MSC ANTHROPOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT 2011/12

Approaching African peasantry anthropologically

Anthropology, peasants and rural development in northern Ivory Coast

Candidate number: 62858

Words count: 9984

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Abstract:

Rural development is a crucial issue for contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa. Although a variety of

development strategies have been deployed in the region throughout the years, their outcomes

have often been frustrating. The aim of this dissertation is to highlight the areas where social

anthropology could contribute in aiding and shaping development strategies. It identifies a central

weakness of rural development policies, namely the misunderstanding of peasants’ agency, and

argues that an anthropological approach could give a better account of it.

The dissertation starts by presenting the main theories related to peasantry and their

implementation in rural development policies, arguing that these approaches problematically

employ a reductionist conception of peasants’ agency that is defined by either resistance or

assimilation to the market system. These approaches are then assessed through the analysis of

cotton plantations in Korhogo, northern Ivory Coast. This case exposes the complex interactions

between peasants and developers, as well as the dynamics operating in the peasants’ society. In

order to uncover these dynamics it is necessary to overcome mainstream approaches, focusing on

the various agencies of peasants and on their relations to the context. The approaches proposed by

Long (2001) and Olivier de Sardan (1988; 2004) constitute useful theoretical tools to achieve this

task. Moreover, they can be productively coupled with Sahlin’s (1999; 2000) model of indigenization,

which locates local actors’ agency in the context of globalization. Through the use of these

categories, the dissertation describes the complexity of the case study, and emphases the

importance of those strategies related to the interaction between peasants’ agencies and rural

development policies. These findings suggest two areas where anthropology could engage in fruitful

dialogue with rural development: the management of common resources and the analysis of local

knowledge and practices. Furthermore, if the category of peasants is understood to describe actors

located on the boundary between different productions systems, analyses focusing on their

interactions with different external inputs could be an important point of view for the study of local

communities’ interactions with globalization process. An anthropological approach to peasantry

therefore has both theoretical and practical relevance, and could constitute an important arena for

future research to add to and shape the recent interest of mainstream development agencies for

rural African development.

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 4

2. African peasants and rural development........................................................................................ 6

2.1 The concept of peasantry ................................................................................................... 6

2.2 The problem of African peasantry ...................................................................................... 8

2.3 African peasants and rural development .......................................................................... 10

3. Cotton plantation and rural development: the case of Senufo peasants ....................................... 13

3.1 The Senufo of Korhogo ..................................................................................................... 13

3.2 Cotton in Korhogo: from resistance against colonial imposition to the boom of 1960s ..... 14

3.3 Senufo strategies in the SAP era ....................................................................................... 17

4 Analysing Senufo development: a pattern for complexity ........................................................ 21

4.1 The complex interaction between Senufo and development ............................................ 21

4.2 Interpreting complexity: from the modernization of indigenous to indigenization of the

modernity.................................................................................................................................... 23

4.3 Implications for Anthropology and Development ............................................................. 25

5. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 27

6. Bibliography ................................................................................................................................ 29

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1. Introduction

Rural development is a major contemporary issue for Sub-Saharan Africa. The dramatic increase in

food prices in the period between 2006 and 2008 harshly affected the livelihood of peasants and

changed the economic and social environment of the countryside (IFAD, 2010). Moreover African

rural development has generally been regarded as difficult and as generating frustrating and

unexpected outcomes (Hyden, 1986; Cooper, 2002; Bates, 2005). As a result, the need to focus on

rural development in this region has recently been placed on main-stream development agendas

(World Bank, 2007), and the concepts of livelihood, participation and sustainability are being

considered key tools for this current wave of intervention (Scoones, 2009).

Bearing in mind these key concepts, questions on the nature of the role of peasants in rural

development inevitably arise. Can peasants play an active part in rural development or are they

confined to the role of target groups for policies that were planned elsewhere? If peasants can

indeed be active actors, what could the outcomes of their participation to development policies be?

I will argue that a crucial weakness of rural development models lies in their inability to explain

peasants’ behaviour, and that the main reason for this shortcoming is a reductionist approach that

results in simplifying their scope for agency. Social anthropologists have developed a method

focused on the interaction between development agents and rural communities (Olivier de Sardan,

1988, 2004; Long 2001) and a theoretical framework that emphasizes the abilities of local actors to

appropriate and re-use in original ways external concepts and practices (Sahlins, 1999; 2000). A

critical assessment of peasantry theories and of rural development policies through an

anthropological approach could uncover the complex role of peasants in development.

