Straight edge

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight_edge

 

A straight edge tattoo

Straight edge (sometimes abbreviated sXe or signified by XXX or X) is a subculture of hardcore punk whose adherents refrain from using alcohol, tobacco, and recreational drugs, in reaction to the excesses of punk subculture. Some adherents refrain from engaging in promiscuous sex, follow a vegetarian or vegan diet, and do not use caffeine or prescription drugs. The term "straight edge" was adopted from the 1981 song "Straight Edge" by the hardcore punk band Minor Threat.

The straight edge subculture emerged amid the early-1980s hardcore punk scene. Since then, a wide variety of beliefs and ideas have been associated with the movement, including vegetarianism and animal rights. While the commonly expressed aspects of the straight edge subculture have been abstinence from alcohol, nicotine, and illegal drugs, there have been considerable variations. Disagreements often arise as to the primary reasons for living straight edge. Straight edge politics vary, from explicitly revolutionary to conservative. Some left-leaning activists have approached straight edge with skepticism, ridicule or even outright hostility in part due to what they perceived as the straight edge movement's self-righteous militancy.

In 1999, William Tsitsos wrote that straight edge had gone through three eras since its founding in the early 1980s. Bent edge began as a counter-movement to straight edge by members of the Washington, D.C. hardcore scene who were frustrated by the rigidity and intolerance in the scene. During the youth crew era, which started in the mid-1980s, the influence of music on the straight edge scene was at an all-time high. By the early 1990s, militant straight edge was a well-known part of the wider punk scene. In the early to mid-1990s, straight edge spread from the United States to Northern Europe, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and South America. By the beginning of the 2000s, militant straight edge punks had largely left the broader straight edge culture and movement.

History

1970s and early 1980s

Minor Threat, pictured in 1981, coined the term "straight edge".

In the 1970s, the punk subculture was associated with the use of intoxicative inhalants, substances such as model airplane glue that were inhaled for the intoxicating effect. In 1999, William Tsitsos wrote that straight edge had gone through three eras since its founding in the early 1980s. Later analysts have identified another era that has taken place since Tsitsos's writing. Straight edge grew out of hardcore punk in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and was partly characterized by shouted rather than sung vocals. Straight edge individuals of this early era often associated with the original punk ideals such as individualism, disdain for work and school, and live-for-the-moment attitudes. The movement was influenced by the political and social climate of its origin, around the time of the "Just Say No" campaign and a rise in conservative viewpoints. The discipline of the subculture came from a mix of leftist radicalism and conservative influences.

Straight edge sentiments can be found in songs by the early 1980s band Minor Threat. This anti-inebriation movement had been developing in punk prior to Minor Threat, but their song "Straight Edge" was influential in giving the scene a name, and something of a (somewhat unwilling) figurehead. Minor Threat frontman Ian MacKaye is often credited with birthing the straight edge name and movement and in later years has often spoken out about how he never intended it to be a movement.

Straight edge sentiments can also be found in the song "Keep it Clean" by English punk band The Vibrators, and the 1970s Modern Lovers song "I'm Straight" (which rejected drug use). As one of the few prominent 1970s hard rock icons to explicitly eschew alcohol and other drug use, Ted Nugent was a key influence on the straight edge ideology.

Straight edge started in Washington, D.C. and quickly spread throughout the United States and Canada. By the 1980s, bands on the West Coast, such as America's Hardcore, Stalag 13, Justice League, and Uniform Choice, were gaining popularity. In the early stages of this subculture's history, concerts often consisted of both punk bands and straight edge bands. Circumstances soon changed, and the early 1980s eventually was viewed as the time "before the two scenes separated". Other early straight edge bands include State of Alert, Government Issue, Teen Idles, The Faith, 7 Seconds, SSD, DYS, and Negative FX.

Bent edge

Main article: Bent edge

Bent edge originated as a counter-movement to straight edge among members of the hardcore scene who were frustrated by the rigidity and intolerance of the scene. This idea spread, and on Minor Threat's first tour in 1982, people identified themselves as bent, crooked, or curved edge. The counter-movement was short-lived, and it faded away by the end of the 1990s.

Youth crew (mid-1980s)

Youth of Today, youth crew pioneers

During the youth crew era, which started in the mid-1980s, the influence of music on the straight edge scene seemed to be at an all-time high. The branches of straight edge that came about during this era seemed to originate from ideas presented in songs, and many youth crew bands had a strong heavy metal influence. Notable youth crew bands included: Youth of Today, Gorilla Biscuits, Judge, Bold, Chain of Strength, Turning Point, Uniform Choice, and Slapshot.

In the mid-1980s, the band Youth of Today became associated with the straight edge movement, and their song "Youth Crew" expressed a desire to unite the scene into a movement. Vegetarianism became an important theme in straight edge during this era, starting with Youth of Today's 1988 song "No More", which contained lyrics condemning the consumption of meat. This trend toward animal rights and veganism within the straight edge movement reached its peak in the 1990s.

1990s

By the early 1990s, straight edge became a well-known part of the wider punk and DIY scene and underwent musical and political shifts. In the early part of the decade, a number of straight edge punks and their bands picked up on the vegetarian and other social justice politics of the mid-1980s and began comprehensively advocating for social justice, animal liberation, veganism, and straight edge. During this period, the straight edge scene birthed two major offshoots: the more conservative hardline and the religiously influenced Krishna Consciousness. While the majority of straight edge punks and Hare Krishna converts were pacifists, those influenced by hardline showed a willingness to resort to violence to promote their subculture. Musically, the straight edge scene increasingly was drawing from heavy metal and was a founding influence on metalcore.

