Livelihoods, livestock and change: the versatility and richness of historical matrices

Historical matrices can help connect the facets of lives revealed through research focused on the present situation with larger trends in people's lives. They are effective in facilitating local people's own analyses of how their situation has changed over time and the causes and consequences of that change. This paper gives three examples illustrating the range of issues that historical matrices can illuminate, focusing on the roles of livestock in livelihood strategies. Livestock were found to be more important than previously thought in some cases, and less important than in former times in other cases. Asking why these changes took place leads to discussions about broader environmental or economic changes. One matrix is shown and briefly discussed for each case. The paper concludes with five tips for doing historical matrices.