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Max-Planck-Institut für ethnologische Forschung Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology WORKSHOP “The Cognitive Specialisations of Nomadic Pastoralism” 29 – 30 October, 2009 Organiser: Venue: Kirill Istomin MPI for Social Anthropology, Halle/Saale, Germany Background One of the recurrent themes in ethnographies of various peoples over roughly the last half century is the specific cognitive skills that underlie particular cultures and ways of life. We consider these reports as proving the existence of what we call cognitive specialisations - specific cognitive mechanisms or processes shared by the representatives of a certain cultural, social, or professional group and designed to solve specific cognitive tasks encountered by them due to the peculiarities of this group’s activities, culture, or way of life. Understanding cognitive specialisations could greatly enrich the anthropological theory of human action and the enculturation process. It could also have an impact on cognitive theory and, therefore, be fruitful for the discipline of cognitive psychology. Thus, we suggest that a joint effort of anthropologists and cognitive scientists in such research should be beneficial for both these disciplines. Cognitive Specialisations of Nomadic Pastoralists In our workshop, we propose a specific focus on cognitive specialisations among members of nomadic pastoral societies. The reason for this focus is that the special conditions, in which these people find themselves due to their nomadic way of life and peculiarities of their economy, confront them routinely with specific cognitive tasks, which might well demand a degree of cognitive specialisation. Two types of such tasks are intuitively evident: 1. The nomadic way of life and the necessity to allocate adequate pasturing resources for animals would demand the ability to memorise and navigate through large expanses of territory. 2. Maintaining control over the herds in the course of pasturing and monitoring their conditions and needs would demand the ability to register, decipher, and, to some degree, predict animal behaviour. This ability could be based on a “Theory of Animal Mind” analogous to TOM, on which the human ability to register, decipher, and predict behaviour of other humans is supposedly based. The existence of other cognitive specialisations of nomadic pastoralists can also be supposed. This makes the nomadic pastoralists a promising object of the joint study on the topic. MPI for Social Anthropology, March 2009 1 Themes of the Workshop The expected contributions from social anthropologists to the general topic of the workshop could include accounts of: • • • • • Specific cognitive capacities observable among nomadic pastoralists, which are likely to be the results of the cognitive specialisation Ways in which these capacities exert influence and are used in every-day practice Ways in which these capacities are acquired, transferred in the process of enculturation, and, maybe, lost Ways in which these capacities are distributed in nomadic pastoralist societies as well as these capacities relations to social status and role We expect that the contributions from cognitive scientists could include theoretical and empirical insights into: • • • The process of cognitive specialisation in general Possible cognitive mechanisms behind the pastoral nomadic cognitive specialisations. We are particularly interested in discussing the varying mechanisms of the way-finding ability and the possibility of the “Theory of Animal Mind” as a model for the ability to decipher and predict animal behaviour. The methods by which these cognitive specialisations could be studied in the field The workshop will consist of several sessions of presentations as well as one or two round tables. During the round tables, we would like to inspire discussions on little explored but, in our opinion, perspective topics such as animal mindreading. Speakers will be invited by the organiser. Contact: Kirill Istomin, email: [email protected] MPI for Social Anthropology, March 2009 2