2000s

By the beginning of the 2000s, only small groups of militant straight edge individuals remained. Contrary to news reports that portrayed straight edge as a gang, several studies have shown that straight edge individuals as a whole are mostly peaceful people. In the 2000s, there was a growing amount of tolerance of people who do not follow the straight edge lifestyle by straight edge individuals. In this incarnation of straight edge, the musical styles of the bands involved are more varied, ranging from a youth crew revival style to metalcore to posicore. Straight edge bands from the 2000s include Allegiance, Champion, Down to Nothing, Embrace Today, Have Heart, and Throwdown.

Ideology

In the early stages of straight edge, its philosophy was to rebel through self-control. With the ability to control one's actions, a straight edge participant would be better suited to stand against the mainstream. The first wave of straight edge did not impose rules on others, and participants chose to follow the ways of self-control. With the second wave of straight edge, these rules were used to control others. Additionally, the second wave experienced a change in music style. Where the first wave was influenced by hardcore punk, the second wave brought in aspects of heavy metal music that pushed for power and control over others. The slowing down of the music reflected the focus of individuals in their journey to self-control.

Hate Edge

Hate Edge (also known as NS or National Socialist Straight Edge) is a neo-Nazi offshoot of the straight edge movement. Prominent Hate Edge groups include NS/WP and Sober and Angry Youth, both of which are responsible for attacks on and murders of drug dealers.

Outside the United States

The Brazilian vegan straight edge band Point of No Return in 2006

In the early to mid-1990s, straight edge spread from the United States to Northern Europe, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and South America. It grew around the world due to the relentless touring of youth crew bands and the ease of ordering records from American record labels via mail. Fluff Fest, which has been held in the Czech Republic since 2000 and draws audiences from across Europe, is linked to straight edge through its organizers and showcases prominent straight edge bands.

West Flanders was home to the H8000 (pronounced Hate-Thousand) hardcore punk scene during the 1990s. Bands within the scene took heavily from heavy metal, and followed straight edge and vegan lifestyles. Some bands helped to pioneer the development of metalcore and then later on melodic metalcore and deathcore. Some groups from the scene include Congress, Liar, Blindfold, Shortsight, Regression and Spirit of Youth. Good Life Recordings signed and released much of the music for the scene.

United Kingdom

According to NoEcho writer Ethan Stewart "the closest thing to a straight edge band for much of the [1980s] was Statement", a solo-project by the Apostles drummer Patrick "Rat" Poole. However, despite Poole being drug-free, vegan and having a massive influence on the development of hardline, he did not identify with the straight edge label at the time. Additionally, many groups from the UK punk and hardcore scene did include straight edge members, namely Napalm Death, Blitz and Heresy.

The first entirely straight edge band in the country was Steadfast, who formed in Durham, England in 1988. Despite originally being formed as a vehicle to annoy the members of the anarcho punk scene, the band eventually grew into a serious band. Following this, a number of additional straight edge bands began to form, including XdisciplineX, False Face, Headstong, Step One and Kickback. Nicolas Royles, drummer for Sore Throat, formed In Touch and Withstand around this time, which both morphed into No Way Out by 1990. This scene mostly was based in North East of England and Yorkshire and made up of musicians who became involved in the hardcore scene through skateboarding and the popularity of thrash metal. The bands were predominantly influenced by U.S. youth crew acts like Youth of Today and Gorilla Biscuits. Members of the existing punk and hardcore scenes in the country often reacted negatively to the straight edge bands, and on multiple occasions, fights occurred between the musicians and fans.

Most of the first wave of UK straight edge bands had broken up by 1991. However, a second wave began in the following years. Mostly based around Subjugation and Sure Hand Records, this wave saw members of many of the first wave bands form new bands and begin to embrace influences from heavy metal. The main location for this scene was the 1 in 12 Club, an anarchist club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, as groups like Unborn, Slavearc, Vengeance of Gaia and Withdrawn performed there frequently.

A UK straight edge scene featuring entirely new musicians developed in the 2010s as a part of the New Wave of British Hardcore. Mostly based around Leeds, the scene produced groups like Violent Reaction, Big Cheese, Insist, Unjust, Rapture, Regiment, True Vision and Shrapnel. A number of musicians from other UK hardcore bands were straight edge at this time, including Jimmy and Alex Wizard from Higher Power.

X symbol

Italian straight edge band To Kill performing at a club

The letter X is the most known symbol of straight edge, and it sometimes is worn as a marking on the back of both hands, and it can be displayed on other body parts as well. Some followers of straight edge put the symbol on clothing and pins, and many bands aligned with the culture incorporate it into their names. According to a series of interviews by journalist Michael Azerrad, the straight edge X can be traced to the Teen Idles' brief West Coast tour in 1980. The band's members were scheduled to play at San Francisco's Mabuhay Gardens, but when they arrived, club management discovered that they were all under the legal drinking age and would be denied entry to the club. As a compromise, management marked each of the members' hands with a large black X as a warning to the club's staff not to serve alcohol to the band.

