About

Mark Moritz is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology at The Ohio State University. His research focuses on the transformation of African pastoral systems, examining how pastoralists adapt to changing ecological, political, and institutional conditions that impact their lives and livelihoods. He has been conducting research with pastoralists in the Far North Region of Cameroon since 1993, which has resulted in strong collaborations with Cameroonian researchers. These collaborations have enabled him to develop innovative, interdisciplinary research projects with colleagues at Ohio State University and the University of Maroua in Cameroon. His work emphasizes complex adaptive systems, coupled human and natural systems, and wicked science, contributing to a deeper understanding of pastoral adaptation and resilience.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Geography
• Ecology
• Sociology
• Engineering ethics
• Medicine
• Management
• Demography
• Environmental protection
• Environmental resource management
• Environmental ethics
• Agroforestry
• Archaeology
• Engineering
• Business
• Public relations
• Environmental planning
• Psychology
• Environmental science

Selected publications

• Introduction to pastoralism

  2026-04-17

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Pastoralism is a way of making a living and a way of life for millions of people around the world. Pastoralists can be found on all continents (except Antarctica) and in a wide range of environments, including the mountains of the Himalaya, the Sahara Desert, the Arctic tundra, the Andes Mountains, and Eurasian steppes. Pastoralism is an early human adaptation to make a living in highly variable environments, and it continues to provide livelihoods for hundreds of millions of pastoralists and nutrition and other benefits for two billion more along the value chain. By using vast landscapes in distinctive ways to raise livestock, pastoralism also provides many important ecosystem services. Pastoralism is not just an economic activity. It involves particular ways of organizing social and political life. It also shapes the shared meanings through which people understand their world. In this way, pastoralism provides the foundation for how people build community and society. This handbook offers a comprehensive overview of pastoralism, covers major theoretical and practical aspects of this way of life, and uses an interdisciplinary and comparative approach that considers the diversity and dynamics of pastoral systems across the world. It is an argument about why pastoralism and the study thereof matter.

  PublisherDOI

• Routledge Handbook of Pastoralism

  2026-04-17

  book1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Demographic dynamics in pastoral systems

  2026-04-17

  book-chapterSenior author

  This chapter reviews the demographic studies of human and livestock populations in pastoral systems, including the couplings between herd and household. Demographic research on mobile pastoralists and their herds is methodologically challenging, often requiring creative approaches. The chapter provides an overview of existing knowledge of human and livestock demography, which are shaped by factors such as seasonality, economic dynamics, cultural factors like marriage practices, and reproductive decision-making. Due to the diversity across pastoral societies, there is no single demographic regime of pastoral systems. The chapter argues for studying the coupled demographic dynamics between herds and households. It demonstrates how understanding the links between herd and household demography aids in understanding the dynamics of pastoral systems, such as inequality, health outcomes, and the ability for pastoralists to remain in the pastoral system.

  PublisherDOI

• Transformations in livestock systems: beyond ranching and pastoralism

  Agriculture and Human Values · 2025-02-04 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Livestock systems across the world are transformed by capitalist forces. Understanding these social, economic, and cultural transformations is important because it has major implications for rural populations across the world. Traditionally, the study of livestock systems has been organized along the conceptual classification of ranching in North America and Australia and pastoralism in Africa and Asia, but this intellectual division has limited our understanding because of a priori assumptions about the extent to which these systems have been shaped by capitalism. The goal of our paper is to outline a conceptual framework to come to a better understanding of the different ways that livestock systems across the globe have become more and less capitalist. We use a comparative approach that considers a wide range of livestock systems in different parts of the world, ranging from pastoralism in open access and communally held grasslands to ranching in privately owned and fenced rangelands, and industrial agriculture, to examine the diversity, complexity, and dynamics of these systems at the intersection with capitalism. We describe how livestock keepers across the world adopt, adapt to, and challenge capitalist logics and offer new ways to raise livestock in the twenty-first century. One of the emergent themes of our review is the persistence of pastoral values and identities across livestock systems.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Can enhanced street lighting improve public safety at scale?

  Criminology & Public Policy · 2025-09-23 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Research Summary Street crimes are thought to be influenced by changes in ambient lighting; yet, most studies have focused on small‐scale interventions in limited areas. It remains unclear whether enhanced lighting can improve safety on a larger, jurisdiction‐wide scale. This study examined the first 10 months of Philadelphia's citywide rollout of enhanced street lighting. Between August 2023 and May 2024, 34,374 streetlights were upgraded across 13,275 street segments, converting roughly one third of the city's street segments to new LED (light‐emitting diode) fixtures that provide clearer and more even lighting. We assessed the impact of these upgrades on total crimes, violent crimes, property crimes, and nuisance crimes. Our findings reveal a 15% decline in outdoor nighttime street crimes and a 21% reduction in outdoor nighttime gun violence following the streetlight upgrades. The streetlight upgrades may have contributed to 5% of the citywide decline in Philadelphia gun violence during the study period. Qualitative data also suggest that resident perceptions of safety and neighborhood vitality improved after new streetlights were installed. Policy Implications Although prior research has mostly focused on small‐scale implementations, our study demonstrates that improvements in street lighting can significantly reduce crime rates across large urban areas. These results support the adoption of energy‐efficient LED street lighting as a crime reduction strategy for cities. Further research is needed to explore the impact of enhanced streetlight interventions on other types of crime and to determine whether the crime reduction benefits are sustained when these upgrades are implemented across the entire City of Philadelphia for an extended period.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Reflooding the coupled human and natural system of the Waza-Logone Floodplain, Cameroon

  Frontiers in Conservation Science · 2024-09-24 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  The rewilding framework is used to guide the restoration of ecological processes in natural systems, but the framework can also be used in the restoration of social and ecological processes in coupled human and natural systems. We use the case of the large-scale reflooding of the Waza-Logone Floodplain in Cameroon three decades ago as an example of rewilding a coupled human and natural system. Drawing on studies that have been conducted of the Logone Floodplain and Waza National Park over the last five decades, we discuss the reflooding efforts, review the long-term impact of the reflooding, and reflect on the assumptions of the reflooding effort. Our review shows that restoring the hydrological and ecological processes benefitted human populations but was not sufficient for supporting wildlife; and, political dynamics impact ecological processes and must be considered for rewilding to succeed.

