traditional social distribution of livestock within the family community, for example, when allocating animals to daughters on the occasion of their marriage and in other cases. In addition, pastoralists have a lot of problems, because of which they also lose cattle. This happens when cattle are transported to markets, when they are forced to leave the herd under the supervision of random shepherds, when the herd owner himself goes to the city, etc. Small cattle become a priority in cattle breeding, which in modern market conditions has become a kind of" pocket money " for nomads. The number of bred meat and dairy cattle is decreasing. Nomadic routes and mobility of pastoralists, who are now tied to markets and cities due to the commercialization of their farms, are being reduced 16

Life in the free states of Africa, despite the reluctance and resistance of nomads, draws this part of the population in a new direction for them. The very conditions of existence, without outright dictation, unobtrusively manage changes in the traditional way of nomads. The nomadic population has a different perception of projects and programs offered by government organizations that are artificially introduced into their lives. In Tanzania, a new nomad support program was developed in the early 1990s. To promote it, all nomads in the Turkana district were called to a public meeting (baraza), the participants were introduced to the program of measures aimed at improving the life of the nomadic population of the country. The meeting was conducted by government officials in Swahili, which Nomadi Turkana does not know. And it is not surprising that they refused to bring their flocks to the state stations for general vaccination against the plague. Turkana was accused of sabotage, although in fact they simply did not understand anything at this meeting 17

Most social programs do not take into account the cultural orientation of nomadic pastoral ethnic groups. One of the examples. The Tanzanian authorities have banned their school children from wearing traditional clothing, especially beads, in the Maasai settlement sites they set up. This miscalculation turned out to be very serious. The most important circumstance was ignored - the socio-cultural role of clothing as an ethnically distinctive feature. Nomads have always taken care to preserve their ethnic symbols, which are manifested through objects of material culture. As a result of the uniform introduced in schools, all students became identical, ethnically indistinguishable. Educational programs for all children were drawn up by city officials on the basis of agricultural sedentary and modern urban cultures. These programs were incomprehensible to nomad children, since their cultural realities were not included in the programs. The school education of nomad children was disrupted. Families of pastoralists in these settlements, despite the infrastructure available there, did not stay long, but migrated with their flocks to their traditional territories, taking their children with them. In addition, according to the cultural norm of nomads, girls should not attend school at all, and women should not participate in social activities. Nomads are convinced that educated women will be hard pressed to live up to an ancient tradition, and that they will marry outside of their own ethnic group. And this is an unacceptable violation of the cultural values of nomads. And these moral norms must be taken into account when developing social programs 18

Obviously, for successful adaptation of nomadic societies, the danger of destroying the basis of nomadic identity should be eliminated. People are very sensitive to such threats, and in these cases they are always ready to protest. From an economic point of view, when developing programs for the development of nomad farms, as a rule, the following factors were considered:

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the most important postulate is ignored: "Pastures and other lands of pastoralists should be protected from alienation or any form of expropriation" 19 . In reality, nomads were deprived of their traditional territories, their activities were limited to certain places, they were forbidden to cultivate land within national parks, which was a support for most nomadic pastoralists in the hungry summer. This was the program "for the conservation of natural life and development of nomadic pastoralists in Ngorongoro", adopted in 1993 under the auspices of UNESCO and designed for 10 years 20

To achieve a balance in the use of different ethnic groups of their ecological niche and exchange between them, a project for the development of nomadic pastoralists of Borana in southern Ethiopia for 1988-1993 was developed. The authors of this document took into account the traditional cultural features of Boran and, above all, the entire complex of their social organization with the institution of a system of age classes, clan tribal structure, etc. The project provided for the organization of nomadic pastoral cooperatives and their associations based on the traditional social structures of Boran, state protection of the rights of ownership of pasture lands and land for cultivation, etc. However, the project did not include the views of the pastoralists themselves, as their traditional leaders were excluded from the leadership at all levels. As a result, the dominant position in the creation of the project was taken over by the active elite of Boran, who used their business connections with state structures, although they did not have the traditional authority and power in Boran society. In addition, the low density and dispersed population living in the project area did not contribute to the necessary contacts for exchange with neighboring zones. The poor part of Boran had to rely on unscrupulous intermediaries to conduct their public affairs at the state level, which opened the way for abuse and corruption. As a result, without the Borana's own recognition of the project's goals, as well as due to its miscalculations, the sad outcome of the project's implementation was a foregone conclusion 21

Against the background of the general ecological, political, economic and social crises that have hit the countries of East Africa, the general trend of deterioration of the life of nomadic pastoralists is also clearly evident. Data for many countries are similar in principle, although they differ slightly.

