A comparative study of religious-environmental dynamics among Inner Asian and African dryland communities
Arid and semi-arid areas, which cover about 41% of the world and sustain two billion people, are uniquely challenged under global environmental change. Shifts in land management, land tenure and land use, political instability, and climate change challenge dryland populations who are often mobile and rely on livestock. In parallel, some dryland areas are undergoing rapid religious transformations, such as conversion to global religions, spiritual revitalization, and radicalization, which occur alongside cultural change, economic diversification, and political marginalization. The MYNA project explores relationships between religious and environmental transformations in dryland areas of Inner Asia and Africa by focusing on Mongolian and Kenyan pastoral systems and northern Mozambican farming systems. This study advances the scholarship on global environmental change by addressing the neglected dimensions of spirituality, religion and religious change. Find out more here.
Arid and semi-arid areas, which cover about 41% of the world and sustain two billion people, are uniquely challenged under global environmental change. Shifts in land management, land tenure and land use, political instability, and climate change challenge dryland populations who are often mobile and rely on livestock. In parallel, some dryland areas are undergoing rapid religious transformations, such as conversion to global religions, spiritual revitalization, and radicalization, which occur alongside cultural change, economic diversification, and political marginalization. The MYNA project explores relationships between religious and environmental transformations in dryland areas of Inner Asia and Africa by focusing on Mongolian and Kenyan pastoral systems and northern Mozambican farming systems. This study advances the scholarship on global environmental change by addressing the neglected dimensions of spirituality, religion and religious change. Find out more here.
In this sixth MYNA photo-podcast Megan Wainwright speaks with Joana Roque de Pinho about her recent fieldwork in Amboseli, Kenya and what has changed since...
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Iscte’s magazine, ENTRECAMPUS, highlights MYNA Project in interview (16 December 2024). Browse the full issue here.
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In this fifth MYNA photo-podcast Megan Wainwright speaks with Angela Kronenburg García about fieldwork she has done in Mozambique, and her recent fieldwork in Kenya...
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To wrap up MYNA symposium-related activities, what can be better than traveling to the beautiful montado agro-silvopastoral system of Alentejo and communing with the local livestock?We did...
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Stanley ole Neboo, Lenaai ole Mowuo and Richard ole Supeet. Photo: Angela Kronenburg García A highlight of the MYNA symposium in Lisbon was the participation...
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On November 11th, 2024, MYNA team members Stanley, Richard, Lenaai and Batbuyan, and CRIA-Iscte’s Júlio Sá Rego were invited speakers in the Roundtable: A conversation on mobile pastoralism...
Read More >Troy Sternberg, Joana Roque de Pinho,
Batbuyan Batjav
ABSTRACT: The developing field of Mongolian International Studies offers a diverse range of research topics. A review of recent articles reflects an emphasis on geo-politics, particularly evolving relations with its superpower neighbours. Whilst state-to-state engagement with China and Russia predominates, regional countries (Japan, Korea) and the US and Europe are examined within the ‘Third Neighbour’ policy. Trade and economics are also studied, from Oyu Tolgoi and mining to the role of the IMF and international agencies. Currently lacking is a focus on human-driven engagement that reflects Mongolian livelihoods, spirituality and community environments. Such social and cultural dynamics are essential to both pastoral and rural livelihoods and to understanding the nation. In 2020-2022 international academic endeavours enabled Mongolian herder representatives to participate in a global drylands exchange network with dryland residents in thirteen countries. The process provided an exceptional opportunity to present Mongolian perspectives to pastoralists and academics from Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. This grounded Mongolian livelihoods and situated rural dynamics in a global context. Here we report key engagements and findings as Mongolian herders shared lives and practices in the context of this international pastoral/drylands project. Moving beyond the political/economic rubric, as this project did, delivers a more representative and complete comprehension of Mongolia to the global international studies community.
Browse the whole issue here
Learn about the fascinating life of the former Head of Mongolian Buddhism through MYNA collaborator Professor Lhagvademchig Jadamba’s latest publication “The Ninth Jebtsundampa, Jampel Namdrol Chokyi Gyeltsen” published in The Treasury of Lives, a peer-reviewed biographical encyclopedia of Tibet, Inner Asia, and the Himalaya.
The Ninth Bogd Jebtsundampa Khutugtu, born in Tibet in 1932, was recognized as the reincarnation of the Bogd Khan, who was Mongolia’s theocratic ruler between 1911 and 1924. The Ninth Jebtsundampa’s life in exile and mission to promote Buddhist teachings spanned Mongolia’s transition to democracy, contributed to the revival of Mongolian Buddhism and placed Buddhism at the heart of diplomatic relations between China, India, Mongolia and Russia.