Upon returning to Washington, D.C., the band suggested this same system to local clubs as a means to allow teenagers in to see musical performances without being served alcohol. The Teen Idles released a record in 1980 called Minor Disturbance with the cover shot being two hands with black Xs on the back. The mark soon became associated with the straight edge lifestyle. It can also be used by drinking establishments to note a patron as under the drinking age, regardless of their views towards drugs such as alcohol.

Later bands used the X symbol on album covers and other paraphernalia in a variety of ways. The cover of No Apologies by Judge shows two crossed gavels in the X formation. Other objects that have been used include shovels, baseball bats, and hockey sticks. A variation involving a trio of Xs is often used in flyers and tattoos. It can also be ironic, based on the fact that three Xs was popularized in cartoons and television shows to signify alcohol or poison. Moonshiners used an X to note how many times a particular batch of moonshine ran through the still, adding irony. The term is sometimes abbreviated by including an X with the abbreviation of the term "straight edge" to give "sXe". By analogy, hardcore punk is sometimes abbreviated to "hXc".

Approaches

Boston straight edge band Have Heart's 2019 reunion show outside the Worcester Palladium had the highest attendance of any hardcore show in history.

While some straight edge groups are treated as a "gang" by law enforcement officials, a 2006 study found the vast majority of people who identify as straight edge are nonviolent. While the early hardcore punk scene in Washington, D.C. often is praised for its commitment to positive social change, both the youth crew movement of the 1980s and the vegan movement of the 1990s have drawn criticism. Straight edge has been approached with skepticism and hostility despite the less dogmatic and multifaceted character of contemporary straight edge.

Veganism

By the late 1990s, many straight edge participants gave veganism the same degree of importance as abstinence from intoxicants, and some groups styled themselves "vegan straight edge", sometimes abbreviated "xVx". Bands such as Earth Crisis and Vegan Reich emphasized animal rights and environmentalism as social justice issues. Perhaps owing to the "DIY" ethic of the punk subculture, some advocated direct action, and became associated with the radical groups Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front. The California band Vegan Reich is most associated with the "Hardline" subculture, which espouses the sanctity of life, and draws connections between animal rights and anti-abortion activism. Members of the Hardline movement have been described as espousing Old Testament-style spirituality, militancy, and violence. Violent activism has been described as an "extreme minority" within the vegan straight edge movement.

Haenfler writes that straight edge participants see veganism as an extension of the movement's emphasis on positivity, much like its preference to reserve sex for emotionally meaningful relationships. They tend to focus more on personal responsibility and focus less on confronting systemic issues in society. However, veganism is not seen as a matter of personal purity; it is rooted in a strong belief in animal rights and rejection of the exploitation of animals. Some hold that veganism is "true straight edge", and their promotion of veganism and animal liberation has been described as evangelistic.

Environmental racism in Europe

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_racism_in_Europe 

 

Blockade against Alta hydroelectric project on traditional Sami territories. The project was completed in 1987.

Environmental racism is a term used by Enikő Vincze (2013) for "the practice of environmental injustice within a racialized context", in which "socially marginalized communities and minority groups" are subjected to disproportionate exposure to environmental hazards, denial of access to sources of ecological sustenance such as clean air, water, and natural resources, and infringement of environmentally related human rights. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, environmental justice is "the fair treatment for people of all races, cultures, and incomes, regarding the development of environmental laws, regulations and policies".

As applied to Europe, patterns of "environmental racism" have been postulated in particular toward Romani communities. According to Trehan and Kocze (2009), "EU accession for the post-socialist countries has resulted in a de facto centre and periphery within Europe itself, thus exacerbating the already marginal economic and political position of Roma in Europe whose communities continue to subsist as internal colonies within Europe." This peripheral position, in which segregated Romani settlements and their inhabitants become viewed as de-territorialized zones "beyond the pale" of government responsibility and European Union citizenship, has been identified by some scholars as an aggravating factor in the prevalence of environmental hazards (such as proximity to industrial facilities and illegal or toxic waste dumps). This practice has been identified in relation to the lack of basic services such as water, housing, sanitation and access to education affecting marginalized Romani communities.

Central and Eastern Europe

Main article: Environmental racism in Central and Eastern Europe

In Central and Eastern Europe, socialist governments have generally prioritized industrial development over environmental protection, in spite of growing public and governmental environmental awareness in the 1960s and 1970s. Even though public concern over the environmental effects of industrial expansion such as mine and dam construction grew in the late 1980s and early 1990s, policy makers continued to focus on privatization and economic development. Following the market transition, environmental issues have persisted, despite some improvements during the early stages of transition. Throughout this time, significant social restructuring took place alongside environmental changes.

Western Europe

Main article: Environmental racism in Western Europe

Environmental racism is a prevalent issue that is used to displace ethnic farmers.

Turkey

There are between 500,000 and 2.5 million Romani people in Turkey. Most Romani, both itinerant and sedentary, live in Trakya (Thrace) and Marmara regions in the northwest of the country, and generally inhabit settlements that are socio-geographically distinct and isolated from majority populations. Romani in Turkey "suffer much higher levels of ill-health, have poorer housing, and higher incidences of discrimination on the basis of their ethnicity." In at least two cases (the 2010 demolition of Sulukule and the 1970 Bayramiç forest products industry dispute), conflicts surrounding access to land and natural resources has led to the dislocation of entire Romani communities.

