Papers by Karim-Aly Kassam
The Journal of Asian Studies, 1996
... Baptism with water in which the guru&... more ... Baptism with water in which the guru's toe has been dipped churel Female evil spirit ... seeks an answer to these and related questions by looking at the construction and dissemination ... Indologists have for long sought to establish a link between texts and religious communities in ...
liBrary and arChives Canada Cataloguing in puBliCation Kassam, Karim-Aly S., 1964-Biocultural div... more liBrary and arChives Canada Cataloguing in puBliCation Kassam, Karim-Aly S., 1964-Biocultural diversity and indigenous ways of knowing : human ecology in the Arctic / Karim-Aly S. Kassam.
Choice Reviews Online, May 1, 2010
Biocultural diversity and indigenous ways of knowing : human ecology in the Arctic / Karim-Aly S.... more Biocultural diversity and indigenous ways of knowing : human ecology in the Arctic / Karim-Aly S. Kassam.
University of Calgary Press eBooks, 2009
Page 1. KARIM-ALY S. KASSAM BIOCULTURAL DIVERSITY AND INDIGENOUS WAYS OF KNOWING HUMAN ECOLOGY IN... more Page 1. KARIM-ALY S. KASSAM BIOCULTURAL DIVERSITY AND INDIGENOUS WAYS OF KNOWING HUMAN ECOLOGY IN THE ARCTIC Page 2. © 2009 KarimAly S. Kassam University of Calgary Press 2500 University Drive ...
Springer eBooks, 2016
This book, focused on issues of resilience in pastoral systems, gives much food for thought, and ... more This book, focused on issues of resilience in pastoral systems, gives much food for thought, and brings many new faces into the international debate on pastoralism. According to the institutional affiliations of the 24 authors, they come from nine countries and 18 research institutes. The book is divided into eight chapters, each authored by one to nine persons. At least one of the four editors has authored or co-authored each chapter, Shikui Dong being party to four chapters, Karim-Aly Kassam and Jean François Tourrand to two each, and Randall Boone to one. The introduction starts with the well-known "facts" on pastoralism, based on FAO statistics and reports, such as 200 million pastoral households, 100 countries with pastoral systems and over 25% of the Earth's land area used by pastoralists. A differentiation is made between a productive dimension of tending grazing livestock, and a livelihood (subsistence) dimension of pastoralism in dry or cold rangeland areas. Probably not everyone will agree with using the term "subsistence", since the pastoralists classified as such often trade livestock or livestock produce for grain and other daily necessities. In the section of the introduction on forms of pastoralism, a distinction is made between nomadic, transhumant and pastoral farming (ranching). Another section is devoted to the origin and history of pastoralism, with convincing arguments for multiple centres of origin. The section on geographic distribution of pastoralism is broad brushed but fairly complete, mentioning Europe (Alps, Great Britain and Scandinavia), Asia (Central Asia, Near East, Southern Asia) and Africa (North, West, East and a combined paragraph on South and Horn of Africa). However, the Horn would better be treated together with East Africa, because of the geographical proximity and the many links between pastoralists in, e.g. Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. The part on South America concentrates on 'indigenous' species (alpaca and llama) in the Andes, whereas in the case of North America, the focus is on cattle on the Great Plains, in mountainous areas and on public land. For New Zealand and Australia, the Journal compilation Ó Australian Rangeland Society 2017 www.publish.csiro.au/journals/trj CSIRO PUBLISHING
PLOS climate, Jul 5, 2023
¶ a Citizen of Navajo Nation and the Diné community. ¶ b Kanaka 'Ō iwi diaspora from Micronesia.