Read the article HERE
Roque de Pinho, J., ole Neboo, S., and Ole Supeet, R. 2024. Pastoralism and Pentecostalism: How Commons and Christianity intersect in southern Kenya Maasailand. The 4th International Conference Social Solidarity Economy and the Commons, Iscte-IUL, Lisbon. November 13-15, 2024.
Wainwright, M. and Roque de Pinho, J. 2024. Relationships between religious changes and environmental changes in drylands: A systematic review of qualitative research. Pastoralism in transition: Exploring intersections of religious and environmental changes international symposium. ISCTE-IUL & Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa (SGL). Nov. 6-8, 2024.
Roque de Pinho, J. 2024. Mystical Natures: A project overview. Pastoralism in transition: Exploring intersections of religious and environmental changes international symposium. ISCTE-IUL & Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa (SGL). Nov. 6-8, 2024.
Jadamba, Lhagvademchig. 2024. Buddhist Ritual of Removing the Seal of Land-Spirits: Benevolent or Malevolent for the Environment? ISCTE-IUL & Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa (SGL). Nov. 6-8, 2024.
Kronenburg García, A., ole Mowuo, L. and Roque de Pinho, J. 2024. Land, culture and religion among the Loita Maasai of Kenya. Pastoralism in transition: Exploring intersections of religious and environmental changes international symposium. ISCTE-IUL & Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa (SGL). Nov. 6-8, 2024.
Roque de Pinho, J., ole Supeet, R., ole Neboo and Kronenburg García, A., 2024. Pastoralism and Pentecostalism: Private land/sacred land in the Amboseli Ecosystem, southern Kenya. Pastoralism in transition: Exploring intersections of religious and environmental changes international symposium. ISCTE-IUL & Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa (SGL). Nov. 6-8, 2024.
Sternberg, T., Roque de Pinho, J. and Batjav, B. 2024. Encountering spirituality through a Gobi dryland transect. Pastoralism in transition: Exploring intersections of religious and environmental changes international symposium. ISCTE-IUL & Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa (SGL). Nov. 6-8, 2024.
Roque de Pinho, J. 2024. Pastoralism and Pentecostalism: Disentangling the Religious Dimension of Social-Ecological Change in southern Kenya. 16th European Sociological Association (ESA) Conference, Porto, Portugal. August 27-30th, 2024 [Accepted abstract, cancelled participation].
Roque de Pinho, J. ole Neboo, S. Ole Supeet, R.; Kronenburg García, A. 2024. Pastoralism and Pentecostalism: revealing the religious dimension of changing land tenure/use dynamics in southern Kenya. The 21st Annual Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR) – Nature, Ecology, and Religious Responses to Climate Change. Gothenburg, Sweden, August 19-23, 2024.
Roque de Pinho, J. 2024. Pastoralism and Pentecostalism: Disentangling the Religious Dimensions of Social-Ecological Change in Southern Kenya. The 2024 EASA (European Association of Social Anthropologists) Conference, Doing and Undoing Anthropology. Barcelona, Spain, July 23-26, 2024.
Kronenburg García, A. ole Mowuo, L., Roque de Pinho, J. 2024. Land, culture and religion: change and transformation among the Loita Maasai in Kenya. POLLEN 2024 (Political Ecology Network) Conference: Toward plural and just futures. University of Dodoma, Dodoma, Tanzania, June 10-12, 2024.
Roque de Pinho, J., and ole Neboo, S. 2024. Pastoralism and Pentecostalism: Disentangling the religious dimension of changing land tenure/use dynamics in southern Kenya. POLLEN 2024 (Political Ecology Network) Conference: “Toward plural and just futures”. University of Dodoma, Dodoma, Tanzania, June 10-12, 2024.
Roque de Pinho, J., and ole Neboo, S. 2024. Pastoralism and Pentecostalism: Disentangling the religious dimension of changing land tenure/use dynamics in southern Kenya. The 3rd Great African Rift Colloquium. Maasai Mara University, Narok, Kenya & Centre National pour la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). May 13-17, 2024. [Accepted abstract, cancelled participation]
Batjav, B. 2024. Re-thinking ovoos in the Mongolian countryside. **Mongolian and Inner Asian Studies Unit**, Department of Social Anthropology , University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. Invited seminar. May 7th, 2024.
Roque de Pinho, J. 2024. Mystical Natures: Exploring entanglements of environmental and religious changes in Kenyan pastoral drylands. Guest lecture, MA (African Studies). ISCSP-UL. April 17, 2024.
Roque de Pinho, J. 2024. Mystical Natures: Exploring entanglements of environmental and religious changes in pastoral drylands. Guest lecture, PhD (International Studies), ISCTE-IUL. April 11, 2024.
Batjav, B. 2024. Land use changes in social boundaries and the role of religious ovoo in this process. Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. Invited talk, March 28th, 2024.
Jadamba, L. 2024. The Geopolitics of Reincarnation: US-China conflict over the next Dalai Lama and Mongolia’s role. Public seminar. Iscte-IUL, Lisbon. March 5, 2024.