In this dissertation I use the term peasants, despite the fact that most of the main development

actors, such as the World Bank and the FAO, prefer the terms small-holder farmers. I find the term

peasant more adequate for emphasizing the limits of development approaches and the contribution

social anthropology could bring to the issue. A crucial aspect of peasantry relies on its location at the

border between two commonly juxtaposed types of production systems: peasantry is thus

considered a “transitional category (…) from relatively dispersed, isolated and self-sufficient

communities towards fully integrated market economies” (Ellis, 1988; 5). This idea of transition

arguably tends to result in reducing the scope for agency of peasants because it either views them as

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being assimilated by or as resisting market economies. Furthermore, the concept of peasantry itself

could be seen as underemphasizing the complexity of peasant societies by glossing over arrays of

heterogeneous, stratified and conflicting actors and reducing it to a homogenous group expressing

“a distinctive internal logic” (Bernstein, 2001; 6). Despite these limitations, though, I find the term

peasantry productive, as it is a heuristically relevant category whose weakness could be turned into

strengths. By embracing its duality, the focus could be put on it as a binding and heterogeneous

category, rather than as a transitional and homogenous one. When approaching peasantry as a

complex ensemble of individuals acting from the boundaries between different socio – economic

systems, an anthropological approach could highlight peasants’ ability to deal in an original way with

different inputs and pressures, becoming, in so doing, active social actors. The same approach could

also enable a deeper comprehension of the power relations that are at work within peasant

societies, and the different agencies and strategies developed within them as a result.

As anthropological analysis is grounded on the realities of the field, its workings can be assessed by

focusing on a specific case. I found the Senufo cotton plantation in the Korhogo Region, northern

Ivory Coast, particularly suitable because of the variety of actions and outcomes that have been

experienced by locals over time (Bassett, 2001). My analysis of this case does not claim to be

representative of the entire African context, or indeed exhaustive and conclusive. However, it will

hopefully outline the main issues related to the topic and suggest a framework with which to tackle

it.

In the first part of this dissertation I summarize the main models used when working on rural

development. I show how they share a common conceptual weakness that make them unfit for

understanding peasants’ agency. I assess the explanatory abilities of these models in the second

part, through the analysis of cotton plantation in northern Ivory Coast. I emphasize the complexity

and the variety in this context and I argue, in the last chapter, that this complexity could be better

explained through Anthropology analytical tools and related to the broader approach of complexity

developed by Sahlins. I then draw some general conclusions and suggestions about fields where this

method can be applied.

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2. African peasants and rural development

This section outlines the theoretical framework regarding African peasantry and its relation with

rural development. It is divided in three parts: the first presents the main contemporary1 theories

about peasantry; the second explores how the concept of peasantry has been applied to Africa; the

third explains rural development in Africa and its effect over peasantry.

2.1 The concept of peasantry

Peasantry is an ambiguous term, as it encompasses a wide range of realities and it is difficult to

define (Isaacman, 1990; 1). A significant effort to turn it into a useful analytical category was carried

out by some American anthropologists. Kroeber defines peasants as a group in “an intermediate

place” between rural and urban life (1948; 284). Despite living in rural areas, peasants are inevitably

inserted in broader exchange systems together with urban realities. Wolf builds on this definition in

order to distinguish peasants from farmers and primitive societies. Farmers “operate an enterprise

in the economic sense”, while the unit of production for peasants is the family (1966; 3). The

distinction with primitive societies, on the other hand, is based on the division of surplus: in

primitive societies “surpluses are exchanged among groups or member of groups”, while peasants

have to transfer them to “a dominant group of rulers” (1966; 3 – 4). These two differences are at the

root of Ellis’s definition of peasantry as a “transitional category” (1988; 5) and constitute the reasons

for its critical position, as peasants have to produce a surplus for the dominant group, but their

production system is based on family labour and focuses on subsistence. This “dilemma”, using

Wolf’s words (1966; 12), makes up the core of peasantry theories, and the ways in which academics

tackle it sets up distinct theoretical frameworks.

Basing myself on key peasantry analysis texts (Harriss, 1982; Brass, 2000; Bernstein, 2010), I identify

two broad ways to approach this dualism: the modernist and the populist2. The former is based on

the idea that the pressure exerted on peasants by dominant groups will led them to modify their

1 For reason of space I resumed the debate on peasantry with literature from the 1950s onwards, as it is the

most relevant for the scope of this dissertation. 2 I found this distinction more useful in order to focus on agency’s issues and to relate peasantry theories to rural development policies than the distinction between formalist and substantivist approaches outlined by Bryceson (2000).