Sulukule

In February 2010, the predominantly Romani community of Sulukule in Istanbul, an ancient neighbourhood included on the UNESCO World Heritage list and Istanbul City Wall Preservation Zone, as well as the oldest Romani settlement in Europe was demolished as part of an urban renewal scheme. Earlier demolitions had taken place in the mid-1960s and in 1982 when the old core of Sulukule was torn down. As a central area of Istanbul, Sulukule was subject to land speculation, while underlying ecological and environmental issues were potentially exploited as part of the arguments for demolition. According to Aslı Kıyak İngin and Pelin Tan

Throughout the year 2000, Istanbul witnessed the emergence of large-scale urban transformation projects under the headings of "urban renovation/urban development" which legitimised 'demolishment' and 'reconstruction' via abstract discourses of urban fear, ecology, cultural heritage and natural disasters. In 2005, the Urban Transformation and Renewal policy of 5366 accelerated the urban renovation/developments and it gave power to the municipalities to declare any district as an urban transformation area and to control what property rights, urban planning and architectural projects could be applied.

According to architecture scholar Neyran Turan, notions of "urban renewal" as a critical component of ecological sustainability have gained prominence within urban planning discourse in Istanbul. In the words of Turan, "the 'ecological turn' of Istanbul is currently limited to specific managerial perspectives on urban governance—such as 'resource management,' 'environmental risk,' or 'urban renewal and transformation.'" A major argument for the demolition and "urban renewal" of Sulukule was to replace existing housing stock with purportedly more earthquake-resistant construction; however, the impetus behind the demolition was allegedly influenced by stigma towards its predominantly Romani inhabitants. Some critics have claimed that Renewal Policy 5366 is often selectively applied toward neighbourhoods with large minority or Romani populations. In a June 17, 2008 interview, Mustafa Ciftci, Sulukule Renewal Project Coordinator, stated

Sulukule prior to demolition

It is not easy to integrate these [Romani] people to society, but we have to accomplish it, in the end these are our people; we have to save them. If it was up to me, as a state policy, I would take all the kids under the age of ten from their parents, put them in boarding schools, educate them and make them members of society. This is the only way.

Evicted tenants were offered houses 48 kilometres away in Taşoluk, where high mortgage rates were unworkable for most residents, most of whom were low-income. According to Kıyak and Tan, "The renewal process as a whole has caused the disintegration of the community by dispersing the existing social fabric, their inability to continue their cultural activities, their severance from social networks of solidarity, and even graver livelihood problems." Without access to nearby medical care, education, or transportation to the city centre, the relocated residents left Taşoluk. Many returned to the former Sulukule district, currently renamed "Karagümrük", where they subsequently constructed shanties "on the ruins of their former homes", according to Demirovski and Marsh.

1970 Bayramiç forestry dispute

According to Rahmi Ozel, the former attorney of Bayramiç, a series of violent attacks against the Romani community there took place between January 18 and February 22, 1970. Part of a larger conflict surrounding access to forest resources, the attacks were triggered by a dispute over ownership of a logging truck. While no one was killed in the attacks, the events caused significant terror among both Romani and non-Romani members of the community, and led to the expulsion of the Bayramiç Romani. Social and behavioral sciences scholar Gül Ӧzateşler has argued that the attacks, whose timing closely correlated to important dates in the logging industry season reflected insecurities about ethnic Turkish loss of power to Romani persons, who were gaining socioeconomic influence due to their role in the transportation sector of the forestry industry.

In the 1960s, forestry became an increasingly profitable industry in Turkey, as lumber consumption rapidly increased. Due to increased investment in forestry management and production, Turkey became recognized for its timber industry, to the extent that its supplies were viewed as competitive within a globalized international context. In 1963–1964, new mountain roads near Bayramiç were created to enable timber extraction, coupled with improvements in highway networks. On August 26, 1967, The Regional Administration of Forestry in Bayramiç city and the surrounding Bayramiç district was founded. At the time, 53.8% of provincial territory was covered by timber stands. As a result of these developments, employment in the forestry transportation sector increased from 30 individuals to 200 in Bayramiç during this time.

Mural describing human rights in Turkey, 2009. Exterior of public education building, Bayramiç

In Bayramiç, conflicts over the processing, handling, and transport of timber were commonplace among locals. According to Ӧzateşler, "The competition was especially acute, as at that time forestry offered the best jobs for many villagers and townspeople. It is no coincidence that the attacks on the Gypsies started in January and stopped at the end of February, before the annual start date of the forestry business in the town, in the month of March."

Few cars existed in the Bayramiç region during the 1950s and 1960s; for example, there were only five jeeps in the town during the late 1950s, and animals were used as primary means for transportation. During the late 1950s, timber was the primary economic product exported from the town, and by 1960, there were eight logging trucks stationed in the city. Romani people became involved in logging truck driving beginning in the late 1950s. According to Ӧzateşler, Romani people "became powerful in a prestigious position" by becoming logging truck drivers. According to one truck driver from the era, the driving profession was viewed as having higher prestige than a state official. Ӧzateşler states "it was not easy to find a good driver; experienced drivers therefore had a very strong bargaining position, including a high social status. They were said to be more prestigious even than their own bosses. They were treated as kings in the coffeehouses. When they came in, people would stand up and greet them." However, the reason for the success of Romani truck drivers was their willingness to work an extremely dangerous job. In the words of Ӧzateşler, "They were just doing the dirty job at that time; as it was very tiring and dangerous due to lack of proper roads to the mountain ... one was supposed to be a little mad to be a driver as the risks were considerable."

