The seventh and final comic in our ‘Uncertain Worlds’ series looks at the key people and networks who help pastoralism to work reliably in an uncertain world.
Critical infrastructures like power stations, electricity grids and air traffic control need to be highly reliable. These infrastructures need skilled people to plan ahead, share knowledge and improvise when things go wrong.
Pastoralism can be considered as a ‘critical infrastructure’ too. Pastoralists are experts at getting reliable produce out of variable conditions. To do this, they share knowledge in local networks. ‘High reliability professionals’ in these networks act as brokers, connectors and facilitators. Their skills and attributes are vital, but not always recognised in the plans and approaches of governments and development agencies.
Read the comic
Read the article
Tasker, A. and Scoones, I. (2022) High Reliability Knowledge Networks: Responding to Animal Diseases in a Pastoral Area of Northern Kenya, The Journal of Development Studies, 58 (5), 968–988
About the Uncertain Worlds series
What are you uncertain about? If you can’t control or predict the future, how can you prepare for it? Uncertainty can be scary, but can it also be a source of hope or opportunity?
The PASTRES project is sharing seven comics in a series called ‘Uncertain Worlds’. It explores stories about uncertainty in the worlds of pastoralism, economics and finance, pandemics, migration, humanitarian aid, insurance and knowledge networks. Many of the comics draw on lessons from pastoralists, whose ways of life can help to challenge our assumptions of how to respond to the unpredictable and unknown.
The comics have been created by the artist Daniel Locke in collaboration with the PASTRES team. Each comic is linked to a peer-reviewed academic article produced in collaboration with the PASTRES project.
Exhibition: Uncertain Worlds
Large scale printed versions of the comics will be on show in October 2023 at an exhibition, Uncertain Worlds.
The exhibition will be in Brighton, UK from 25-29 October 2023. Opening hours are 11am – 5pm and entry is free.
Address:
Phoenix Art Space
10-14 Waterloo Place,
Brighton, BN2 9NB
View map
View website
There will be a launch event on the evening of 24 October: email n.oxley@ids.ac.uk for details.
Find out more
For an overview and links to all the comics when they are published, visit the Uncertain Worlds page.
Pastoralism, Uncertainty and Resilience - PASTRES 
Brilliant!
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