How this trend manifests itself is clearly seen in the example of Kenya. The active process of desertification here has a negative impact, first of all, on the non-guaranteed life of mobile groups of the population. In Kenya, only 11.5% of all land is still suitable for grain production. In the rest of the territory, where it has not yet become a desert, there is a constant overgrazing of livestock. And these last lands will soon also become a desert. The nomadic population is facing an increasing decline in pastures and, consequently, a threat to their traditional land use, which is deepened by demographic, economic and political factors. The country is experiencing a sharp increase in population, with farmers from densely populated areas moving to the territories occupied by nomads. This trend is constantly growing.

Competition for fertile land has increased dramatically between nomadic pastoralists, sedentary farmers, commercialized ranches and estates, and national parks and nature reserves. The latter is especially true in the Maasai lands of Southern Kenya 22 The most irrigated pastures-land owned either by influential members of pastoral communities or by non - pastoralist private entrepreneurs-are converted into livestock farms or wheat farms. Encouraged by the authorities, the privatization of pastoral communal lands opened the way for intensive alienation of pastoral territories of nomadic ethnic groups, destroying the traditional system of land use, displacing the nomadic method

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production by a new type of management based on private ownership. It is clear that the mass of nomads still living in an extensive traditional economy does not benefit from such a process and, accordingly, is not interested in it 23 .

In addition, the government allocates the best plots from the nomad pasture lands to representatives of pastoral communities loyal to the authorities, livestock producers, shopkeepers, teachers, and government officials - a new social stratum of "big people". As a result of this policy, the area of traditional nomadic pastoralism in northern and central Kenya has become a mixed farming area based on commercial cattle breeding and grain farms. The country is actively expanding hunting and other forms of nature reserves, most of which are located in the nomad zone. 24 Along with population growth and the reduction of pasture land, herds of domestic animals are increasing. Thus, the number of Rendille nomads in northern Kenya increased from 5,000 in 1920 to 24,000 in 1980, while cattle herds tripled over the same period and the number of small cattle increased by 72%. It is important to note that during the same time period, the Rendille lost 87% of its historical pasture area, which led to a critical overload of pastures.

Land loss by nomads is also accelerating as a result of intensive migration of different population groups caused by the process of land redistribution in the country. Periodic droughts also put massive pressure on population movements. These natural disasters have revealed the fragility of the boundaries of group ranches established by the State system. Borders are easily crossed by nomadic communities in search of pasture during droughts. Due to the spread of mixed farming in central Kenya, the Samburu nomads were forced to move away from their historical territory to the east, bypassing hunting reserves, or to the north, where they entered into competition for pasture with the local nomadic Turkana.

Many nomads go to work in the cities. The redistribution of land territories and forced migrations of the population against the background of the acute crisis experienced by the country led to the fact that in the 1990s, individual clashes of the population turned into a series of armed conflicts between the nomadic ethnic groups Pokot and Turkana, between Gabbra and Rendille, Gabbra and Dassanech, Somalia and Boran. The large number of modern automatic weapons distributed by soldiers who fled to Kenya during the civil wars in Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia, as well as the inability of the official authorities to stop the violence, have exacerbated the situation of confrontation between the ethnic groups of the nomadic and settled populations of the country in the process of competition for new habitats and survival. 25 As a result of all these processes, nomads either eke out a miserable existence on the edge of life and death, or turn into impoverished farmers - pastoralists connected only with the market, going broke, unable to withstand the pressure and competition of modern agribusiness.

The situation in East Africa is leading to the transition of pastoralists to a mixed economy, the outflow of nomads to cities and farms, to the mining industry, and to railways. This process is accompanied by the destruction of traditional social forms and structures, the loss of cultural value orientations by nomadic peoples. In the conditions of strong pressure of the commodity economy, social and political development, the process of disappearance of nomadism as a form of social development based on an extensive nomad mode of production and devoid of internal incentives has become irreversible and rapid.

Paradoxically, numerous attempts by the East African leadership to create better conditions for the nomadic population have not only failed, but have generally worsened the already difficult situation of these groups in the region.-

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villages, up to the threat of complete disappearance of individual ethnic groups. The experience of many countries has shown that the implementation of socio-economic programs for the development of nomadic pastoralists in order to integrate them into modern state structures and the economy was nothing more than a humanitarian aid from the administration. Foreign cultural anthropologists define nomadism as a special "sociotechnological" system, while our researchers define it as a special "nomadic mode of production". On the one hand, this system of production and production relations is very rigid and conservative, and on the other hand, it is very fragile, easily destroyed by a sharp change in the environmental conditions of its existence.

Nomadic pastoralism will eventually cease to exist, as will other extensive social forms, especially when surrounded and under the pressure of an intensive economy. The problem, therefore, is not to prevent this natural-historical process, but to create optimal conditions for nomadic ethnic groups to move to a different socio-economic and, consequently, cultural state.

