Title: A cultural analysis of the economy of affection and the uncaptured peasantry in Tanzania.

POPLINE Document Number: 076123

Author(s):

Waters T

Source citation:

JOURNAL OF MODERN AFRICAN STUDIES, 1992 Mar;30(1):163-75.

Abstract:

The author reviews and comments upon Goran Hyden's thesis of the economy of affection and the uncaptured peasantry in East Africa. Hyden hold that villagers and city-dwellers are linked in webs of kinship and tribal obligation which mitigate against the accumulation of wealth or capital necessary to form either industrial modes of production or class-based societies. The high value placed on personal relationships virtually demands a peasant mode of production. In contrast to former European and Asian scenarios, uncultivated, arable land remains available. Peasants may therefore participate to varying degrees in both the market economy and the traditional socioeconomic system as they desire, without being trapped in capitalist production. Together, however, the availability of land and the economy of affection may combine as the most significant force thwarting economic development in Tanzania. Applying a methodological framework recently suggested by Wendy Griswold for the sociology of culture, the author reviews and reformulates part of Hyden's analysis. The intentions of creative agents, the reception of cultural objects over time and space, understanding the intrinsic values of cultural objects, and the significance of perpetuating social groups are discussed.

Keywords:

Tanzania
Critique
Socioeconomic Factors
Cultural Background
Rural Population
Economic Development
Family and Household
Africa, Eastern
Africa, Sub Saharan
Africa
Developing Countries
Economic Factors
Population Characteristics
Demographic Factors
Population