In 1970, a Leyland truck was purchased by a Romani family in partnership with an ethnic Turkish driver (who later helped start the attacks), and became subject of great interest. As a symbol of wealth, it also became a source of resentment toward the socio-economic success of the Romani community. According to Ӧzateşler, "All of the Gypsies mentioned the lorry as the object that triggered the attacks." One of the individuals responsible for orchestrating the attacks, Huseyin Kiltas, stated "What it came down to was the Leyland [logging truck]."

Following allegations against Romani truck drivers of sexual harassment toward non-Romani Turkish high school girls, a series of violent attacks took place against the Romani community of Bayramiç. The first attack targeted the muhacir sub-group of Romani, who were engaged in the logging truck driving industry. 38 houses were damaged. This attack then grew into a second assault against all Romani persons in the area, involving 3,000 individuals who stoned Romani houses and beat Romani residents. The crowd marched on the municipal building, which was located on the main avenue leading to the "neighbourhoods where the Gypsies lived". When the city's attorney attempted to stop the crowd, he was nearly beaten to death by a gang of 30–40 individuals. The Romani were subsequently forced to leave the city. Many Romani went into hiding, while individuals who employed Romani experienced threats. Some employers chose to risk their own safety and social status by protecting Romani people from the violence. Verbal threats of sexual assault were directed towards Romani women. According to Ӧzateşler

In cases of conflicts and war, the female body is often treated as an arena for masculine honor and prestige along with nationalistic territorial claims ... Gypsies making passes at Turkish girls was seen as a violation of the national border and the territory of Turkish men ... female agency was entirely lacking in this scenario. The actual attackers were men and the supposedly abused women remained anonymous; nobody knew anything about them not even whether they really existed or not.

From the perspective of Rana Kocayar, the oldest daughter of the Romani family that had purchased the logging truck, and Bidon Hilmi, a Romani truck driver at the time who was beaten during the violence, the allegations of sexual harassment were a means to cover the primary motives of the attacks, which were an attempt to prevent Romani people from participating in the forestry sector. The violence ended on February 22, 1970 when word spread that one of the key perpetrators, a logging truck driver named Halit Er, was in critical medical condition. His injuries had been caused during an altercation with Romani in Çanakkale, who attacked him due to his role provoking the Bayramiç attacks. Some Romani returned to Bayramiç in the following months and years, while others did not. To date, no one has been prosecuted for inciting or taking part in the violence.

Nomad

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomad

A painting by Vincent van Gogh depicting a caravan of nomadic Romani

A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the population of nomadic pastoral tribes slowly decreased, reaching an estimated 30–40 million nomads in the world as of 1995.

Nomadic hunting and gathering—following seasonally available wild plants and game—is by far the oldest human subsistence method. Pastoralists raise herds of domesticated livestock, driving or accompanying them in patterns that normally avoid depleting pastures beyond their ability to recover. Nomadism is also a lifestyle adapted to infertile regions such as steppe, tundra, or ice and sand, where mobility is the most efficient strategy for exploiting scarce resources. For example, many groups living in the tundra are reindeer herders and are semi-nomadic, following forage for their animals.

Sometimes also described as "nomadic" are various itinerant populations who move among densely populated areas to offer specialized services (crafts or trades) to their residents—external consultants, for example. These groups are known as "peripatetic nomads".

Etymology

The English word nomad comes from the Middle French nomade, from Latin nomas ("wandering shepherd"), from Ancient Greek νομᾰ́ς (nomás, “roaming, wandering, esp. to find pasture”), which is derived from the Ancient Greek νομός (nomós, “pasture”).

Common characteristics

Romani mother and child

 

Nomads on the Changtang, Ladakh

 

Rider in Mongolia, 2012. While nomadic life is less common in modern times, the horse remains a national symbol in Mongolia.

 

Beja nomads from Northeast Africa

A nomad is a person with no settled home, moving from place to place as a way of obtaining food, finding pasture for livestock, or otherwise making a living. Most nomadic groups follow a fixed annual or seasonal pattern of movements and settlements. Nomadic people traditionally travel by animal, canoe or on foot. Animals include camels, horses and alpaca. Today, some nomads travel by motor vehicle. Some nomads may live in homes or homeless shelters, though this would necessarily be on a temporary or itinerant basis.

Nomads keep moving for different reasons. Nomadic foragers move in search of game, edible plants, and water. Aboriginal Australians, Negritos of Southeast Asia, and San of Africa, for example, traditionally move from camp to camp to hunt and gather wild plants. Some tribes of the Americas followed this way of life. Pastoral nomads, on the other hand, make their living raising livestock such as camels, cattle, goats, horses, sheep, or yaks; these nomads usually travel in search of pastures for their flocks. The Fulani and their cattle travel through the grasslands of Niger in western Africa. Some nomadic peoples, especially herders, may also move to raid settled communities or to avoid enemies. Nomadic craftworkers and merchants travel to find and serve customers. They include the Gadia Lohar blacksmiths of India, the Romani traders, Scottish travellers and Irish travellers.

Most nomads travel in groups of families, bands, or tribes. These groups are based on kinship and marriage ties or on formal agreements of cooperation. A council of adult males makes most of the decisions, though some tribes have chiefs.

