An Ethnographic and Theoretical Analysis of Embodied Poverty, Spatial Exclusion, and Infrastructural Violence: among the Shahsevan Nomads of Meshginshahr

Authors

1 Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Law and Social Sciences University of Tabriz, Iran.

2 Associate Professor, Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.

3 Assistant Professor, Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, University of Tabriz, Iran

10.22034/jeds.2026.71909.1936

Abstract

Introduction: Nomadic communities, including the Shahsevan nomads, despite their significant historical and regional roles, face modern forms of poverty and marginalization. However, since poverty assessment criteria are primarily based on monetary indicators and sedentary households, the deep deprivation of these communities remains invisible in official statistics. The present study explores how the multidimensional poverty of the Shahsevan nomads is produced and experienced at the intersection of structural policies and everyday encounters with a sedentary-centric state bureaucracy.

Methodology: This qualitative ethnographic study involved 12 months of fieldwork and co-living in the summer and winter pastures (Yeylaq and Qeshlaq) of Meshgin Shahr County. Data were collected through participant observation along migration routes, in-depth and semi-structured interviews with 93 participants (including shepherds, nomadic women, and local officials), and document analysis, analyzed thematically.

Results: The findings indicate that nomadic poverty goes beyond mere income deficiency; it is the product of “structural impoverishment” and infrastructural violence embedded in physical, spatial, and digital dimensions. This multidimensional deprivation includes five sub-categories: 1. The embodiment of poverty in women’s bodies (physical exhaustion and lack of healthcare services); 2. Lack of insurance and job insecurity among shepherds (treated as disposable labor); 3. The absence of safe migration routes and life-threatening risks during seasonal migration; 4. Digital poverty resulting from communicational isolation in summer pastures; and 5. The crisis of shortage and irregular distribution of drinking water in winter pastures.

Conclusions: In conclusion, the poverty of these communities is a structural consequence of sedentary-centric procedures and bureaucracy that contradict the mobile nature of nomadism. Overcoming this marginalization requires policy changes, including redefining the social security system to provide insurance without a fixed workplace code, developing portable telecommunication towers to eliminate digital poverty, launching mobile public service systems, and localizing the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) to align with nomadic life.

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