Livestock, Disease, Trade and Markets: Policy Choices for Livestock Sector in Africa

Eldis - Pastoralism

This 50-page working paper is somewhat too lengthy for one after a hard day's work.  However, by browsing through it I can still identify some interesting points in the paper:

1. The two narratives of pastoralism in Africa.  One is focusing on improving local pastoralism and addressing diversity; the other is focusing on exporting pastoral products.  This is somewhat similar to the debate on Tibetan pastoralism now.  The authors point out that these two narratives are not mutually exclusive.  But there are some tensions.


2. Disease renders the main obstacle to replicate southern Africa's success story in livestock marketisation.  A package of counter measures was proposed but needs considerable investment.


3. Three strategies are proposed to facilitate pastoral export: bilateral deals, commodity-based trade (is being attempted in Tibet, too), and local trade and markets.


4. In terms of disease control, should limited resource be directed to transboundary diseases, or some more dangerous but local diseases?  This will involve a series of policy choices and trade-offs.

A number of factors will influence the livestock and animal-health policy, including the structure of economy, the political context, the relationship between livelihood and livestock, geography and politics of the markets, the quality and effectiveness of existing infrastructure, the capacity of public veterinary, regulatory and certification services, the capacity of the private sector to invest in R&D or market/delivery infrastructure.

阅读体验 2.0

今天在水木 Philosophy 版上看到一篇文章，写的是后现代的死亡——它正在被伪现代取代，标志就是“人人可编辑”的知识。作者毫不留情地抨击 Wikipedia 上的口水仗，并将其与广播电视上的参与式节目相提并论。伪现代的本质被认为是浅薄的，短暂的，平庸乏味的……后现代宣扬的多元化已经被商业消费模式主导的伪选择所取代，如作者所说：“大学教授们怎么可能宣扬多元化？他们自己的生活就是被事实上的消费狂热所支配。整个世界在过去的10年里在思想不是扩张了，而是狭隘了。”但是，在由一堆看上去完全赚不到钱的 web 2.0 网站组成的伪现代浪潮中，作者是如何得出“消费狂热”的结论的？我觉得，驱动 web 2.0 的，与其说是消费狂热，不如说是自我表现的狂热和虚荣。

但是，不能否认虚荣和攀比在一定程度上也是人类进步的动力，至少今天通过 NullPointer 的推荐，我又发现了一个读书网站，也许可以在攀比之余促使我多读一些书。它有一个非常 web 2.0 的名字：aNobii。架构跟豆瓣有相似之处，不过界面设计更出色一些。不过由于还是 beta 版，有一些小问题，比如与某英文书同名的大陆影印版无法通过搜索书名添加。另外人气大概现在还无法与豆瓣相比，不过好在纯粹（只做书籍）安静。嗯……考虑从此就在这里收藏我的书本，在 imdb 收藏我的电影了。评论本来是豆瓣的强项，无奈我教科书风格又往往晚了一个月的评论一般是没人看的，也懒得再往豆瓣贴了……

另外今天值得一提的一件小事是学校的 DNS 当掉了，这是年内校园网络服务不知第多少次抽风。搬到 private sector 后应该就不至于受这样的气了。在没有 DNS 也不知道任何网站的 IP 地址的两个小时里，我终于下定决心使用 openDNS。诺丁汉的 IT 部门确实有些让人不满意——不明原因的断网，不时的 arp spoof ，还有只允许 Windows 访问的服务……唔。

Week 17: A double life

I would like to cut the money crap and mainly write down what I have done academically in this week (what's remaining? Let's see...).

My supervisors always tell me that I should try to use some RS technologies to get a panorama of the area being studied, while observing with my own eyes the "ground truths" -- not only ground truth in RS terms, but also what cannot be observed from above -- how people actually interact with others and the environment.  This is an attractive idea, I think.  Among all possible sensors and images sources, my supervisor speaks highly of CORONA -- the KH series military satellite B/W photographs taken in 1960s and 1970s, which were declassified only a few years ago.  My personal question about using this image source is that how I can use this to identify vegetation changes, as I cannot validate the result of interpretation (the ground truth only existed 40 years ago) and cannot tell what are grassland on the image.  I have read some articles on the utilisation of CORONA images.  It seems that texture of the image can be used in classification.  Maybe if I can use them along with LANDSAT ETM images and ground observation I can get some high-resolution results.

