Reproductive health decision making among nomadic pastoralists in North Eastern Kenya: a qualitative social network analysis

Background To our knowledge, no studies exist on the influence of nomadic pastoralist women’s networks on their reproductive and sexual health (RSH), including uptake of modern family planning (FP). Methods Using name generator questions, we carried out qualitative egocentric social network analysis (SNA) to explore the networks of four women. Networks were analyzed in R, visuals created in Visone and a framework approach used for the qualitative data. Results Women named 10–12 individuals. Husbands were key in RSH decisions and never supported modern FP use. Women were unsure who supported their use of modern FP and we found evidence for a norm against it within their networks. Conclusions Egocentric SNA proves valuable to exploring RSH reference groups, particularly where there exists little prior research. Pastoralist women’s networks likely change as a result of migration and conflict; however, husbands make RSH decisions and mothers and female neighbors provide key support in broader RSH issues. Interventions to increase awareness of modern FP should engage with women’s wider networks.

THE PHANTOM MENACE: FEAR, RUMOURS AND THE ELUSIVE PRESENCE OF AQIM IN SOUTHEASTERN MAURITANIA

Drawing on extended ethnographic fieldwork in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania (between 2001 and 2012), this article investigates how the intensifying regional insecurity is perceived and (re)acted upon by people inhabiting the frontier provinces of south-eastern Mauritania. It is argued that armed insurgencies and the emergence of nebulous assemblages such as the AQIM (Al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb), must be analysed as constitutive elements in a complex convergent crisis which is currently undermining local livelihoods in multiple ways. In Mauritania and much of the Saharan and Sahelian regions, crisis has become chronic, and while people exhibit tremendous capacities to anticipate the uncertain and navigate a disequilibrated natural and political environment in general, a new kind of protracted fear is spreading. This article establishes how the AQIM is enacted locally as a phantom menace, which asserts itself through a form of omnipresent fear, nurtured by an inherent opaqueness. As this fundamental fear progressively permeates the nomadic landscape, it engenders a recasting of mobile strategies among the nomadic pastoralist groups who inhabit the interstitial desert spaces.

To the Problem of Studying the Space-Planning Structure of the Traditional Kazakh Settlement

This article presents the experience of typologization of traditional settlements of Kazakhs - in the past one of the largest nomadic pastoralist peoples who experienced a change of economic activity, lifestyle in the historically foreseeable period. Based on the analysis, it was revealed that their spatial structure was influenced by popular perceptions of rational organization of the life environment in steppe conditions. The evolution of the method of space development from dynamic to static is considered; Volume-spatial structures - from local, linear and dispersed formations “scattered” in hyperspace, to a system of interconnected compacted spaces.

The Ethnic Ecocritical Animal: Animal protagonists and ethnic environmentalism in contemporary Sino-Mongolian literature and art

Drawing on ideas from ecocriticism, literary animal studies, and post-colonial studies, as well as anthropology and cultural studies, this article examines the representations of animals in contemporary Sino-Mongolian literature and art, and the various connections between these representations and issues related to ethnic and environmental politics. I propose that the intensive engagement of Chinese-Mongolian writers and artists with animals is related first and foremost to the central role that animals, both wild and domesticated, have traditionally played in Mongolian nomadic pastoralist culture. However, I also argue that it is closely connected to two interrelated processes that are currently taking place in Inner Mongolia: the severe degradation of the Inner Mongolian grassland and the rapid sinicization of China's Mongols. I suggest that in the context of this environmental and cultural crisis, the engagement with animals reflects anxiety about the fate of the Inner Mongolian grassland, the fate of real animals, which, for centuries, have been closely associated with this landscape and Mongolian nomadic culture, and, most importantly, the fate of Mongolian culture itself. I also argue that Sino-Mongolian writers and artists use literary and artistic animals to construct and assert Mongolianness as part of their search for an ‘authentic’ ethnic identity, and to comment critically on the impact that Chinese domination has had on the Inner Mongolian grassland, its indigenous human and non-human inhabitants, and Mongolian culture and identity. Finally, I propose that through their ethnic environmentalism, Chinese-Mongolian artists and writers have made an important contribution to the development of China's environmental movement.

A Qualitative Exploration of Access and Utilization of Focused Antenatal Care among Pastoral Community in North Eastern Kenya

Background: Ministry of Health Kenya has adopted new guidelines for FANC services emphasizing on four antenatal care visits, birth planning and emergency preparedness. In North eastern Kenya predominately occupied by Somali pastoralist Communities only 37% of women of reproductive age receive ANC service at least 4 times during pregnancy, which is considerably lower than the national rate of 58%. There is limited utilization of healthcare services among nomadic pastoralist compared to general population, this is due to several constraints stemming from their migratory way of life, poor social services and spatial disparities. Limited studies have adopted qualitative approaches to explore access and utilization FANC among pastoralist communities. The study explored access and utilization of FANC service among pastoralist community of North Eastern Kenya. Methodology: The study is an exploratory qualitative study, using a purposive sampling method forty eight women who give birth two years prior to the study were selected, sixteen male partners and three ANC providers. Data was collected using FGDs and KIIs and analyzed thematically. Results: There is low utilization of FANC among pastoralist communities, the proportion of respondents who had utilized was 83.3% but only few 39.6% had utilized the required four visits (FANC). There is delayed initiation of uptake of FANC services where majority respondents 55.0% had attended ANC in their second trimester while only 17.5% had utilized in their first trimester as recommended. Barrier that hampered FANC uptake are: long distance to health centre, transport cost, low level of FANC knowledge, TBAs practice, low income and harmful cultural practices. Major facilitators identified are free FANC charges, good attitude of a care giver and fear of pregnancy complication. Access challenges range from inadequate infrastructure, lack of skilled health attendants and logistical constraints to harmful cultural practices. Conclusion: There is need to reduce travelling time to the health facility by conducting regular outreach services targeting nomads with no near facility, improve culturally sensitive FANC to increase accessibility, involving all health stakeholders and community representatives to increase cultural acceptability and also help priorities policies that increases FANC service uptake.

Cultural Variations in the Curse of Knowledge: the Curse of Knowledge Bias in Children from a Nomadic Pastoralist Culture in Kenya

We examined the universality of the curse of knowledge (i.e., the tendency to be biased by one’s knowledge when inferring other perspectives) by investigating it in a unique cross-cultural sample; a nomadic Nilo-Saharan pastoralist society in East Africa, the Turkana. Forty Turkana children were asked eight factual questions and asked to predict how widely-known those facts were among their peers. To test the effect of their knowledge, we taught children the answers to half of the questions, while the other half were unknown. Based on findings suggesting the bias’s universality, we predicted that children would estimate that more of their peers would know the answers to the questions that were taught versus the unknown questions. We also predicted that with age children would become less biased by their knowledge. In contrast, we found that only Turkana males were biased by their knowledge when inferring their peers’ perspectives, and the bias did not change with age. We discuss the implications of these findings.