The Carlsberg Foundation's Nomad Research Project  vol. I-XIII

In Denmark, serious scholarly interest in the cultures and societies of pastoral nomads, including the nature, history, and transformation of nomadism, dates back more than a century. During this period explorers, photographers, and scientists – geographers, archaeologists, linguists, botanists, zoologists, and not least anthropologists – have made a substantial contribution to the documentation and understanding of a range of pastoral societies and of pastoral nomadism in general.

Geographically, Danish research efforts have centered on three areas: Central Asia, South West Asia, and North Africa. From these regions scholars and explorers have brought back rich collections of artefacts to Danish museums which, together with field notes, photographs, films, and music recordings, have formed part of the documentation of a range of nomadic cultures and their ingenious technical, aesthetical, and symbolic expressions. Others turned their energies to lengthy in-depth studies of the ecology, culture, and social organization of pastoral groups.

In 1985, The Carlsberg Foundation received an application for funds for the preparation and publication of this fine and varied Danish research on nomad cultures. The initiative for this came from Klaus Ferdinand. In the past, The Carlsberg Foundation had funded a considerable part of the field research among pastoral nomads. In 1986 the Board of Directors of The Carlsberg Foundation decided to grant funds to support the study and writing up of unpublished materials from the Danish ethnographic collections and the cultural and social data from anthropological field research among pastoral nomads of Central and South-West Asia, Qatar, and North Africa.

The work was supervised by a committee chaired initially by Professor Henrik Glahn, and later by Professor Poul Christian Matthiessen, both of The Carlsberg Foundation. The other members were the late Professor Tove Birkelund of The Carlsberg Foundation, Associate Professor Klaus Ferdinand, Curator of the Ethnographic Department of the Prehistoric Museum, Moesgaard, Curator Rolf Gilberg of the Danish National Museum, and Associate Professor Ida Nicolaisen of the University of Copenhagen. Niels Petri of The Carlsberg Foundation and Sven Dindler assisted the committee.

In 1990, an editorial committee was formed with Poul Christian Matthiessen and Ida Nicolaisen as members. In 1993, Professor Per Øhrgaard took over from Matthiessen and Gunver Kyhn from Petri. Ida Nicolaisen was appointed Editor-in-Chief of the series, and in the same year the first three volumes in the series The Carlsberg Foundation’s Nomad Research Project was published: Bedouins of Qatar by Klaus Ferdinand, Mongol Costumes by Henny Harald Hansen and Nomads of Luristan. History, Material Culture, and Pastoralism in Western Iran by Inge Demant Mortensen.

Klaus Ferdinand

AFGHAN NOMADS

- Caravans, conflicts, and trade in Afghanistan and British India 1800-1980

Published in 2006 in the series The Carlsberg Foundation's Nomad Research Project. Hardcover with dust jacket. 512 pages. 276 illustrations – 92 in colour - and 16 maps (e.g.: ethnic and linguistic distribution, caravan routes, winter distribution, spring migrations).

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Esther Fihl

EXPLORING CENTRAL ASIA, vol. I-II

- Collecting Objects and Writing Cultures from the Steppes to the High Pamirs 1896-1899

Published in 2002 in the series The Carlsberg Foundation's Nomad Research Project. 2 volumes, hardcover with dust jacket. 736 pages. 515 illustrations – 165 in colour – and 12 maps (e.g.: Key to the maps in vol. I-II, Olufsen’s maps of the Alitshur Pamir, Merv oasis, Khanate of Khiva, Emirate of Bukhara, Political sketch of Central Asia in the late 19th century, Travel route of the two Danish expeditions, A sketch of the culture-geographical areas established by Olufsen through his collecting of objects on the two Danish expeditions)

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Johannes Nicolaisen & Ida Nicolaisen

THE PASTORAL TUAREQ, vol. I-II

- Ecology, culture, and society

Published in 1997 in the series The Carlsberg Foundation's Nomad Research Project. 2 volumes, hardcover with dust jacket. 878 pages. 400 illustrations – 200 in colour – and 3 maps.

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