|
Long Abstract
|
:
|
Monsoon Asia is the region to which monsoons bring summer rains, specifically in the humid zone from Japan to China, Southeast Asia, and India via the Himalayas. In this region, nomadic peoples continue to live even today. However, the nomadic peoples mentioned here are not limited to nomadic pastoralists, but are rather people who lead a broadly nomadic lifestyle. Specifically, nomads of various patterns of subsistence, such as sheep and yak herders and woodcutters in the Himalayas from Nepal to Bhutan, pig and buffalo herders in the Bengal plains, hunter–gatherers in tropical rain forests or tropical monsoon forests, and sea nomads and river nomads residing on boats on the seas and rivers, have been sustained by relationships they have created and fostered with neighboring groups. How have they survived through the changes they have undergone? What factors have led them to continue their nomadic lifestyle? What relationships have they established with other people in their settled societies such as farmers, traders, the state, and NGOs? This panel aims at elucidating the social changes of the nomadic peoples from the modern period to the present, the sustainability of their societies, and their diverse relationships with other groups in settled societies, by particularly addressing the region of monsoon Asia. The diversity of nomadic societies and their similarities and differences with the societies of nomadic pastoralists are discussed here.
|