  PublisherDOI

• How Teaching Research Design Advances Applied Anthropology

  Practicing Anthropology · 2024-04-02

  article

  Mastery of research design options offers a powerful tool in the Applied Anthropologist's toolkit. Because policy makers depend upon reliable evidence – and not just debates – applied anthropologists need to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses in data collection methods and designs to offer reasonable and strong approaches to problem solving. Future applied anthropologists may find themselves in situations where a variety of data collection methods are called for (from qualitative to quantitative) and must be able to think through various comparative designs (from simple two group designs to more complicated multi group comparisons) to find a reasonable answer to a problem. Students need to be exposed to the smorgasbord of design, data collection, and analysis options to make wise choices and to be able to pivot to a revised plan, which such action is called for.

  PublisherDOI

• Facilitating Exchanges Between Applied & Academic Anthropologists: Working Together on Methods Innovations

  Practicing Anthropology · 2024-04-02 · 2 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Methods Training for Practicing Anthropologists: The NSF CAMP Approach

  Practicing Anthropology · 2024-04-02 · 1 citations

  article

  It is imperative for anthropology Ph.D. programs to equip students with essential research skills applicable to both academic and non-academic careers. Here we highlight the NSF Cultural Anthropology Methods Program (CAMP), a 3-week intensive training initiative aimed at enhancing students' preparedness as research professionals. The program integrates intensive methodological instruction with personalized mentorship to guide students in refining their research proposals. Through a systematic 4-step approach, students learn to identify project goals, derive empirical research questions, select appropriate sampling strategies, and determine suitable methods for data collection and analysis. By addressing the practical needs of anthropology graduates entering applied fields, such as public, private, and non-profit sectors, CAMP aims to bridge the gap between academia and professional practice, ensuring graduates are equipped to make meaningful contributions to society regardless of their career trajectory.

  PublisherDOI

• Transhumance

  2024-08-19

  reference-entry1st authorCorresponding

  Transhumance is the seasonal movement of livestock that is commonly used by pastoralists to exploit spatiotemporal variability in forage availability in arid and semi-arid climates. Pastoralists are people for whom keeping herd animals is a way of making a living and a way of life. Pastoralists across the world use transhumance to ensure that their livestock have access to forage. The animals taken on transhumance include cattle, camels, sheep, goats, horses, llama, alpaca, yak, reindeer, and even ducks. Sometimes a distinction is made between vertical and horizontal transhumance, in which the former refers to seasonal movements between summer pastures in the mountains and winter pastures in the valleys, and the latter refers to seasonal movements between rainy season and dry season pastures, for example, among cattle pastoralists in the West African Sahel, or winter and summer pastures among reindeer pastoralists in the Siberian tundra. The terms transhumance comes originally from French and is derived from the Latin terms trans (across) and humus (ground). A more general term that is frequently used to describe transhumance is pastoral mobility. Transhumance can take many forms. In some cases, pastoralists move both their herd and household, while in other cases, the household stays in the settlement, while herders take the herd on a seasonal transhumance. Most transhumance movements are made on foot or hoof, but in some wealthier nations, animals are also transported by truck. Transhumance is an adaptive strategy that mimics the principles of animal migrations, like that of wildebeest in East Africa and bighorn sheep in North America. The seasonal movement of livestock is a sustainable strategy that increases the productivity of animals and rangelands, particularly in drylands, which are characterized by spatiotemporal variability in forage availability. Transhumance is not just an economic activity that is ecologically sustainable. It is also imbued with social and cultural values. It brings households and communities together (and it can drive them apart). The movements themselves have been described as rituals and that is also how they are celebrated in some parts of the world. The movements of humans and animals also have political consequences. States and sedentary communities are often wary of people on the move, and because many pastoralists move year-round, it is at times hard for them to claim or maintain rights and access to pastures. When pastoralists are forced to settle and can no longer go on transhumance, it often has disastrous consequences for humans, animals, and rangelands.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• RAPID: Studying the Effects of Disturbance in a Complex Socioecological System

  NSF · $18k · 2015–2016

• CAREER: Pastoral Management of Open Access: The Emergence of a Complex Adaptive System

  NSF · $549k · 2008–2015

• CNH: Exploring Social, Ecological, and Hydrological Regime Shifts in the Logone Floodplain of Cameroon

  NSF · $1.5M · 2012–2018

• EAGER: Modeling Coupled Herd and Household Dynamics in Pastoral Systems

  NSF · $44k · 2015–2017

Frequent coauthors

• Paul Scholte

  22 shared

• Rebecca Garabed

  The Ohio State University

  21 shared

• Ian M. Hamilton

  The Ohio State University

  17 shared

• Christopher Brown

  Queensland Children’s Hospital

  16 shared

• Nikolaus Schareika

  University of Göttingen

  16 shared

• Saïdou Kari

  14 shared

• Ningchuan Xiao

  The Ohio State University

  10 shared

• Laura W. Pomeroy

  The Ohio State University

  9 shared

Labs

• Bioarchaeology Research Laboratory (BARL)PI

Education

• Ph.D., Anthropology

  University of California Los Angeles

  2003

• MA, Anthropology

  Universiteit Leiden

  1995