In the books, Sacred Rice by Joanna Davidson and The Anti-Politics Machine by James Ferguson we see how cultural misunderstandings or ignorance by development agencies can lead to their projects at their intended goal. In fact within these two books we see how two resources that many may see as unimportant or trivial led to these failures due to the fact that development organization did not look into such possibilities. With this in mind I am going to compare and contrast the idea’s, history, and developmental attempts that have occurred in Lesotho and rural West Africa in order to see how understanding a culture is needed in order to aid it in development. To start off we should examine how Ferguson and Davidson did their ethnographical …show more content…
The purpose of these two attempts where different though as the one based in Lesotho did this in an attempt to modernize their cattle industry in order to make it more economic base to increase yields for the area while in Guinea-Bissau case it was more to aid the struggling Jola people during times of low crop yields. In the eyes of the locals development meant different things, in Lesotho in meant possibly losing cattle and land as they had to meet strict requirements in order to be allowed into the grazing association while in Guinea-Bissau it meant removing and changing their culture as most of it was tied to African rice in some way or form so by replacing it and their ways of growing it they basically killed off some culture. Both these attempts were failures as they did not accomplish what the agency set out to do as the grazing association failed to gain traction and the adoption of a different rice has yet to be done in a significant number. These failures were mostly due to misrepresentation of the people as most times the agencies looked at government officials or experts of said …show more content…
For the Lesotho people cows are more than a simple resource they are something much greater, something more akin to social currency than anything else. This is because the people of Lesotho seem to put more social value on the cattle than monetary value along with the fact that for many men cattle where treated as an investment despite the fact that they could not be resold for equal monetary value, but did retain a social value which could be used in ways like dowry as well as acting as a stand in for men in the community when they went to work out of their country. For the Jola people rice was held in a similar light as it was an almost religious item as it was present throughout their lives in various forms from food to decorative wear. The farming of rice was also something that gave them an identity as we saw in the book all villagers no matter what their occupation was almost always said they were rice farmers and many respect by how much rice they
In the book “Sacred Rice” author and anthropologist Joanna Davidson delves into the life of Jola farmers in west Africa and explores how rice plays an important role in their lives. She uses storytelling, often personal in nature to demonstrate how rice plays a vital part not only in the gastronomical aspect in the lives of people in north-western Guinea-Bissau but also in their social, cultural, economic, religious and political aspects.
Works Cited: Ferguson, James. (1990) The Anti-politics Machine: ‘Development’, Depoliticisation, and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho, Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Cambridge. University Press McMichael, Philip. The. (2000) “Development and social change: a global perspective.”
What would you say if I asked you to tell me what you think is causing the death of so many people in the horn of Africa? AIDS? Starvation? War? Would it surprise you if I told you that it all boils down to the women of Africa? Kofi Annan attempts to do just this in his essay “In Africa, Aids Has a Woman's Face.” Annan uses his work to tell us that women make up the “economic foundation of rural Africa” and the greatest way for Africa to thrive is through the women of Africa's freedom, power, and knowledge.
Thesis & Preview of Main Points: I will discuss the culture of Ethiopia and its geography
In his book “Cattle Brings Us to Our Enemies”, McCabe does a 16-year stint in East Africa, specifically in Northern Kenya, doing research on the Turkana. He does this through STEP, the South Turkana Ecosystem Project. In “Cattle Bring Us to Our Enemies”, McCabe follows four families through his years in Kenya and notes how they live in a very demanding environment. He uses ecological data to analyze how and why the Turkana people make decisions about their everyday life. McCabe focuses on four main areas of study: how the Turkana survive and adapt to a stressful environment by nomadic pastoralism, how the techniques used to extract resources and manage livestock modify the environment, the effects of the environmental and cultural practices have on
Monique and the Mango Rains is a book that details the experiences that Kris Holloway went through when she went to Mali and meat Monique. In this essay I will analyze some of the things that she went through while there from a cultural realistic perspective. Cultural Relativism is the comprehension and understanding of a particular group’s beliefs and practices from that particular culture’s perspective. Some of things that I will analyze are the economic factors that result in not having adequate resources, the social structure of families in Mali including the sizes of families, and the Healthcare that which plays a critical role in how people live.
“Africa is failing to keep up with population growth not because it has exhausted its potential, but instead because too little has been invested in reaching that potential.” Paarlberg backs this claim with evidence that India’s food issue was solved with foreign assistance in development and offers that the solution to Africa’s food shortage is also development and farm modernization endorsed by foreign aid.
Farming is the main supply for a country back then. The crops that farmers produce basically was the only food supply. That makes famers a very important part of society. Farmers back t...
Toyin, Falola. “The Power of African Cultures.” Woodbridge, Suffolk, United Kingdom: University of Rochester Press, 2003. Print
Nierenberg, Danielle. "Factory farming in the developing world: In some critical respects, this is not progress at all." World Watch 1 May 2003: n. pag. eLibrary. Web. 3 Dec. 2013. .
Little Boys Come From the Stars by Emmanuel Dongala is an insightful story about the struggle for liberation in post-colonial Africa (possibly Congo Brazzaville), told through the eyes of a young boy named Michel (“Matapari”). However throughout the novel, there are four profound developmental themes which strike the reader: liberalisation, agriculture, education and colonialism. This piece will discuss how the afore mentioned themes play a role in highlighting the post-colonial struggle for liberation as told through the eyes of the protagonist, Matapari.
Smith, R.K. (1996). Understanding third world politics: theories of political change and development. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Before the industrial revolution, villagers practiced communal farming, in which residents worked together to farm on a large lot of land. Part of the land was divided up into three different crop fields. One for wheat or rye, one for oats or beans, and one for fallow. The fourth section of land was left to give livestock a place to graze, plant wild plants, and store firewood for the winter. The Enclosure Movement helped propel the shift from agriculture to industry. With this movement, agriculture was used for commercial practices and not so much as a way to feed single families. Before the start the Enclosure Movement, villages practiced communal farming in which the land and what was grown and raised on it was shared between the residents. However, this way of farming changed as effects of the Enclosure Movement made their way into the villages. Communal farms were divided up into single-family farms, with each family receiving and equal share of land. The owners of the land were rich families. These owners lease the land to farmers. During the enclosure movement, the land owners wrote new leases to individual families. These leases usually lasted 19 years and every family that lived in the village had the right to get a lease. People who got very small farms could not survive on their own without the right to use the common land, of which there was little to no land because it had been divided up. Therefo...
McMichael, Philip, ed 2012. Development and Social Change: A Global Perspective, 5th ed. London: Sage Publications, Inc.
It is true of Africa that women constitute a treasure that remains largely hidden. (Moleketi 10) African women grow 90% of all African produce, and contribute about 70% of Africa’s agricultural labor every year. (Salmon 16) Both the labor and food that are provided by African women go towards the increase in Africa’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). (Moleketi 10) Although African women are feeding the majority of Africa’s inhabitants, the constricting ropes of gender inequality are still holding them back from being appreciated and living up to their full potential. Outstandingly, women such as President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, of Liberia, have gladly accepted the challenge of breaking free of these ropes. The history of women’s rights in Africa, the glass ceiling, and the modern aspects of women’s rights, all play prominent roles in the overall condition of women’s rights in Africa. Until the day arrives that these discriminatory injustices are corrected, individuals in African nations will continue to struggle.