Geohealth, Dec 1, 2022
The Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change emphasizes the impac... more The Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change emphasizes the impacts of climate change on food systems, particularly the challenges associated with increasing climate variability (IPCC, 2022). Adapting food systems requires strengthening capacities to anticipate and respond to a widening array of climate conditions and increasing frequency of extreme events (Kassam et al., 2018; Tschakert & Dietrich, 2010). Among the many challenges posed by climate change is knowing when to plant or harvest crops, move herds, gather plants, or hunt animals given increasingly unreliable patterns of temperature and precipitation that affect the timing of seasonal processes (Inouye, 2022). Calendars are the knowledge systems we use to plan and coordinate our activities in relation to seasons (Aveni, 1989). Most readers are familiar with calendars based on the predictable movements of celestial bodies (the Earth, sun, and moon), such as the Gregorian calendar. By contrast, Indigenous communities have developed ecological calendars that incorporate knowledge of the seasonal phenomena within their habitat (Kassam et al., 2011; Mondragón, 2004; Woodward & Marrfurra McTaggart, 2019). These calendars require close observation of biotic and abiotic phenomena (e.g., the appearance of flowers, the calls of migrating birds, or the fragrance of falling leaves) to measure the passage of time. Many ecological calendars relate earth-bound phenomena to
AGU Fall Meeting 2018, Dec 10, 2018
His research focuses on the complex connectivity of human and environmental relations, addressing... more His research focuses on the complex connectivity of human and environmental relations, addressing multiple ways of knowing, food sovereignty, sustainable livelihoods, and climate change. This research is conducted in partnership with indigenous communities in the Alaskan, Canadian, and Russian Arctic and Sub-Arctic; the Pamir Mountains in Afghanistan and Tajikistan; and the rain forest in the south of India. By investigating the relationship between biological and cultural diversity, Dr. Kassam seeks to expand the foundations of the notion of pluralism.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2014
Diversification is routinely promoted to improve poor rural peoples' livelihoods. Using semi-stru... more Diversification is routinely promoted to improve poor rural peoples' livelihoods. Using semi-structured interview data collected from 159 households in Xinjiang, China, this study identifies six distinct livelihood strategies by cluster analysis: pastoralists, agropastoralists, crop farmers, wage laborers, hired herders, and mixed smallholders. Patterns of livelihood diversification and their relationship with household incomes indicate that pastoralism, although preferred, is unattainable for 55% of households given their meager asset endowments and government policy pressures toward sedentarization. The results strongly suggest that livelihood diversification does not improve welfare for pastoral households in Xinjiang. Rather, maintaining extensive herding seems the key to poverty reduction.
Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 2021
Pastoralists and researchers (and others) are finding new ways of working together worldwide, att... more Pastoralists and researchers (and others) are finding new ways of working together worldwide, attempting to sustain pastoral livelihoods and rangelands in the face of rapid and profound changes driven by globalization, growing consumption, land-use change, and climate change. They are doing this partly because of a greater need to address increasing complex or “wicked” problems, but also because local pastoral voices (and sometimes science) still have little impact on decision-making in the governmental and private sectors. We describe here, using six worldwide cases, how collaborative rangelands partnerships are transforming how we learn about rangelands and pastoralists, whose knowledge gets considered, how science can support societal action, and even our fundamental model of how science gets done. Over the long-term, collaborative partnerships are transforming social-ecological systems by implementing processes like building collaborative relationships, co-production/co-generati...
Society & Natural Resources, 2021
Biocultural approaches promote consideration of diverse values and cultural practices into resour... more Biocultural approaches promote consideration of diverse values and cultural practices into resource management. However, cultural inclusion in North American forest management is limited. Drawing on a case study of Wolastoqiyik and Mi'kmaq communities in Maine, USA and New Brunswick, Canada, we examine the practice of plant gathering, including associated values and cultural norms. Through interviews and participant observation, we find that gatherers value and care for plants and habitats that are not priorities for forest managers. Gatherers do not describe their actions in terms of management, with its connotations of dominance and control. Rather, they are guided by community-driven values and responsibilities. Our analysis suggests that their plant gathering activities align with a stewardship paradigm, which may be one useful way to characterize, legitimize and communicate approaches to caring for forests. We offer five suggestions for managers wishing to use biocultural approaches.
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Papers by Karim-Aly Kassam