Description
Book SynopsisA blend of old and new meanings Who are the rural people of Africa? What does it mean to be part of a 'rural' community in contemporary Tanzania? And why is it important to debate questions of African rurality beyond the mere GDP contribution of rural land-based production? This book seeks to address questions like these. Rural people(s) in contemporary Africa are often conceived of in terms of how to efficiently integrate them into international markets and global value chains; this book analyses the question of integration of rural people in Tanzania by delving into how they deal with local-global connections and engage with policy objectives on their own terms, between local forms of associational life and global markets. In so doing, it explores local socio-economic dynamics that find little space in the national and global policy vision of a rural sector geared towards growth - a vision that is peculiar to African states, including Tanzania. Informed by anthropological theory and de-re-agrarianisation/de-re-peasantisation debates, and grounded in ethnographic evidence, the book eschews 'orthodox' approaches that see (rural) people as passive recipients of policies, and policies as instruments of oppression. Instead, it departs from the rural land/place-based practices of grazing, fishing and farming to look at rurality in Tanzania as a blend of old and new meanings, values and practices at the local-global interface, continually reshuffled as rural people encounter different social and economic spheres. As the world rediscovers the urgency of questions connected to neo-colonialism and de-colonisation, this book brings to the forefront the position, worldview and ambitions of African rural peoples intersecting with international policy models, visions and objectives.
Table of ContentsINTRODUCTION GRAZING. PEOPLE, METHODS, FIELDWORK CHAPTER ONE. Becoming Maasai in Tanzania: the rise of Maasai ethnic identity and the Maasai trader in the market economy CHAPTER TWO. Respatializing culture, recasting gender: Maasai ethnicity and the 'cash economy' at the rural-urban interface CHAPTER THREE. 'Being Maasai' in markets and trade: ethnicity-based institutions in the livestock market FISHING. PEOPLE, METHODS, FIELDWORK CHAPTER FOUR. "We are here to make money": New terrains of identity and community in small-scale fisheries in Lake Victoria FARMING. PEOPLE, METHODS, FIELDWORK CHAPTER FIVE. Drawing from the science 'basket': farmers' embedded knowledge and technology between performance, identity, and the agricultural expert CHAPTER SIX. Climbing the vertical chain: what 'integration' for the rural entrepreneur? CHAPTER SEVEN. Making policy: recrafting ethnographic research for participation CONCLUSION