In the case of Mongolian nomads, a family moves twice a year. These two movements generally occur during the summer and winter. The winter destination is usually located near the mountains in a valley and most families already have fixed winter locations. Their winter locations have shelter for animals and are not used by other families while they are out. In the summer they move to a more open area in which the animals can graze. Most nomads usually move within the same region and do not travel very far. Since they usually circle around a large area, communities form and families generally know where the other ones are. Often, families do not have the resources to move from one province to another unless they are moving out of the area permanently. A family can move on its own or with others; if it moves alone, they are usually no more than a couple of kilometres from each other. The geographical closeness of families is usually for mutual support. Pastoral nomad societies usually do not have large populations.

One nomadic society, the Mongols, gave rise to the largest land empire in history. The Mongols originally consisted of loosely organized nomadic tribes in Mongolia, Manchuria, and Siberia. In the late 12th century, Genghis Khan united them and other nomadic tribes to found the Mongol Empire, which eventually stretched the length of Asia.

The nomadic way of life has become increasingly rare. Many countries have converted pastures into cropland and forced nomadic peoples into permanent settlements.

Modern forms of nomadic peoples are variously referred to as "shiftless", "gypsies", "rootless cosmopolitans", hunter-gatherers, refugees and urban homeless or street-people, depending on their individual circumstances. These terms may be used in a derogatory sense.

According to Gérard Chaliand, terrorism originated in nomad-warrior cultures. He points to Machiavelli's classification of war into two types, which Chaliand interprets as describing a difference between warfare in sedentary and nomadic societies:

There are two different kinds of war. The one springs from the ambition of princes or republics that seek to extend their empire; such were the wars of Alexander the Great, and those of the Romans, and those which two hostile powers carry on against each other. These wars are dangerous but never go so far as to drive all its inhabitants out of a province, because the conqueror is satisfied with the submission of the people... The other kind of war is when an entire people, constrained by famine or war, leave their country with their families for the purpose of seeking a new home in a new country, not for the purpose of subjecting it to their dominion as in the first case, but with the intention of taking absolute possession of it themselves and driving out or killing its original inhabitants.

Primary historical sources for nomadic steppe-style warfare are found in many languages: Chinese, Persian, Polish, Russian, Classical Greek, Armenian, Latin and Arabic. These sources concern both the true steppe nomads (Mongols, Huns, Magyars and Scythians) and also the semi-settled people like Turks, Crimean Tatars and Russians, who retained or, in some cases, adopted the nomadic form of warfare.

Hunter-gatherers

Main article: Hunter-gatherer

 

Starting fire by hand. San people in Botswana.

Hunter-gatherers (also known as foragers) move from campsite to campsite, following game and wild fruits and vegetables. Hunting and gathering describes early peoples' subsistence living style. Following the development of agriculture, most hunter-gatherers were eventually either displaced or converted to farming or pastoralist groups. Only a few contemporary societies, such as the Pygmies, the Hadza people, and some uncontacted tribes in the Amazon rainforest, are classified as hunter-gatherers; some of these societies supplement, sometimes extensively, their foraging activity with farming or animal husbandry.

Pastoralism

Main articles: Pastoralism, Transhumance, and nomadic pastoralism

 

Overview map of the world in 200 BC: Sarmatians, Saka, Yuezhi, Xiongnu and other nomadic pastoralists

 

 

Cuman nomads, Radziwiłł Chronicle, 13th century.

 

An 1848 Lithograph showing nomads in Afghanistan.

 

A yurt in front of the Gurvan Saikhan Mountains. Approximately 30% of Mongolia's 3 million people are nomadic or semi-nomadic.

 

A Sámi family in Norway around 1900. Reindeer have been herded for centuries by several Arctic and Subarctic people including the Sámi and the Nenets.

Pastoral nomads are nomads moving between pastures. Nomadic pastoralism is thought to have developed in three stages that accompanied population growth and an increase in the complexity of social organization. Karim Sadr has proposed the following stages:

• Pastoralism: This is a mixed economy with a symbiosis within the family.
• Agropastoralism: This is when symbiosis is between segments or clans within an ethnic group.
• True Nomadism: This is when symbiosis is at the regional level, generally between specialised nomadic and agricultural populations.

The pastoralists are sedentary to a certain area, as they move between the permanent spring, summer, autumn and winter (or dry and wet season) pastures for their livestock. The nomads moved depending on the availability of resources.

History

Origins

Nomadic pastoralism seems to have developed first as a part of the secondary-products revolution proposed by Andrew Sherratt, in which early pre-pottery Neolithic cultures that had used animals as live meat ("on the hoof") also began using animals for their secondary products, for example: milk and its associated dairy products, wool and other animal hair, hides (and consequently leather), manure (for fuel and fertilizer), and traction.

The first nomadic pastoral society developed in the period from 8,500 to 6,500 BCE in the area of the southern Levant. There, during a period of increasing aridity, Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) cultures in the Sinai were replaced by a nomadic, pastoral pottery-using culture, which seems to have been a cultural fusion between them and a newly-arrived Mesolithic people from Egypt (the Harifian culture), adopting their nomadic hunting lifestyle to the raising of stock.

This lifestyle quickly developed into what Jaris Yurins has called the circum-Arabian nomadic pastoral techno-complex and is possibly associated with the appearance of Semitic languages in the region of the Ancient Near East. The rapid spread of such nomadic pastoralism was typical of such later developments as of the Yamnaya culture of the horse and cattle nomads of the Eurasian steppe (c. 3300–2600 BCE), and of the Mongol spread in the later Middle Ages.

