Future Rural Africa Researcher Dr. Hauke Vehrs Awarded Offermann-Hergarten-Prize

The book “Pokot Pastoralism: Environmental Change and Socio-Economic Transformation” by Dr. Hauke Vehrs (CRC Project A04), published in May 2022 in the CRC-TRR 228 series by James Currey, was awarded the Offermann-Hergarten Foundation Prize at the University of Cologne.

Allocation of the prize is based on several criteria; these include overall scientific quality, the creation or improvement of  theoretical approaches, methodological innovation, as well as clarity and precision in the structure of argument.

“Pokot Pastoralism” describes the livelihoods of the pastoral Pokot in north-western Kenya and the transformation of pastoral landscapes over the last 250 years. Hauke Vehrs discusses both the incremental changes in landscape composition to which the pastoralists have adapted, and the rapid changes associated with ecological invasions that pose new challenges for the pastoral people.

Hauke Verhs Herrgarten Offermann Prize e1671702760112
Dr. Hauke Verhs, Recipient Offermann-Hergarten Prize 2022

More CRC News

a highway in namibia

New Study Reveals How Roads and Education Shape Community Visions for a Nature-Positive Future

This study by Judith K. Musa, Vincent Moseti and Lisa Biber-Freudenberger (Project A05 “Future Roads”) investigates how road infrastructure influences local communities’ sense of agency ...
Read More »
poster for an event

Transatlantic Tandem Talks: Future-Ready Food Systems? Sustainability and Resilience in Times of Crises

Wed | October 29th, 2025 | 17:00 (CET) With Peter Dannenberg (Project C01 “Future in Chains”) and Angela Bedard-Haughn (University of Saskatchewan). As the current ...
Read More »
picture taken during a workshop on "future making"

Methodologies of Future-Making: Ethnographic Inquiry Through Play and Landscape in Marginalized Contexts

This study by Saymore Ngonidzashe Kativu (German Institute of Development and Sustainability, IDOS & Project B05 “Science Futures”), Glory Ernest Mella (Sokoine University), Castrow Muunda ...
Read More »
book cover of "enforcing the line" by katrin sowa

Enforcing the Line: An Ethnography of the Kenyan Border Regime

By Katrin Sowa (University of Cologne). This book analyses historic and contemporary border regime developments in East Africa, and draws a complex picture of borders ...
Read More »
small holder farming in tanzania

New Publication: Blending Traditions – Evaluating Indigenous Agricultural Practices Among Smallholders in Turiani, Tanzania

In this study, Denis Chomboko (IDOS), Theobald Theodory (Project C03 “Green Futures”), Michael Brüntrup (IDOS & Project B05 “Science Futures”), Venance Shilingi (Project B03 “Violent ...
Read More »
Scroll to Top