Dr. Mark Moritz
Contact Information
Dr. Mark Moritz
Department of Anthropology
The Ohio State University
4058 Smith Laboratory
174 W. 18th Ave.
Columbus, OH 43210
614.247.7426 (tel)
614.292-4155 (fax)
moritz.42@osu.edu
Curriculum Vitae
(pdf)
My research focuses on the transformation of African pastoral systems. I have investigated how FulBe pastoralists in the Far North Province of Cameroon have adapted to changing ecological, political and institutional conditions that affect their lives and livelihoods. I continue to research herder-farmer conflicts, intensification of pastoral systems, and pastoral development.
I have recently begun a new interdisciplinary study of complex
social-ecological systems that is funded by the National Geographic
Society and a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from
the National Science Foundation. Specifically, the study examines
how mobile pastoralists in the Logone floodplain in the Far North
Province of Cameroon coordinate their movements to avoid conflict
and overgrazing in a land tenure system that is commonly described
as open access, a situation generally regarded as leading to a
tragedy of the commons. The hypothesis is that this management
system is best understood as a case of emerging complexity, in which
individual decision-making, coordination of movements among
pastoralists, and participation in a information sharing network
result in the emergence of a complex adaptive system in which access
to and use of grazing resources is managed. The hypothesis will be
tested in a multidisciplinary study of pastoral mobility that
integrates spatial and ethnographic analyses as well as multi-agent
simulations and analytical modeling.Understanding how these
emergent systems work is critical for the management of rangelands
across West Africa, most of which have some form of open access.
Undergraduate and graduate students from multiple disciplines can
participate in this project.
Teaching Schedule 2008-2009
| Autumn 2009 |
620.05 Cultural Ecology |
syllabus |
| Winter 2010 |
not teaching |
|
| Spring 2010 |
not teaching |
|
Current Grad Students
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