Yamnaya steppe pastoralists from the Pontic–Caspian steppe, who were among the first to master horseback riding, played a key role in Indo-European migrations and in the spread of Indo-European languages across Eurasia.

Trekboers in southern Africa adopted nomadism from the 17th century. Some elements of gaucho culture in colonial South America also re-invented nomadic lifestyles.

Increase in post-Soviet Central Asia

One of the results of the break-up of the Soviet Union and the subsequent political independence and economic collapse of its Central Asian republics has been the resurgence of pastoral nomadism. Taking the Kyrgyz people as a representative example, nomadism was the centre of their economy before Russian colonization at the turn of the 20th century, when they were settled into agricultural villages. The population became increasingly urbanized after World War II, but some people still take their herds of horses and cows to high pastures (jailoo) every summer, continuing a pattern of transhumance.

Since the 1990s, as the cash economy shrank, unemployed relatives were reabsorbed into family farms, and the importance of this form of nomadism has increased. The symbols of nomadism, specifically the crown of the grey felt tent known as the yurt, appears on the national flag, emphasizing the central importance of nomadism in the genesis of the modern nation of Kyrgyzstan.

Sedentarization

See also: Sedentism

From 1920 to 2008, the population of nomadic pastoral tribes slowly decreased from over a quarter of Iran's population. Tribal pastures were nationalized during the 1960s. The National Commission of UNESCO registered the population of Iran at 21 million in 1963, of whom two million (9.5%) were nomads. Although the nomadic population of Iran has dramatically decreased in the 20th century, Iran still has one of the largest nomadic populations in the world, an estimated 1.5 million in a country of about 70 million.

In Kazakhstan where the major agricultural activity was nomadic herding, forced collectivization under Joseph Stalin's rule met with massive resistance and major losses and confiscation of livestock. Livestock in Kazakhstan fell from 7 million cattle to 1.6 million and from 22 million sheep to 1.7 million. The resulting famine of 1931–1934 caused some 1.5 million deaths: this represents more than 40% of the total Kazakh population at that time.

In the 1950s as well as the 1960s, large numbers of Bedouin throughout the Middle East started to leave the traditional, nomadic life to settle in the cities of the Middle East, especially as home ranges have shrunk and population levels have grown. Government policies in Egypt and Israel, oil production in Libya and the Persian Gulf, as well as a desire for improved standards of living, effectively led most Bedouin to become settled citizens of various nations, rather than stateless nomadic herders. A century ago nomadic Bedouin still made up some 10% of the total Arab population. Today they account for some 1% of the total.

At independence in 1960, Mauritania was essentially a nomadic society. The great Sahel droughts of the early 1970s caused massive problems in a country where 85% of its inhabitants were nomadic herders. Today only 15% remain nomads.

As many as 2 million nomadic Kuchis wandered over Afghanistan in the years before the Soviet invasion, and most experts agreed that by 2000 the number had fallen dramatically, perhaps by half. A severe drought had destroyed 80% of the livestock in some areas.

Niger experienced a serious food crisis in 2005 following erratic rainfall and desert locust invasions. Nomads such as the Tuareg and Fulani, who make up about 20% of Niger's 12.9 million population, had been so badly hit by the Niger food crisis that their already fragile way of life is at risk. Nomads in Mali were also affected.

Lifestyle

Tents of Pashtun nomads in Badghis Province, Afghanistan. They migrate from region to region depending on the season.

Pala nomads living in Western Tibet have a diet that is unusual in that they consume very few vegetables and no fruit. The main staple of their diet is tsampa and they drink Tibetan style butter tea. Pala will eat heartier foods in the winter months to help keep warm. Some of the customary restrictions they explain as cultural saying only that drokha do not eat certain foods, even some that may be naturally abundant. Though they live near sources of fish and fowl these do not play a significant role in their diet, and they do not eat carnivorous animals, rabbits or the wild asses that are abundant in the environs, classifying the latter as horse due to their cloven hooves. Some families do not eat until after the morning milking, while others may have a light meal with butter tea and tsampa. In the afternoon, after the morning milking, the families gather and share a communal meal of tea, tsampa and sometimes yogurt. During winter months the meal is more substantial and includes meat. Herders will eat before leaving the camp and most do not eat again until they return to camp for the evening meal. The typical evening meal may include thin stew with tsampa, animal fat and dried radish. Winter stew would include a lot of meat with either tsampa or boiled flour dumplings.

Nomadic diets in Kazakhstan have not changed much over centuries. The Kazakh nomad cuisine is simple and includes meat, salads, marinated vegetables and fried and baked breads. Tea is served in bowls, possibly with sugar or milk. Milk and other dairy products, like cheese and yogurt, are especially important. Kumiss is a drink of fermented milk. Wrestling is a popular sport, but the nomadic people do not have much time for leisure. Horse riding is a valued skill in their culture.

Perception

Ann Marie Kroll Lerner states that the pastoral nomads were viewed as "invading, destructive, and altogether antithetical to civilizing, sedentary societies" during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. According to Lerner, they are rarely accredited as "a civilizing force".

Allan Hill and Sara Randall observe that western authors have looked for "romance and mystery, as well as the repository of laudable characteristics believed lost in the West, such as independence, stoicism in the face of physical adversity, and a strong sense of loyalty to family and to tribe" in nomadic pastoralist societies. Hill and Randall observe that nomadic pastoralists are stereotypically seen by the settled populace in Africa and Middle East as "aimless wanderers, immoral, promiscuous and disease-ridden" peoples. According to Hill and Randall, both of these perceptions "misrepresent the reality".