Bringing an interpreter to the field is not impossible but seems will not bring much benefit to my study, not counting the aid in communication.  It should be considered as a last resort only.  I am trying to learn some Tibetan myself though I cannot tell how much progress I can make before I set off to the field.  But learning it is helpful anyway for anyone studying pastoralism. 

What's my "role" in the field?

Yesterday I had a lengthened training session on qualitative research.  During a casual talk in tea time, a Brazilian(?) girl Leiz told me about her previous fieldwork, which was about "disadvantaged farm workers".  Well, I did not really consider my subjects of research can be labeled "disadvantaged" because I think the are the masters of the grassland in certain terms.  However, her suggestions were useful that I should try everything to blend into the setting.  This includes wearing similar clothes (I was wearing a Nike jumpsuit during the talk with her), do not mention terms like "university" "science(-tific)" "PhD" during the interview or observation, and be genuine about my attitude towards them. 

The last question forced me to muse on what role shall I take if I am not appearing as a research student.  A curious tourist?  A helper?  Perhaps the role of a curious learner is suitable, which is also advocated by some anthropologists in their books.   Hmm.  Perhaps I should tell the government and the herdsmen that I want to learn how to manage herds.  It is not completely a lie, though I need to talk to my supervisors about such ethical issue.

Week 16: Methodology and method

The first two days of the week I tried to find out what are the missing details in my methodology review, so I borrowed books on anthropology from the library and read them through.  I must admit this is awkward.  I could hardly find large useful trunks from these books because I had written them in the review already.  The more intriguing detail were also hard to grasp in my speedy reading.  Anyway, it is not very useful to make a too detailed plan for anthropology research as much of it would be rendered useless in the field.  A recon study may help me better find out suitable methods.

The rest of the week is for funding again.  I rewrote my proposal, which was not specified and attractive enough.  I also tried to fill in a range of forms required by those grant-making agencies.  Yes it is a especially useful skill either for a scholar or for a NGO staff.

从后殖民主义视点看《Babel》

Spoiler warning: 正文基本没有剧透，但评论中可能有剧透。

目前为止我看过两个南美导演的四部影片：《上帝之城》《the Constant Gardener》《21克》和这部《Babel》，感觉他们都有共同的特点——绚丽的色彩，集中的冲突，以及从各个角度解读的可能性。对我而言，《Babel》是 一部拍给第一世界，或者“北方”的观众看的影片。但对于他们而言，这部电影也可以仅仅解读为对互相理解的呼唤，而对我这个来自第三世界（请允许我继续把中国看作一个第三世界国家）或者说“南方”的观众而言，这部电影是从一个后殖民主义，或者说萨义德式的视点，所看到的西方和全球化的世界。

影片的故事发生在三个地区：摩洛哥，美国／墨西哥边境，以及日本的大城市，这三个地点通过一条体现了南北方人和物的流动的线索串在一起，而分别体现了后殖民主义话语的三个主题。

摩洛哥的故事体现的是“西方”对“东方”的脸谱化理解（profiling）和“西方”一直以来从他们的价值观出发，而对东方产生的印象——不开化的，奇异 神秘的，带有猎奇的兴趣的，以及危险的。一开始美国使馆将事件定义为“恐怖袭击”，在今天看来自然是有一种滑稽的意味，但更值得注意的是那些被迫驻留在摩洛哥山村中的美国游客的反应。他们在模仿西方的餐馆中还可以用西方的方式用餐，说笑，同时在安全的距离内观赏这个陌生的国度，而当他们处于真正的摩洛哥国民的凝视之下时，他们更多地感觉到被侵犯，不安，同时在内部产生了不信任和急切的离开这种环境的愿望。而主人公夫妇在被迫地接受创痛体验之余，终于可以以 一种不是那样居高临下的视角来看待这个国家和她的人民，同时获得一种非殖民主义的观感。

美国的故事则反映了“北方”对“南方”的文化疏离。美墨边境在这里成为一种如此有效的文化隔离手段，以致于两个美国孩子在离家仅仅几百公里的地方看到的就与他们平常的生活有着天渊之别。而“北方”与 “南方”文化上的交流也正如美国的边境检查一样，是单向的。从这个意义上说，我们真正地实现了全球化吗？这样的全球化仍然是一种殖民主义的全球化，仍然是“北方”的文化向“南方”的单向传播，而“南方”色彩鲜活的一面，却是很难被“北方”的人们发现的。这个故事的女主人公的遭遇，也成了“北方”对“南方”的疏远的注脚——外来者永远是外来者，哪怕她倾注了那么多的爱和建立了那么强烈的感情纽带。

