Prof. Dr. James Terrence McCabe

Profile

Academic positionFull Professor
Research fieldsSocial and Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology
Keywordssub-saharan Africa, pastoral nomadism, conservation, land use change

Current contact address

CountryUnited States of America
CityBoulder
InstitutionUniversity of Colorado at Boulder
InstituteDepartment of Anthropology

Host during sponsorship

Prof. Dr. Michael BolligInstitut für Ethnologie, Universität zu Köln, Köln
Start of initial sponsorship01/09/2009

Programme(s)

2009Humboldt Research Award Programme

Nominator's project description

Professor Terrence McCabe is well known internationally for his outstanding research on pastoralists and human-environment relations in Eastern Africa. He has made pertinent contributions to the understanding of the cultural ecology of pastoral nomads focussing on mobility, risk and conflict among the pastoral Turkana of Northern Kenya and on land tenure change and socio-economic dynamics among the Maasai of Tanzania. In recent years Professor McCabe has made important contributions to the anthropology of conservation and the theoretical development of ecological anthropology. During his stay in Germany Professor McCabe intends to examine changes in land use and livelihood practices in Northern Tanzania utilizing the theoretical framework of complexity and resilience. A second goal is to bring together 19 years of research on land use and livelihood diversification among the Maasai of Northern Tanzania as a set of case studies linked together within the framework of complexity and resilience.