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behaviour in order to be integrated in broader economic systems. Two different theories share this

assumption.

The core argument of the modernization theory is that developing countries will pass through the

same stages of development that have already been undertaken by developed countries (Rostow,

1960). Therefore they will establish modern value systems and institutions, where production aims

at commercialization rather than subsistence (Apter, 1965; 43 – 50). Geertz’s work on Indonesia

emphasizes the complexity of the process that moves rural societies “from a peasant-village

economy toward a firm-type economy” (1963b; 83). This process is “hesitant and circumscribed”

(1963b; 83), as it requires actors to overcome old “attitudes, beliefs and values” (1963b; 141). It can

be delayed by historical or ecological contingencies, like in Java, where agricultural production

increased throughout the colonial period via a strong exploitation of this existing method, without a

“transition to modernism” (1963a; 83). However, while recognising different “road to take-off”

(1963b; 153), the “transition to a modern society” is never doubted (1963b; 4).

A similar position is shared by the Marxist framework. Employing Marxist tools, Meillassoux shows

that the “obsolete organization” of peasantry “is maintained as long as possible” (1973; 89) as it is

the cheapest way to provide food and workforce for the industrial sector. Thus the particular

position of peasants results from the needs of capitalist society, which integrates them in the market

economy through the exploitation of both their surplus products and the workforce they provide the

system with. This “long and painful” (1973; 89) process, which has the effect of destroying peasants’

“organic ties of solidarity” (1983; 59), is described as inescapable. According to this theory, and

similarly to the modernization theory, peasants’ dualism will be solved through their assimilation in

the market system.

The populist approach is based on the opposite assumption: it refutes the idea that peasants will be

necessarily assimilated by the market economy, and identifies an alternative model in the

organization of peasant societies. Basing himself on the theory elaborated by Chayanov3 (1986),

which shows that peasants’ economy stems from different and independent logics than the

capitalist ones, Scott outlines the main features of what he defines as the “moral economy” (1977;

3) of peasants. In his framework, the need to produce a surplus in subsistence-oriented economic

systems is approached not as a contradiction or an imposition, but rather as a strategy. In fact,

considering “the vagaries of the weather and the claims of the outsiders, the peasant household has

3 Chayanov’s work also inspired Sahlins (1972) and his ‘domestic mode of production’ model, which analyses

different economic systems alternatives to market economy.

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little scope for the profit maximization”, and so is focused on avoiding “the failure that will ruin him”

(1977; 4). Therefore, peasants prefer those institutions and patronage relations which Meillassoux

defined as “obsolete” (1973; 89) because they allow him to “minimize the risk of subsistence” (Scott,

1977; 55).

Despite the fact that these views encapsulate opposing takes on the evolution of peasantry, these

approaches share a focus on labour organization and unequal relations with external actors that

were implied in Wolf’s definition. The next section analyses the particularities related to the

application of the category of peasants to the African context.

2.2 The problem of African peasantry

The use of the concept of peasantry for analysing Sub-Saharan African societies has been

problematic. The first who did field work in Africa were structural-functionalist anthropologists, who

defined their societies as primitive and closed. They mainly focused on local social structures,

especially on kinship (Fortes, 1945; Radcliff-Brown, 1950), by abstracting them from the context of

colonization and considering them as fixed institution. A consequence of this approach was to ignore

the interface between subsistence-oriented economies and market societies that constitutes the

core of peasantry. Therefore, peasants “as economically and politically dominated social category

were conspicuously absent from the literature” (Isaacman, 1990; 6).

During the 1950s, anthropologists focused on the interaction between African populations and

colonial powers, and on the changes that occurred in relation to it. Worsley (1956) criticized the

rigidity of structural-functionalist analysis of kinship, while Gluckman (1958) embarked on a new

kind of approach, which became the basis of the Manchester school. This approach overcame the

structural-functionalists static descriptions of African societies by focusing on their “processes of

conflict and conflict resolution” (Kuper, 1996; 143) and considering their interactions with colonial

power. The works of the Manchester school show the dynamicity and complexity of African

societies. Moreover, they highlight the ways in which traditional institutions were not erased, but

acquired “new functions” in new contexts (Sahlins, 2000; 523). While acknowledging the importance

of these findings, Isaacman notes that peasants as “a social category and as political actors making

their own history remained all but invisible” (1990; 7). Ranger seconds this conclusion, arguing that

“until the 1960s African cultivators had been discussed as ‘tribesmen’ rather than as ‘peasants’” and

were consequently “treated primarily as members of immemorial tribal societies” (1987; 313 – 314).