日本的故事在时间线上发生最晚，也是整个故事的收尾。虽然日本并不是一个严格意义上的后殖民国家，但聋哑女高中生的故事仍然是一个后殖民主义诉求的载体，同时也带有女性主义（Feminism，注意 不是女权主义）的色彩。聋哑暗喻了“东方”在二十世纪中期及之前的失语状态，在这之后，“东方”的后殖民国家及它们代表的文化希望反抗“西方”的主流文化，但女性主义的诉求并不包括“东方”文化对西方的反征服，而是希望“西方”的，男性的殖民文化能够在当今以平等的态度注意、认同和理解“东方”的非侵略性的，女性的文化。最后的镜头是温暖的，也是片中出现多次的主题的又一次强调（数一数有多少拥抱的镜头）。作为观众的我们，自然也希望人们在经历了那样多的创痛之后，能够实现理解和接纳，从而让人类作为一个整体走向新的未来。

在电影院里，借着撩人的音乐和画面，这部影片把人类的欢乐和创伤都刻画得如此的生动，我们满可以就把它看作一个美国家庭在世界的遥远角落经历孤独和伤痛的 故事，也可以把它看作一个有关话语和理解的寓言，但是作为一个来自后殖民国家，在一个老牌殖民帝国本土观看这部影片的观众，我想我有必要借着它提出我的质询：是什么首先建造了巴别塔——变乱之塔？我们是否可能在这么多互相误解和忽视造成的创伤之后，拥抱对方，再携手前进？而走近到可以拥抱的距离，又要再付出多少代价？

Idea Retailer

Today I had a meeting with my supervisors concerning my research proposal for funding applications.  I should say it is the first time I write a proposal for *real* funding application.  And what I learned back in China is quite different from the conventions here.  The comments given by my supervisors include:

• Put research aim at first, then a little saucy background, then objectives, then methodology;


• Emphasise interdisciplinary research and justification on the reason to use them;


• Put site selection in a separate section instead of in methodology;


• Use precise figures in budget estimations, and be prepared to spend a lot in the field even if the price level is low there;


• Use Gantt Chart-like figures in the schedule part, illustrating fieldwork only;


• Be more specified;


• State that I will follow the School's health and safety guidelines (with URL).

In a word, what I am trying to do is selling my idea.  So I need to make a good packaging.

1/5

因为急于知道自己平时跑步的里程，又没时间拿着 GPS 去一步一步量，于是打起了 Google Earth/Map 的主意。Google Earth 虽然也有测量工具，无奈我住的地方没有高分辨率的卫星图像，也不知道自己量的有多大误差。于是在网上找了一下，发现了这个网站：www.mapmyrun.com。它是 Google Maps 的一个 hack，在 GMap 的基础上增加了测量工具。这下终于可以比较准确地知道自己跑了多少路了。而且它还附带高程图和卡路里计算工具，实在是很趁手。Hardcore 的跑步者还可以与朋友交换自己的跑步路线，以及把自己的路线发布出来作为炫耀之用……然而，当我想测一下T大马圈的长度时，才想起来为了保护国家机密，T大以及其他许多大学的地图在 Google Maps 上都是找不到的……只好借助卫星图像粗略描了一下。

效果见下图（点击为大图）：

另外还有高程示意图：

嗯……目前自己跑这条8公里的路线速度跟马拉松的时候差不多，但是让我连续跑这样的5圈肯定没法达到那样的速度。另外如上图所示，快一半的地方那个大下坡实在是让人占便宜不少，所以真正平路上跑的平均速度能不能达到05年马拉松的水平，还值得怀疑……（另一方面，这也说明这条路线反过来跑更加过瘾）。要想证明自己还没老的话，速度和力量都要练才行，哼唧。

Week 15: Non-academic but crucial

This week's major activity is not very "academic", I should say.  I spent most of the time trying to find suitable fund providers and write a proposal that is persuading enough. 

The proposal was very different from the one I used to apply for the opportunity to study in my university.  This time I had better considerations about the project, the methodology, outcomes, and possible limitations.  Writing the proposal also made me think more about the practicality and other issues which may make the project better.

The search for funding was not very rewarding, compared to the time and energy I invested in it.  However when I was browsing through the grant maker's category, I realised that Chinese students have more potential funders than they know from their information sources.  If I know this from the beginning.... 

