J. TerrenceMcCabe

  • Professor Emeritus
  • (PH.D.
  • SUNY-BINGHAMTON
  • 1985)
Address

HALE 440

Office Hours

Office Hours
By appt.

My research focuses on livelihood strategies and decisions relating to land use among the pastoral peoples of Eastern Africa. I鈥檝e spent nearly 30 years engaged in this research mostly with the Turkana of northern Kenya and the Maasai of northern Tanzania. Most recently I鈥檝e been conducting research on the process of livelihood diversification among the Maasai, including the adoption of cultivation and rural-urban migration. Currently I am Principal Investigator on a project comparing the social, economic, and ecological impact of parks on adjacent communities with field sites in Tanzania, Uganda, Namibia and Botswana. Most of this work has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation. My book,听Cattle Bring Us to Our Enemies: Turkana Ecology, History and Raiding in a Disequilibrium System听won the 2005 Julian Steward award for the best book written in the previous year in ecological and environmental anthropology.

Selected Publications:

  • McCabe, J. Terrence. 鈥淧astoralist Ecologies.鈥 In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthropology. Ed. Mark Aldenderfer. New York: Oxford University Press, forthcoming.
  • 2020. 鈥婹uandt Amy, Salerno Jonathan Neff, Jason, Baird Timothy, Herrick Jeffrey, McCabe J. Terrence, Xu Emilie, Harter, Joel. Mobile phone use as associated with smallholder agricultural productivity in Tanzania, East Africa. Plus One August: 1-16
  • 鈥2020. Summers, Kelly; Baird, Timothy: Woodhouse, Emily; Christie, Marie Elisa; McCabe, J. Terrence; Terta, Felista; Peter, Naomi.听听Mobile phones and women's empowerment in Maasai communities: How men shape women's social relations and access to phones. Journal of Rural Studies. Vol.77:126-137.
  • 鈥2020. McCabe, J. Terrence, Leslie, Paul, Davis Alicia.听The Emergence of the Village and the Transformation of Traditional Institutions: A Case Study from Northern Tanzania.听 Human Organization: Volume 79, Issue 2
  • 鈥2020.听McCabe, J. Terrence and Quandt, Amy. Drought: A Challenge to Livelihoods, Sustainability, and Resilience. In: The Angry Earth II. Oliver-Smith, Anthony and Hoffman Susanna eds. Routledge. Pp. 212-226
  • 鈥2019. Quandt, Amy, Neufeldt, Henry, & McCabe, J. Terrence. 听Building livelihood resilience: What role does agroforestry play?听Climate and Development, 11(6), 485-500.
  • 鈥2019. McCabe, J. Terrence. Comment on Moritz, Mark et al. Comparative Study of Property Regimes in Africa Offers No Support for Economic Defensibility Model Current Anthropology: Vol.60, #5: 628-629.
  • 鈥2018. Linke, A.M., Witmer, F., O鈥橪oughlin, J., McCabe, T.J., and J. Tir (2018). The consequences of relocating in response to drought: human mobility and conflict in contemporary Kenya. Environmental Research Letters 13(9) 094014
  • 鈥媁oodhouse, Emily, McCabe, J. Terrence.听Well-being and conservation: diversity and change in visions of a good life among the Maasai of northern Tanzania. Ecology and Society. 23 (1) 4
  • 鈥2018. Linke, Andrew M., Witmer, Frank D. W., O'Loughlin, John, McCabe, J. Terrence, & Tir, Jaroslav. 听Drought, local institutional contexts, and support for violence in听Kenya. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 62 (7) 1544-1578
  • 鈥2017. Quandt, Amy, McCabe, J. Terrence. 鈥淵ou can steal livestock but you can鈥檛 steal trees鈥: the livelihood benefits of agroforestry during and after violent conflict. Human Ecology vol.45, #4: 463-473
  • 鈥2017. Quandt, Amy; Neufeldt, Henry; McCabe, J. Terrence.听听The role of agroforestry in building livelihood resilience to floods and droughts in semi-arid Kenya. Ecology and Society. 22 (3): 10
  • 2017. Linke, Andrew; Witmer, Frank; O鈥橪oughlin, John; McCabe, J. Terrence; Tir, Jaroslav.听Drought, Local Institutional Context, and Support for Violence in Kenya.听听 Journal of Conflict Resolution. April
  • 鈥2017. Woodhouse, Emily; Homewood, Katherine m.; Beauchamp, Emile; Clements, Tom; McCabe, J. Terrence; Wilkie, David; Milner-Gulland, E.J. Understanding Human Well-Being for Conservation: A Locally Driven, Mixed Methods Approach. In: Decision-Making in Conservation and Natural Resource Management. Bunnefiel, Nils; Nicholson, Emily and Milner-Gulland eds. Cambridge; Cambridge University Press. Pp. 97-124
  • 鈥2015. Woodhousehouse, Emily; Homewood, Katherine, Beauchamp, Emilie; Clements, Tom; McCabe, J. Terrence; Wilke, David; Milner-Guilland, E. J. Guiding principles for evaluating the impacts of conservation on human wellbeing. Philosophical Transaction of the Royal Society B.
  • 鈥2015. Linke, Andrew; O鈥橪oughlin, John; McCabe, J. Terrence; Tir, Jaroslav; Witmer, Frank.听 听Rainfall Varialibity and violence in rural Kenya: Investigating the effects of drought and the role of local institutions with survey data. Global Environmental Change: # 34: 35-47
