Livestock Dung Use in Steppe Pastoralism: Renewable Resources, Care, and Respect for Sentient Nonhumans

This article studies the use of livestock dung in the social
and ecological context of pastoralism in the Tyva Republic, Inner
Asia. In steppe ecologies, livestock dung, depending on its (mis)management,
can be a valuable resource or a threat to animals’ health
and herders’ well-being. Its use is embedded in the relationships
between herder-livestock communities and landscapes, which are
sentient and superordinate. Utilizing dung for household needs is
simultaneously a form of care for livestock and a method of balancing
the relationship with sentient homelands.