At the same time I realised that I need an ecological assessment to company my "human geographical" methods if I want to realise what I promised on my proposal.  Considering the time and resources limit, I think I have to turn to either secondary data or some easy-to-use assessment method (is there any?).  I need to persuade my supervisors to let me work on this topic.

Now I feel I have a better grasp of what to expect in the field in April so I become a bit calmer.

Using El Niño to restore grassland?

SpringerLink - Journal Article

I came upon this interesting article this morning.  The grassland ecosystem has two or more alternative states and the transitions between these states are often difficult.  Grazing pressure and water condition to a large extent controls the states of vegetation.  As the left figure shows, the control is non-linear.  Between grazing pressure F_c and F_r, the system is in an alternative stable state.  By making the system wetter, as the right figure shows, we may be able to increase F_c and F_r so the recovery will be easier.  Thus the author suggested that during El Niño which brings considerable precipitation maybe we can make the system go to the high biomass state by controlling grazing.  However, field experiment will be needed to determine F_r.

Will this work in Tibet?  For El Niño I think the short answer is no.  The longer answer: El Niño does bring increased precipitation to Tibet, but that's in winter which does not help growing of grass but decrease the next year's summer precipitation by absorbing energy that pushes rain belt up to the plateau.  So in El Niño years things just go worse.  But what about La Niña?  Perhaps in La Niña years summer precipitation will increase so we can try the trick suggested by the author.  I will seek some meteorological data from Lhasa to see if La Niña brings more precipitation in summers.

Use lay knowledge to assess resilience

At this moment I am considering the questions to ask the local people when I am in the field.  The originality of my research, compared to other studies in the area, is the assessment of resilience.  The field visit will provide me with some information for resilience assessment that cannot be obtained from other places.  This will involve the historical data, people's perception of events and policies, and actual practices.

I may need to read more methodology about resilience analysis and design my questions accordingly.

Week 14: Emerging issues

The main theme in this week is the coming pilot fieldtrip.  I say it's ``coming'' but it is in fact still about 3 months away.  But gosh, I have so many issues to look at during these three months.

I somehow managed to produce a review on qualitative methodology and research design shortly after New Year's day.  But I am not contend to limit my project to pure human geography or anthropology study.  I still want to strive for a interdiscipline research, although I do recognise the difficulty to think out an integrated approach to use both qualitative and quantitative data and to make sense of the outcomes.  I think I need a quick technique which allows me to measure some ecological characteristic of the area with limited equipment and simple observation.  I just do not know if it is there.

I have not successfully establish contact with anyone at home working on the Plateau.  I still have time for that but lack of progress is always making me nervous.

My major task in the next week would be fund-seeking.  It is somewhat like applying for positions in a course or a research program, which involves a lot of paperwork: proposal, forms, references, etc.  I think this process would bring me some more benefit than financial support -- I can comb my mind through the preparation of the application and know more clearly what I will need when I am in the field.

The household responsibility contract system and the question of grassland protection. A case study from the Chang Tang, northwest Tibet Autonomous Region

Munin: The household responsibility contract system and the question of grassland protection. A case study from the Chang Tang, northwest Tibet Autonomous Region

This is a similar project to what I am doing.  I believe this will be an aid to my research, while also being a threshold that I must surpass to earn my degree.

钱钟书，琼瑶小说以及知识暴发户

钱钟书，琼瑶小说以及知识暴发户 (评论: 围城)

要评论《围城》，有众多钱学大家在前洋洋洒洒，又有无数网民在后手持板砖虎视眈眈，要写篇不偏不倚的评论，想必并不是件容易的事。豆瓣上这位却剑走偏锋，不谈其他，单说围城里几个读书人和读书人的风雅，却也夺得满堂喝彩。我看了这篇评论以及后面的回应，也觉得有些启发。

评论的立论，就说钱钟书一点：抖落学识如富家子弟玩弄车钥匙一般看似漫不经心，这是修为。而在网上几个读书论坛拍砖的人们，倒像是知识的暴发户，呲牙咧嘴地啃完几本大部头后，便把书籍化作板砖，朝对手拍去，直拍得对手哑口无言，那便是最好，倘若对手还击，那便要去读更多的书，掉更多的书袋，非要拍服对手为止。评论者主张，读书当为乐趣而读，而非为虚荣而读。后面回应，跟着叫好的没什么意思，不过有几位异见人士的发言也是颇有见地。豆瓣上前段时间都是风花雪月不知所云的评论占据首页，大家没事都去小组里灌水。这篇《围城》的评论，总算带来了一股清凉。