Contemporary peripatetic minorities in Eurasia

Further information: Vagrancy (people)

See also: List of nomadic peoples, Eurasian nomads, Eurasian Steppe, and Nomadic empire

 

A tent of Romani nomads in Hungary, 19th century.

Peripatetic minorities are mobile populations moving among settled populations offering a craft or trade.

Each existing community is primarily endogamous, and subsists traditionally on a variety of commercial or service activities. Formerly, all or a majority of their members were itinerant, and this largely holds true today. Migration generally takes place within the political boundaries of a single state these days.

Each of the peripatetic communities is multilingual, it speaks one or more of the languages spoken by the local sedentary populations, and, additionally, within each group, a separate dialect or language is spoken. They are speaking languages of Indic origin and many are structured somewhat like an argot or secret language, with vocabularies drawn from various languages. There are indications that in northern Iran at least one community speaks Romani language, and some groups in Turkey also speak Romani.

Asia

India

Main article: Nomads of India

See also: Denotified Tribes

Dom people

Main article: Dom people

In Afghanistan, the Nausar worked as tinkers and animal dealers. Ghorbat men mainly made sieves, drums, and bird cages, and the women peddled these as well as other items of household and personal use; they also worked as moneylenders to rural women. Peddling and the sale of various goods was also practiced by men and women of various groups, such as the Jalali, the Pikraj, the Shadibaz, the Noristani, and the Vangawala. The latter and the Pikraj also worked as animal dealers. Some men among the Shadibaz and the Vangawala entertained as monkey or bear handlers and snake charmers; men and women among the Baluch were musicians and dancers. The Baluch men were warriors that were feared by neighboring tribes and often were used as mercenaries. Jogi men and women had diverse subsistence activities, such as dealing in horses, harvesting, fortune-telling, bloodletting, and begging.

In Iran, the Asheq of Azerbaijan, the Challi of Baluchistan, the Luti of Kurdistan, Kermānshāh, Īlām, and Lorestān, the Mehtar in the Mamasani district, the Sazandeh of Band-i Amir and Marv-dasht, and the Toshmal among the Bakhtyari pastoral groups worked as professional musicians. The men among the Kowli worked as tinkers, smiths, musicians, and monkey and bear handlers; they also made baskets, sieves, and brooms and dealt in donkeys. Their women made a living from peddling, begging, and fortune-telling.

The Ghorbat among the Basseri were smiths and tinkers, traded in pack animals, and made sieves, reed mats, and small wooden implements. In the Fārs region, the Qarbalband, the Kuli, and Luli were reported to work as smiths and to make baskets and sieves; they also dealt in pack animals, and their women peddled various goods among pastoral nomads. In the same region, the Changi and Luti were musicians and balladeers, and their children learned these professions from the age of 7 or 8 years.

The nomadic groups in Turkey make and sell cradles, deal in animals, and play music. The men of the sedentary groups work in towns as scavengers and hangmen; elsewhere they are fishermen, smiths, basket makers, and singers; their women dance at feasts and tell fortunes. Abdal men played music and made sieves, brooms, and wooden spoons for a living. The Tahtacı traditionally worked as lumberers; with increased sedentarization, however, they have taken to agriculture and horticulture.

Little is known for certain about the past of these communities; the history of each is almost entirely contained in their oral traditions. Although some groups—such as the Vangawala—are of Indian origin, some—like the Noristani—are most probably of local origin; still others probably migrated from adjoining areas. The Ghorbat and the Shadibaz claim to have originally come from Iran and Multan, respectively, and Tahtacı traditional accounts mention either Baghdad or Khorāsān as their original home. The Baluch say they were attached as a service community to the Jamshedi, after they fled Baluchistan because of feuds.

Kochi people

Main article: Kochi people

Yörüks

Main article: Yörük

Still some groups such as Sarıkeçililer continues nomadic lifestyle between coastal towns Mediterranean and Taurus Mountains even though most of them were settled by both late Ottoman and Turkish republic.

Bukat People of Borneo

The Bukat people of Borneo in Malaysia live within the region of the river Mendalam, which the natives call Buköt. Bukat is an ethnonym that encapsulates all the tribes in the region. These natives are historically self-sufficient but were also known to trade various goods. This is especially true for the clans who lived on the periphery of the territory. The products of their trade were varied and fascinating, including: "...resins (damar, Agathis dammara; jelutong bukit, Dyera costulata, gutta-percha, Palaquium spp.); wild honey and beeswax (important in trade but often unreported); aromatic resin from insence wood (gaharu, Aquilaria microcarpa); camphor (found in the fissures of Dryobalanops aromaticus); several types of rotan of cane (Calamus rotan and other species); poison for blowpipe darts (one source is ipoh or ipu: see Nieuwenhuis 1900a:137); the antlers of deer (the sambar, Cervus unicolor); rhinoceros horn (see Tillema 1939:142); pharmacologically valuable bezoar stones (concretions formed in the intestines and gallbladder of the gibbon, Seminopithecus, and in the wounds of porcupines, Hestrix crassispinus); birds' nests, the edible nests of swifts (Collocalia spp.); the heads and feathers of two species of hornbills (Buceros rhinoceros, Rhinoplax vigil); and various hides (clouded leopards, bears, and other animals)." These nomadic tribes also commonly hunted boar with poison blow darts for their own needs.