  • 鈥2015. Galvin, K., Boone R. And McCabe, J. Terrence. Transitions in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area: The story of Cultivation and Conservation. Chapter in Senrengeti IV ( Sinclair, A. R. E., Metzger,K., Mduma, S., Fryxell, J. Eds). University of Chicago Press. Pp: 483-512
  • 鈥婬ampson, K., McCabe, J. Terrence., Estes, A., Hoare, R., Kissui, B., Ogutu, J., Ikanda, D., Rentsch, D., Cuthbert, B., Malugu, L., Masanga, E. & Cleaveland, S. C. 2015. 听 Living in the Serengeti ecosystem: human-wildlife conflict and coexistence. Chapter in Senrengeti IV (Sinclair, A. R. E., Metzger,K., Mduma, S., Fryxell, J. Eds.). University of Chicago Press. Pp: 607-648
  • 鈥2014. McCabe, J. Terrence. Smith, Nicole. Leslie, Paul. Telligman, Amy. 听Livelihood Diversification through Migration among a Pastoral People: Contrasting Case Studies of Maasai in Northern Tanzania. Human Organization. Vol.73, # 4: 389-400
  • 鈥2014. Miller Brian, Leslie Paul, McCabe J. Terrence. Coping with Natural Hazards in a Conservation Context: Resource-Use Decisions of Maasai Households in Recent and Historical Droughts. Human Ecology: 42: 753-768
  • 2013. Leslie, Paul and McCabe, J. Terrence.听Response Diversity and Resilience in Social-Ecological Systems.听Current Anthropology听Vol. 54, No. 2: 114-143.听PDF
  • 2011. Greiner, C., Bollig, M., and McCabe, J. Terrence.听Notes on Land-based Conflicts in Kenya鈥檚 Arid Areas.听Africa Spectrum听Vol. 46, No. 3: 77-81.
  • 2010. McCabe, J. T., Leslie, P. and DeLuca, L.听Adopting Cultivation to Remain Pastoralists: the diversification of pastoral livelihoods in northern Tanzania.听Human Ecology听Vol. 38, No. 3: 321-334.
  • 鈥2009. Baird, T. D., Leslie, P. and McCabe, J. Terrence.听Effect of Conservation on Local Perceptions of Risk and Behavioral Response.听Human Ecology听Vol. 37, No. 4: 463-474.
  • 2006. De Vries, D. H., P.W. Leslie, and J.T. McCabe.听Livestock acquisition dynamics in nomadic pastoralist herd demography: a case study among Ngisonyoka herders of South Turkana, Kenya.听Human Ecology听听Vol 34, #1: 1-25.
  • 2004.听Cattle Bring Us to Our Enemies: Turkana Ecology, History, and Raiding in a Disequilibrium System. University of Michigan Press.
  • 2004. May, Ann and J. Terrence McCabe.听City Work in a Time of AIDS: Maasai Labor Migration in Tanzania.听Africa TodayVol 51, No. 2: 3-32.
  • 2003. McCabe, J. Terrence (guest editor).听听Anthropology and Sustainability.听Human Organization听Vol. 62, no.31.
  • 鈥2003. McCabe, J. Terrence.听Towards an Anthropological Understanding of Sustainability: A Preface.听Human Organization.听Vol. 62, no. 3: 91-92.
  • 2003. McCabe, J. Terrence.听Sustainability and Livelihood Diversification among the Maasai of Northern Tanzania.听Human Organization.听Vol. 62, no 3: 100-111.
  • 2003. McCabe, J. Terrence.听Disequilibrial Ecosystems and Livelihood Diversification among yhe Maasai of Northern Tanzania: Implications for Conservation Policy in Eastern Africa.听Nomadic Peoples听Vol. 7, No. 1, pp.74-91.
  • 鈥2002. McCabe, J. Terrence.听Conservation with a Human Face? Lessons from 40 years of Combining Conservation and Development in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania. In听Displacement, Forced Settlement and Conservation. Dawn Chatty ed. Oxford: Berghahn Books pp.61-76.
  • 1999. Fratkin, Elliot and McCabe, J. Terrence (guest editors).听East African Pastoralists at the Crossroads.听Special Edition of the Journal听Nomadic Peoples听Vol. 3, No. 2.
  • 1985.听Dyson-Hudson, R. and J.T. McCabe.听South Turkana Nomadism: Coping with an Unpredictably Varying Environment. Human Relation Area Files Books, 378 pages.

Graduate Studies Information

Terry's research focuses on livelihood strategies and decisions relating to land use among the pastoral peoples of Eastern Africa. Terry has spent nearly 30 years engaged in this research mostly with the Turkana of northern Kenya and the Maasai of northern Tanzania. Most recently he has been conducting research on the process of livelihood diversification among the Maasai, including the adoption of cultivation and rural-urban migration. Currently, Terry is a Principal Investigator on a project comparing the social, economic, and ecological impact of parks on adjacent communities with field sites in Tanzania, Uganda, Namibia and Botswana. Most of this work has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation. Terry's book, Cattle Bring Us to Our Enemies: Turkana Ecology, History and Raiding in a Disequilibrium System won the 2005 Julian Steward award for the best book written in the previous year in ecological and environmental anthropology.

Research Interests

  • 听听听 Ecological Anthropology
  • 听听听 Pastoral Nomadism
  • 听听听 Demography and Land Use Change
  • 听听听 Economic Development
  • 听听听 Arid Lands
  • 听听听 Conservation
  • 听听听 Sub-Saharan Africa
  • 听听听 East Africa

*Professor McCabe听is not accepting graduate students for Fall 2023