African Peasantries, Reciprocity and the Market. The Economy of Affection Reconsidered. - article ; n°113 ; vol.29, pg 33-67

René Lemarchand

Description

Cahiers d'études africaines - Année 1989 - Volume 29 - Numéro 113 - Pages 33-67
35 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique

Informations

• Publié par: CAHIERS_D-ETUDES_AFRICAINES
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1989
• Nombre de lectures: 109
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Monsieur René Lemarchand
African Peasantries, Reciprocity and the Market. The Economy
of Affection Reconsidered.
In: Cahiers d'études africaines. Vol. 29 N°113. 1989. pp. 33-67.
Résumé
R. Lemarchand — Paysanneries africaines, réciprocité et marché : l'économie de l'affection réexaminée.
Voulant être un concept opératoire, l'économie de l'affection nous donne des paysanneries africaines une vision par trop
totalisante et atemporelle pour en cerner les dynamismes face à l'économie de marché. Le concept d'échange social, par contre,
met davantage l'accent sur les termes des transactions qui régissent les rapports d'accommodement et de conflit entre acteurs
sociaux. C'est dans une perspective à la fois historique et anthropologique que cette discussion s'efforce de faire le point sur les
rapports entre les coûts et les bénéfices qui naissent de l'influence des économies capitalistes. Tout en proposant une remise en
question du concept d'économie de l'affection, l'article s'efforce d'approfondir la signification des phénomènes d'échange dans la
genèse et le maintien de l'ordre social.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Lemarchand René. African Peasantries, Reciprocity and the Market. The Economy of Affection Reconsidered. In: Cahiers
d'études africaines. Vol. 29 N°113. 1989. pp. 33-67.
doi : 10.3406/cea.1989.2135
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/cea_0008-0055_1989_num_29_113_2135René Lemarchand
African Peasantries Reciprocity
and the Market*
The Economy of Affection Reconsidered
brother of friend They thing ship one and Such the of temporary between as are interaction mutual and system That dysfunctional brought sister all is exploitation nature takes old how as together husband there and care it as young already is affection that cannot by and within This self-interest such parent wife is flourish this or with association the trust. friend and system relation the in alone child any and is
Turnbull 1972 ago.
Few concepts have crossed the boundary between economic anthropology
and political science with greater impunity than the economy of affec
tion For the success of this smuggling operation much of the credit
or blame goes to Göran Hyden 1980 whose classic work on villag-
ization in Tanzania Beyond jaama in Tanzania Underdevelopment
and an Uncaptured Peasantry provides the clearest exposition of whatever
of importance the phenomenon reveals about African rural societies
In it and elsewhere Hyden iQS 1985 1988 the author makes
compelling case for incorporating logic of social solidarity in the
analysis of the peasant mode of production In so doing it shifts the
ground of debate away from the well-trodden paths of neo-Marxist and
mainstream analyses to level of discourse where normative orientations
indigenous to Africa are given pride of place Through the suggestive
metaphor of an uncapturel peasantry the book focusses attention on
range of survival and self-help strategies which otherwise would remain
undetected or misapprehended
wish to record my indebtedness to Peter Geschiere Joel Barkan Sara Berry
Dick Stryker John Harbison Don Williams and the anonymous reader of this
review for their comments and criticisms of an earlier draft claim full
discredit for whatever blemishes are left in the argument
Cahiers tudes africaines 113 XXIX-i ig8c) pp 33-6 RENE LEMARCHAND 34
paradigm thus poses fundamental challenge to the vision
that most social scientists have of African rural societies As shown
the critical commentaries it has received not the least of its merits is to
invite serious reconsideration of some of the key concepts and theories
surrounding the problematic of rural change in contemporary Africa
Reduced to their simplest characterization criticisms of the Hyden
argument tend to zero in on two major areas of vulnerability the assumed
capacity of African peasants to evade the reach of the State and where
such capacity exists the motives behind it Thus while Kasnr 1986
would seriously question the empirical validity of an uncaptured peas
antry and instead point to the structural constraints inherent in rural
and urban class differentiations Bates 1986 on the other hand draws
attention to the rational choices involved in withdrawal from the State
