| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 110.1

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to the AHR online. About 293 words from this article are provided below; about 593 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the American Historical Association, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time. AHA members can go to the AHA individual membership section to locate their member numbers.
If you are not a member of the American Historical Association, you can:: • Join the AHA and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the American Historical Review.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the American Historical Review (104.3-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the American Historical Review.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 110.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Asia

Rudolf C. Heredia and Shereen F. Ratnagar, editors. Mobile and Marginalized Peoples: Perspectives from the Past. New Delhi: Manohar. 2003. Pp. 236. Rs 500.00.
In the conclusion to this volume, editor Shereen F. Ratnagar notes, "We have not reached a stage when we can place the historiography of shifting cultivators or nomadic pastoralists at the center of our research" (p. 227). Nevertheless, this book is a step in that direction. It is the product of the workshop held in Pune (in 1998) whose purpose was not only to challenge the stereotypical notions of pastoral people but also to initiate a dialogue between intellectuals and activists for a better understanding of the mobile peoples of South Asia.	1
The general tenor of all the essays is that, historically, mobile pastoralists were part of a bigger system wherein fields, forests, and pastures were deeply embedded in an interdependent relationship that made their boundaries fluid. This interdependency created a situation whereby occupations became interchangeable and flexible. This system was "open-ended and precariously balanced" (p. 202). The pastoralists, agriculturists, and forest dwellers adopted multiple strategies of subsistence by acquiring skills from each other and responded according to the changing social, economic, political, and ecological conditions. To categorize a group of people or an individual based on a fixed occupation is likely to be misleading in this context. For example, it is a matter of record that designated "pastoralists" historically pursued varied occupations (i.e. peasants, laborers, landowners, watchmen, traders, craftsmen, keepers of boundary passes, soldiers, suppliers of forest produce, road, bridge, and fort builders, stone masons, and forest guards). This was true of the Bhils, Gonds, Baigas, Korkus, Banjaras, Kurumbars, and other pastoralists that inhabited different parts of the Indian subcontinent.	. . .

There are about 593 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.