The life of nomadic societies has ceased to be closed. They were drawn into the system of the world economy, social and political life. Despite the irreversibility of the process of the disappearance of nomadism as a mode of production, this process can be controlled: in some conditions, slow it down, in others - accelerate it. However, a necessary condition for maintaining the nomadic population in this historical process is that the idea of socio-economic development should be implemented as maintaining the practice of using natural resources by humans on the basis of historically rational forms of activity, as well as taking into account the system of cultural values of nomadic societies involved in the modern movement. In order to preserve the fragile ecological balance in Africa, it is necessary to harmonize the interaction of the natural environment and humans, as well as the socio-cultural complex that has historically developed here.

notes

1 Clark J.D. Atlas of African Prehistory. Chicago- London, 1967; Herskovits M.J. The Cattle Complex in East Africa // American Anthropologist. New Serie. 1926. V. 28. Pt. 1-4.

2 Cohen Y.A. Pastoralism. IV // Man in Adaptation. Chicago, 1968. P. 235.

3 Марков Г.Е. Кочевники Азии. М., 1976; он же. Скотоводческое хозяйство и кочевничество. Дефиниции и терминология // Советская этнография. 1981. N 4. С. 83-94.

4 Drabner H.-J. The Importance of Nomadic Animal Husbandry in East Africa // Beitrage Tropical Land-wirtschaft. Leipzig. 1989. S. 6; Fratkin E. African Pastoralist Systems: The Frontiers of Theory and Method. Linne Rienner Publishers. USA, 1994; Tarver J.D. The Demography of Africa. Praeger Publishers. USA, 1995; Калиновская К.П. Скотоводы Восточной Африки. Хозяйство и социальная организация. XIX- XX вв. М., 1989.

5 Andrianov B. V., Markov G. E. Economic and cultural types and methods of production // Questions of history. 1990. N 8. pp. 3-15; Kalinovskaya K. P. Skotovody Vostochnoi Afrika [Cattle Breeders of East Africa], Moscow, 1989, Pp. 76-94.

6 Kalinovskaya K. P., Markov G. E. Ethnic and communal-tribal structure and the problem of division of labor among cattle breeders in Asia and Africa / / Research on primitive History, Moscow, 1992, pp. 123-157.

7 . Gada. Three Approaches to the Study of African Society. N.Y., 1973.

8 Kalinovskaya K. P. Decree, Op. pp. 71-73, 116-117.

9 Azarya V. Nomads and the State in Africa. The Political Roots of Marginality // African Studies Centre. Leiden, 1996. S. 120; Best G. Nomaden und Bewasserungs - Projekte - eine Studie bei den Turkana am oberen Turkwell, Nordwest - Kenia. В., 1984; Gulliver P.H. The Turkana // Man in Adaptation. Chicago, 1968. P. 289-291; Majok A.A., Schwabe C.W. Development among Africa's Migratory Pastoralists. USA, 1996.

10 Arhem К. Pastoral Man in the Garden ofEdem. Uppsala, 1985. P. 99; Smith A.B. Pastoralism in Africa: Origins and Development Ecology. L., 1992.

11 Cant G. Perception and Environment: The World of the Pastoral Nomads // New Zeiand Journal of Geography. Christ Church. 1984. N 77. P. 9-10.

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12 Arhem K. The Maasai of the State. Copenhagen, 1985. P. 25, 30-31.

13 Hurskainen A. Cattle and Culture. Helsinki, 1984. P. 91, 104, 239, 240.

14 Калиновская К.П. Традиции и инновации в образе жизни номадов Восточной Африки // Расы и народы. М., 1989. Т. 19. С. 195-210.

15 Pastoral Development Network // Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Paper 25-a. March. 1988. L. P. 1, 2, 5; ibid. Paper 34-d. Jily. 1993.

16 Ibid.

17 Pastoral Development Network // ODI. Paper 33-b. December. 1992. P. 2-3, 11; Paper 36-c. July. 1994. P. 1, 4.

18 Hurskainen A. Op. cit. P. 244-246.

19 Arhem К. Pastoral Man... P. 108.

20 Pastoral Development Network // ODI. Paper 35. December. 1993. P. 13.

21 Pastoral Development. Paper 29. December. 1990. P. 1-7, 12, 16.

22 Fratkin E. Problems of Pastoral Land Tenure in Kenya: Demographic, Economic and Political Processes among Maasai, Samburu, Boran and Rendille 1950-1990 // African Studies Association Annual Meetings. Boston MA, 1993. December. 2-6.

23 Knappert J. East Africa. New Dehli, 1987. P. 314-315.

24 World Bank. USA, 1992.

25 Ensminger J.E. Making a Market. Cambridge, 1992.

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