Cultural Heritage in Motion: Adaptive Mobile Cultures of (Semi)nomadic Indigenous People in Changing Climates

Abstract

Studies that explore the interconnection of cultural heritage, climate (im)mobilities and Indigenous ways of knowing in changing climates are rare. This article calls for reimagining and reframing this intersection in global climate governance. What existing studies have shown, and what we advocate exploring further, is that the mobile livelihoods or mobility practices of Indigenous mobile groups are more than an adaptation strategy or a fix for climate change. They embody meaning, rituals, ancestral guidance and ways of knowing nature, land, seas and the universe, connecting intangible and tangible dimensions of culture in relational ways. This paper conceptualises mobility not merely as a response to environmental changes and climatic stress but as a living heritage of Indigenous ways of knowing. To elaborate on the dynamics of the adaptive and mobile-oriented cultural expressions of Indigenous mobile groups in changing climates, we draw on four case studies of (semi)nomadic communities in Ethiopia, Senegal and Thailand to illustrate how the mobility practices of many Indigenous groups constitute mobile systems of observation, forecasting and ecological adaptation that embody centuries of empirical climate knowledge. Our case studies also illustrate how sedentary-focused sustainability projects that overlook adaptive mobile cultures can impinge on not only the mobility rights of historically mobile groups but also on their adaptive cultural practices. Hence, we demonstrate the need for integrating the peculiarities of mobile-oriented cultures in climate mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage policies to avoid maladaptive outcomes that threaten both livelihoods and cultural identity.