反省一下自己读书的态度，小时候只要是有字的纸张，都要捧到手里看个究竟，那时读书，倒确实是全为乐趣而读，但大多数如同风拂水面，过去无痕。有印象的只有《十万个为什么》和几本科普读物，完成了我最早的常识和科学启蒙。进入初中之后忙于课业，没有太多功夫看闲书，课余都是以入门级的电脑技术书籍和没什么营养的杂志打发时间，从《读者》之类杂志学会了悲天悯人，却不知道内心的自留地抛荒已久。高中时开始关心社会，才发现自己对于这个社会如何运行竟然是全然懵懂无知，于是开始了生命中第二个好读书不求甚解的时期。从《时间简史》到《正义论》，也不管能否看懂，都先买来通读一遍，心想若一遍不懂则看二遍三遍十遍，不料翻完一遍后居然从来也没有时间再细读，于是如今这些书居然都没给我留下什么印象。回想起来，那也是一种知识暴发户的读书态度。收获不能说完全没有，但多数是停留在字面和事实意义上的零碎。

这种态度一直延续到了大学。直到来到小岛，买不起书了，才开始珍惜起手头几本不多的名著。但是还是常常为没有时间读书而苦恼，恨不能像在国内时那样博览群书。今天看到这篇评论，才总算为自己的不买书和不看书找到了理由。带到小岛上的书虽然不多，多数还是很有份量的。虽然没有买书的钱，也没有读书的时间，但抓紧每天的一个小时，细细咀嚼其中一两本书，收获也不见得比翻完一本又一本大部头小。做不成钱钟书那样的知识富豪，搞点一分钱一分货踏踏实实的小农经济还是可以的。

至于评论作者所说的全为乐趣读书，我想是个个人选择的问题。就我而言，大部分专业书看起来没有什么明显的乐趣，然而也是非看不可的。小说读来最有乐趣，对人的人格塑造可能也有助益，然而可以修身齐家，却不足以治国平天下。我以为既然是以做知识分子为目标，读书还得功利，只是这功利不是为了个人闻达于诸侯，快意于论坛，更不是为了黄金屋和颜如玉，而是有用于自我的修养和回报社会。专业和学术书籍，不一定要精读，但务求读来有自己的思考。市面流行的什么纽约时报畅销书之类，大可等十年再决定读不读。手头上一些非专业的书，读来有格物致知正心诚意的功效，文字又亲切可喜，便是我这个贫农的家当，需一读再读，不要丢了才好。

Show me the money...

Today's meeting with my supervisors was mainly around the topic money ... well, funding.  I need to find a (few) small amount grant(s) to cover my expense on travelling to and from Tibet.  I am glad that my supervisors are far more experienced on this issue than me and provided me with a few leads to start my searching.  The rest of the task is mine: to produce a table listing all possible funding sources I can find.

Also for the sake of funding application, we also discussed about the method I am going to use.  My supervisor suggests that I look for not only geographical qualitative methods but also anthropological ones.  So what's the difference between them?  Right now I think the foci of the research are different between these two disciplines.  Anthropology studies tend to stress on small-scale societies (Hammersley and Atkinson 1983).  But what else differences are there?

I borrowed a few books on ethnography from the library.  I will read them to see if I can find some input on this question.  Also, the proposal draft and funding list will keep me busy for the fortnight.

Choosing qualitative research: A primer for technology education researchers

hoepfl.pdf (application/pdf Object)

This is an useful article for people just enter the domain of social science studies.  Many issues, from research design to data analysis, are covered in this (not so) short article.  I can return to this from time to time and review my study.

Week 13: Where is Santa?

The week of Christmas days proved to be quite busy.  I just found that qualitative research method review, though hardly anything new, can be very time-consuming because of the possible situations and problems one may encounter during the field study.  Even if I write everything on the book down, I am pretty sure that I will have further problems when I am in the field.  Most content of the review comes from three books, which I find all very useful.  But other points of view must also be necessary for a good review.

The funding hunt came to a halt.  As I have no new idea about the possible sources of funding, I decided that I need to write a good proposal first.  This in return involves determining the method I am going to use and planning for the field activities.  I will try to contact some agencies to get more information and try to get some issues settled.

Because the libraries are closed during the New Year, I managed to have a few days' rest.  It is good for me to temporarily escape from what I have been doing for a few months.  However, in the coming week I am sure there will be again a lot to deal with once the libraries are open and my supervisors come back to school.