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Therefore since the 1960s the use of the peasant category for analysing rural African realities made

it possible to open up new fields of analysis. At the same time, the effort to outline “the particular

features of African peasantries” (Ranger, 1987; 314) enriched the field of peasants’ studies and

highlighted the particularity of the African context. In an effort to pursue the latter, Klein notes how

often he found a “lack of a well-defined landowner class” and general “low populations densities”,

with consequent land availability (1980; 12 – 13). Another aspect of African peasantry emphasized

by Bernstein (1979) and Hyden (1986) is the late colonization of Africa and its consequently late

inclusion in the global agricultural market.

Focusing on African peasants and their peculiarities, scholars carried out different targeted studies

especially in the field of land tenure (Reyna, 1988; Berry, 1993). Yet apart from these kinds of work,

rural development issues have been usually tackled through broader models, locating peasants in

the context of capitalist development and giving a linear view of their changes over time. As a result,

Hill argues that the word peasant in development studies and practice is “the semantic successor of

‘native’, incorporating all its condescending, derogatory and even racist overtone” (1986; 9).

Therefore the breakthrough related to the use of this category did not only result in placing rural

Africans in the picture: it also inscribed them in a particular version of history. In this version African

populations get access to the possibility of change only when integrated by Europeans in their

political systems through colonization (Ellis, 2001; 9 - 10). While Hill’s criticism of the use of the

peasantry category underemphasizes the heuristic importance of this category, the conclusion that

African peasantry tends to be defined in relation to capitalist development seems plausible.

I summarized the debate on African peasantry by outlining two distinct takes: one is focused on the

particular way peasants have been integrated in the market system; the other on their ability to

resist assimilation to the capitalist system. The main proponent of the first approach is Bernstein. He

shares with Meillassoux (1973; 1986) the conviction that African peasants are fully involved in

capitalist markets and the focus on the “social relations of production in specific concrete

conditions” (Bernstein, 1979; 422). However, he claims that peasants’ logic of subsistence has been

integrated in the market system in a more complex way than as simple providers of food and

workforce. His analysis starts from the colonial period, when the “natural economy”, which satisfied

people’s basic needs through “the production (and simple exchange) of use-values”, was destroyed

by “the penetration of commodity relations” (1979; 423 - 424). African peasants were then turned

into “simple commodity producers”: they produced commodities for the markets but, at the same

time, kept control “over the organisation of production” (Bernstein, 1979; 425). This kind of

production could not be defined as capitalist, as it is driven by the “logic of subsistence” rather than

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by the “appropriation and realisation of surplus-value” (Bernstein, 1979; 425), but it is based on

commodity production and exchange. Thus, African peasants are fully involved in markets as

“producers of surplus-value”, even while acting according to the logic of subsistence (Bernstein,

1979; 436).

Hyden reaches opposite conclusions by emphasizing the capability of African peasants to resist

inclusion in the market. Similarly to Bernstein, he begins his analysis from Tanzania’s case and notes

how “rural small-holder producers” who are independent and non-integrated in “cash economy”

form the backbone of national agricultural production (1980; 10). He relates this to the general

inability of African state authorities, dating back to colonial times, to promote “fundamental social

changes”, as peasants have always had the opportunity to withdraw from the market and turn to

subsistence production (1986; 687 - 689). Therefore in Africa institutions that could “generate new

relations of production” were rejected (1986; 699). Hyden then argues that African peasantry is still

un-captured by the capitalist system and this is what makes it “unique in the current global context”

(1986; 678).

Although based on opposite interpretations of peasants’ integration in global markets, these models

share some basic assumptions. They base their analysis on the duality of peasants, who move

between market and subsistence economies. Both give importance to the peculiarities of African

social organization. At the same time, they place African peasantry in a global process, defining it in

relation with the structures of the capitalist market and the modern state. As in this process rural

development policies played a crucial role the next section will directly tackle this topic.