Both criticisms need to be taken seriously They lie at the very heart of
the issues raised by the economy of affection in that they call into question
two of its basic premises viz the autonomy of the peasantry and the
underlying moral or cultural imperatives that impinge upon its economic
choices They can also be taken too seriously however and end up
throwing the baby out with the bath water The affective dimension of
peasant economies cannot be ruled out on principle any more than the
existence of withdrawal strategies The critical issue is not whether
affectivity enters into rural or urban-based economic transactions but
under what specific circumstances it is most likely to persist or evaporate
It is at this level that paradigm despite its considerable heuristic
value reveals its limitations
The first and most obvious of such limitations derives from its holistic
qualities which make it singularly unserviceable for capturing the range
and diversity of phenomena that might conceivably be subsumed under
the rubric of the economy of affection For this reason its explanatory
force is very much in doubt Paraphrasing Coleman 1977 we would
suggest that like all such global aggregative concepts the economy
of affection cannot be operationalized or used in theoretical models
designed for the purpose of testing propositions such concepts are weak
in explanatory power and their indiscriminate use tends to degenerate
into neo-scholasticism Another weakness is that it is static concept
Only if we accept the view that economies of affection may under
certain circumstances transform themselves into economies of disaffec
tion can the concept become operational in other words only by taking
into account the situations from which it departs can it be used as tool
for the analysis of what it purports to demonstrate What is conspic
uously missing from formulation in short is an appreciation
of the reversibility of his conceptual frame
Finally and as an unintended consequence of the foregoing in its
extreme form the economy of affection paradigm carries ideological
overtones strangely reminiscent of the philosophies and principles set THE ECONOMY OF AFFECTION RECONSIDERED 35
forth by African ideologues official or non-official in their ceaseless quest
for legitimacy Whether referred to as Nyayoism Moi 1986)
tuism or Ubuntuism Samkange Samkange 1980 to mention only
the more intriguing versions these philosophies emphatically stress the
affective-cum-communitarian underpinnings of traditional African soci
eties To quote President Daniel Moi of Kenya Moi 1986
Nyayoism is neither foreign nor unfamiliar to traditional Africa but it is new
as philosophy for the trans-tribal management of nation ... The philosophy
and practice of sharing both the fortunes and calamities of the extended family
clan or tribe are guided and fortified by nothing else but love It is love which
makes such grave burdens as caring for the old and the invalid light and
Thus by curious irony concept initially designed to free our
vision of the constraints of Western ideologies ends up providing intel
lectual fodder for yet another brand of ideology
To these weaknesses and vulnerabilities we shall return in due course
What follows in essence is an attempt to refocus the debate surrounding
the economy of affection on what we believe to be the critical issues at
stake first to what extent are social solidarities based on affection
compatible with or superseded by self-interested exchanges second
under what circumstances are economies of affection liable to transform
themselves into economies of disaffection third in what ways and to
what degree are affective ties likely to act as disincentive to or as an
inducement for involvement in the market economy Before venturing
some plausible answers and as point of entry into this discussion let
us briefly consider the broad theoretical parameters within which the
economy of affection seeks to expand our horizons of enquiry
The Parameters of Comparative Discourse
What is sometimes referred to as the peasant social movement literature
unfolds within fairly well delineated parameters whose boundaries are
set by the ongoing controversy between the proponents of rational
choice and moral economy models identified respectively with the names
of Samuel Popkin 1979 and James Scott 1976 Substituting the
of Bates for and Hyden for we get fairly close approxima
tion among Africanists of the debate that has been going on for some
time Asianists
For Hyden as for Scott traditional peasant societies operate within
moral universe where subsistence concerns tend to predominate Both
recognize their intellectual debt to view of household
economy which excludes profit-maximization as the ce