Roque de Pinho, J., Kronenburga García, A., ole Mowuo, L., ole Neboo, S., and ole Mowuo, M. 2023. Ilpuli leCorona: Maasai meat camps at the intersection of Pentecostalism and a pandemic. 5.º Encontro REPORT(H)A (Rede Portuguesa de História Ambiental). University of Minho, Braga. October 19-21, 2023 [Accepted abstract, cancelled participation].
Roque de Pinho, J., Kronenburga García, A., ole Mowuo, L., ole Neboo, S., and ole Mowuo, M. 2023. War or Wellbeing? Maasai meat camps as a response to COVID-19. 19th IUAES-WAU World Anthropology Congress. New Delhi, India. October 14-20, 2023.
Sternberg, T. 2023. Women herders’ changing role in Gobi pastoralism. 19th IUAES-WAU World Anthropology Congress. New Delhi, India. October 14-20, 2023.
Roque de Pinho, J. 2023. Mystical Natures: Exploring religious-environmental dynamics among Inner Asian and African dryland communities. Conferência 10 anos CEI-ISCTE, ISCTE-IUL, Lisbon, Portugal. October 12-13, 2023.
Roque de Pinho, J. (presenter), Kronenburga García, A., ole Mowuo, L., ole Neboo, S., and ole Mowuo, M. 2023. Maasai “meat camps” under lockdown: Embodying the nomadic values of reciprocity, solidarity and hospitality during a pandemic. Nomadic Ethics and Intercultural Dialogue: Past, Present and Future International Conference. International Institute for the Study of Nomadic Civilizations (IISNC), UNESCO, the Commission on Nomadic Peoples & the Mongolian Anthropological Association. National University of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. June 22-23, 2023.
Sternberg, T. (presenter), Roque de Pinho, J., Batjav, B., Kronenburg García, A. 2023. Does Religious Change Lead to Environmental Change in Kenya and Mongolia? Post-Pandemic Societies in Inner Asia Project Seminar: Pastoralism, Spirituality, and Performance. Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Tokyo, Japan. May 15, 2023. Keynote talk.
Sternberg, T. (presenter), Roque de Pinho, J., Batjav, B., Kronenburg García, A. 2023. Mystical Natures: Do religious changes impact environmental change in pastoralist drylands: Mongolia and Kenya. Invited talk. Tokai University. Tokai, Tokyo, Japan. May 10, 2023.
Roque de Pinho, J. 2023. Mystical Natures: Exploring entanglements of environmental and religious changes in pastoral drylands. Guest lecture. PhD Seminar in International Studies (Activism, Citizenship and Human Rights module). ISCTE-IUL. April 27, 2023 (3h).
Roque de Pinho, J. (presenter), and Sternberg, T. (presenter). 2023. Mystical Natures: Exploring connections between environmental and religious changes in Mongolian and Kenyan drylands. Open Environmental Sociology Lecture, ISCSP-UL. April 18, 2023 (4h).
Roque de Pinho, J. (presenter), Kronenburga García, A., ole Mowuo, L., ole Neboo, S., and ole Mowuo, M. 2023. Olpul leCorona: Maasai meat camps at the intersection of a pandemic and Evangelical Christianity. VI Oxford Interdisciplinary Deserts Conference, U. Oxford, UK. March 16-17, 2023.
Roque de Pinho, J. (presenter), Sternberg, T. (presenter), and Batjav, B. 2023. Mystical Natures: Exploring Connections between Environmental and Religious Changes. Anthropology section, Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa. January 13th, 2023. Invited public presentation.
Meet our dynamic multidisciplinary research team! Experts from diverse fields come together to tackle questions about religion and the environment
Principal Investigator
Environmental Anthropologist
(PhD, Colorado State University, 2009)
Instituto Universitário de Lisboa
(ISCTE-IUL), Centro de Estudos Internacionais and Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University.
Co-Principal Investigator
Geographer
(PhD, University of Oxford, 2009)
Instituto Universitário de Lisboa
(ISCTE-IUL), Centro de Estudos Internacionais
Team member
Anthropologist
(PhD, Wageningen University, 2015)
Earth and Life Institute, UCLouvain, Belgium
Department of Historical and Geographic Sciences and the Ancient World, University of Padua, Italy
Consultant
Medical anthropologist
(PhD, Durham University (UK), 2013)
Qualitative Research Consultant, and Honorary Research Fellow, Department of Anthropology, Durham University
Collaborator
Cultural anthropologist
(PhD, University of Shiga Prefecture, Japan)
Department of Anthropology and Archaeology,
National University of Mongolia and Instituto Universitário de Lisboa
(ISCTE-IUL), Centro de Estudos Internacionais
Funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology – Ref. PTDC/SOC ANT/2990/2020