2.3 African peasants and rural development

Development is a crucial concept for any analysis focused on peasantry. When viewing peasantry as

a transitional category, peasants are constitutively moving between market-oriented and

subsistence-oriented production (Ellis, 1988; 5). Thus development policies should explain and

address the actions of peasants when moving between these two systems. Furthermore, African

peasants’ integration in the market has been the cornerstone of all efforts aimed at developing

agricultural production (Bernstein, 1979, 2010). Understanding the effects of this process is hence

vital.

Mainstream development policies have traditionally been rooted in the modernist approach, which

was also shared by both colonial and post-colonial states (Apter, 1965; Bernstein, 1990; Long, 2001).

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In Africa these kinds of policies arose after decolonization, since Europeans were previously

reluctant to implement “‘development’ plans that would have entailed the use of metropolitan

funds” (Cooper, 2002; 17). After independencies, post-colonial states started what Bernstein defines

as “developmentalism” policies, oriented to “a more productive agriculture based in deepening

commodity relations” (2010; 74). In Africa developmentalism has been implemented by states and

has been based on export production. National boards were crucial institutions for this drive, as they

supplied peasants with credit and technical inputs and bought crops at fixed prices. Bates (2005)

explains their double function: they fuelled the production of agricultural commodities, subsidizing

technical inputs, while at the same time, paying producers a price “well below world market prices”

(2005; 28), so as to obtain a surplus to invest for industrial development.

The works of Bernstein (1979) and Hyden (1986) show that these policies did not erase the

uniqueness of African social organization. Despite the changes brought about by commodities

production development, the family unit remained the backbone of rural economy. Its “flexibility”

enabled it to adapt to new conditions (Cooper, 2002; 95). This development model was able to

guarantee a relative stability and a slow growth until the beginning of the 1970s. An important

breakthrough was caused by the global crisis of 1973. This crisis was the beginning of a tough decade

that saw raw material prices skyrocketing, whiles those of agricultural commodities progressively

plunging. African states were caught unprepared and, in an effort to sustain their economies, fell

into debt. Moreover, the emphasis on commodities production and the demographic growth made

many countries vulnerable to food insecurity, pushing states to ask support from multilateral

agencies (Cooper, 2002; 93 - 99). These events determined the end of state-led development in

Africa and the shift to the so-called neoliberal model (Bernstein, 1990; Cooper, 2002, 105 – 118).

Multilateral agencies proposed Africa a new strategy. In the so called Berg report (World Bank,

1981), a document that resumes the approach that was emerging during the 1970s and that set the

policies for the 1980s, state interference in the market was blamed for the unsatisfactory

performances of the economy. The prescribed solution was a set of reforms aimed at leading

peasants towards fully profit-oriented behaviour, which would guarantee more efficient “resources

allocations” (Bernstein, 1990; 6). Thus, multilateral agencies urged states to cut subsidies and

liberalize agriculture markets, binding loan grants to the implementation of the required Structural

Adjustment Plan (SAP). This strategy constituted the backbone of rural development throughout the

1980s and 1990s (World Bank, 1981; Scoones, 2009). Its economical outcomes were controversial.

The levels of production have generally tended to decrease as the reduction of subsidies for

technical inputs and the tight on credit reduced peasants’ productivity (Bernstein, 1990, 2010). It

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also generated tensions over access to resources: to compensate for the fall of productivity, farming

areas were expanded, placing more pressure over land and water resources (Reyna, 1987).

The neoliberal approach set the theoretical framework for the contemporary debate. A crucial

aspect of this approach is the vanishing of peasants. Allen notes that the Berg report (World Bank,

1981) “avoided the term peasants”, assuming a rural Africa “inhabited by a mass of property

owning, profit maximizing individuals” (1986; 439). Thus the peculiarities of the rural African

production systems were related to a weakness of the institutional system. By employing the right

sets of reforms, peasants’ dualism would be finally solved through their transformation into modern

farmers. Bernstein sees in this policy a move “towards private (corporate) regulation of the food

global economy”, with a consequent “increasing corporate control both upstream and downstream

of farming” (2010; 81 – 82). By extending the power of the agribusiness corporation through market

deregulation, neoliberal policies harshly affect peasants (2010; 85), who are pushed to “the

economic ‘spaces’ for agricultural petty commodity production” (2001; 46).

