Nomads and the Outside World

by Anatoly Khazanov and Khazanov

Book Overview

This is the first paperback edition of Anatoly M. Khazanov's famous comparative study of pastoral nomadism. Hailed by reviewers as "majestic and magisterial," "Nomads and the Outside World" was first published in English in 1984. With the author's new introduction and an updated bibliography, this classic is now available in an edition accessible to students.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521238137
• ISBN13: 9780521238137
• Release Date: April 1984
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 396 Pages
• Weight: 1.54 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Pastoral Nomadism 101

In their interactions with the settled world, nomads are often portrayed as an amorphous mass of malice, or alternatively as an idyllic people apart from the world. Khazanov's work adds a great deal of nuance to this picture, showing the ways in which nomadic groups differ, have a history and function internally beyond notions of their opposition to the settled world. However, he also shows how their relations with the settled world are integral to the nomadic way of life; how nomads and settled folk generally settle into a sort of symbiosis. The language is easy to understand and the comparative perspective is broad. As another reviewer has noted, a good geographic basis is necessary to understand the text. This is not a text written for popular audiences, and sometimes falls into rather rote repetition of descriptions for category after category, but it is a great introduction to the subject for the academic reader.

Mmm, curdled sheep milk

(This is a review of the first edition) This book is essentially a comparative study of pastoral nomadic societies in Eurasia, the Middle East, Near East, and Africa with a focus on how such societies interact with sedentary ones. The first chapters (Nomadism as a distinct form of food-producing economy, The origins of pastoral nomadism, and The social preconditions of the relations between nomads and the outside world) delve into how nomadic societies function, while the final two chapters (Modes of nomadic adaptation to the outside world and Nomads and the state) address the forms in which intercourse between "nomads and the outside world" occur. The whole book is well-written, with a minimum of technical jargon, but some familiarity with the geography of the Eurasian steppes, the Middle and Near East, and Africa is assumed; also some understanding of marxism is need to wade through the foreward and introduction, but these may be skipped without real loss. It is all comprehensible to the lay reader, so long as they are not embarassed to consult an atlas or a dictionary as needed.