Later this year, Samuel Derbyshire, Tahira Mohamed and Rahma Hassan are co-editors of a book on the future of mobile pastoralism in Africa’s drylands.

Pastoral Prosperities brings together contributions from diverse disciplinary perspectives to explore the future of mobile pastoralism in Africa’s drylands. Offering new empirical material from across the continent, it builds on pioneering works that have challenged fundamental assumptions about development, questioning approaches that overlook well-being, purpose, quality of life and environmental health as central bearings of human flourishing. The book asks how the future is imagined and fought for in the drylands, and how understandings of this might broaden analytical frames that otherwise privilege narrow economic indicators.

Taking stock of the enduring power of negative narratives about pastoralism, the volume considers counter-narratives from multiple corners, tracing their alternative visions of both the past and the future. It explores everyday aspirations and practices to make sense of sweeping socio-economic, political and environmental change. In doing so, Pastoral Prosperities gestures towards new cross-disciplinary and cross-sectoral conversations that might inform more grounded approaches to investment, governance and support in the years ahead.

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Order or download the book (Forthcoming): Derbyshire, S.F., Mohamed, T.S., and Hassan, R. 2026. Pastoral prosperities: Rethinking African drylands. London: UCL Press.  https://doi.org/10.14324/111.9781806552092