John Galaty was awarded his MA and Ph.D in Anthropology from the University of Chicago in 1977, and since then he has taught in the Department of Anthropology at McGill University. He has served as Secretary in the IUAES Commission on Nomadic Peoples, on the Editorial Board of the journal, Nomadic Peoples, and as President of the Canadian Association of African Studies. Within McGill, he has served as Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Research, Associate Dean in the Faculty of Arts, Interim Dean of Arts, Chair of Anthropology, President of the McGill Association of University Teachers and Director of the Centre for Society, Technology and Development. He has pursued research on pastoralists of Eastern Africa with support from the SSHRC, IDRC, FQRSC and NSF, and currently is co-director of the partnership project on 'The Institutional Canopy of Conservation' focused on community conservation in Kenya and Tanzania.