Other criticisms of the neoliberal policies are based on a populist perspective and target

development as broader concept. These critics denounce the imposition of a standard institutional

set, which homologates any kind of knowledge to a whole range of Western practices. Two

approaches share this assumption: one is based on Chamber’s (1986) emphasis on local knowledge

and Scott’s (1998) research about the variety of local skills. These scholars propose a more

participative approach to development, which sees peasants as active actors and valorises their

particular skills and practices. The second comes from post-modern critics of development. They

claim that development policies are expanding a hegemonic power that erases local communities’

knowledge and strengthens modern states’ ability to control them (Ferguson, 1990; Escobar, 1990).

These critics emphasize local knowledge as well, but rather than aiming to improve it through more

targeted policies, they look for radical alternatives in the social movements spreading against

neoliberalism.

These critics affected the development approach and were partially integrated in the neoliberal

paradigm through the focus on livelihood, participation and sustainability during the 1990s (Scoones,

2009). The debate on this topic is still open, especially in the light of growing attention to rural

development (World Bank, 2007). I nevertheless believe that all these approaches are

underemphasizing the complexity of peasants’ behaviour. In the next chapter I explore this

complexity through the case of cotton farming in northern Ivory Coast.

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3. Cotton plantation and rural development: the case of Senufo

peasants

This section analyses the complexity of peasants’ behaviour through a case study. The first part

outlines the reasons which make Senufo’s case fit for this analysis; the second presents the

evolution of cotton farming until the 1970s; the third analyses the policies related to the crisis of the

1980s and the main dynamics they engendered.

3.1 The Senufo of Korhogo

The Korhogo department is a rural area of northern Ivory Coast, at the border with Mali and Burkina

Faso, between 8’ and 11’ north latitude. It is located in the savannah region, which has a dry climate,

and food production mainly consists in cereal cultivation. The Senufo are one of the largest

populations in the area, and are primarily committed to farming activities. Their peasant identity

traditionally distinguishes them from the other inhabitants of the department: the Dyula, a

Mandinke group of traders, and the Fulani, nomadic herders (Bassett, 2001; 16 – 20).

I found the case of the Senufo particularly suitable to think through this work for two reasons. First,

Senufo identity has been related to peasantry since the colonial era, and the policies concerning

their development have always been focused on their farming abilities (Holas, 1957; Coulibaly,

1960). Therefore their interactions with colonial and post-colonial authorities represent a good

opportunity to assess both the effectiveness of development policies and the conditions and

outcomes of eventual resistance to it. Moreover, Senufo were involved in cotton plantation since

the pre-colonial era, and cotton is the fittest cash crop for the savannah environment. Thus export-

oriented cotton farming has been the cornerstone of all rural development initiatives in Korhogo,

coupled with different policies and outcomes (Bassett, 2001). This is the second reason that makes

this case relevant. The complex dynamics related to development policies and its changes highlight

the complexity of the topic and the role played by local peasants.

My analysis focuses on the historical evolution of cotton farming in Korhogo, and is based on the

dynamics analysed by scholars at the grassroots level. This case could not be considered as

representative of the whole of African peasantry. Moreover, because of the civil war in the Ivory

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Coast which started in 2002, there is a ten year gap in the literature. As a consequence, the

reconstruction of the rural development process presents the main dynamics until the 1990s.

However, my purpose is not to outline the central features of an abstract ‘African peasantry’, nor is

it to directly tackle the issues of the recent food crisis. Rather, I want to propose a method and a

theoretical framework that could effectively be applied to African peasant and rural development

issues. I think the analysis of this case gives relevant evidence and findings related to these topics.

3.2 Cotton in Korhogo: from resistance against colonial imposition to the

boom of 1960s

The French described the average Senufo as an “excellent farmer4” (Holas, 1957; 58) and, as they

were already involved in cotton plantation, the exploitation of the Korhogo area for large-scale

cotton production seemed like a feasible project. During the 1920s and the 1930s they pushed the

Senufo to increase export-oriented production. Although local Senufo authorities were involved in

the French administration system, the mobilization of peasants was difficult and rarely did the

production levels satisfy government targets. Considering that the “three peaks in cotton exports

correspond to periods of heightened coercion” (Bassett, 2001; 52), the lack of collaboration by

Senufo peasants appears to be of crucial importance. Bassett explains this resistance via historical

factors: the Senufo were already involved in trade relations with Dyula, who used to buy cotton for

weaving and food for private consumption. He notes that Dyula “paid higher prices and offered

easier marketing arrangements than Europeans”. Furthermore, the food trade “encouraged

peasants to neglect cotton in favour of yams and rice when the prices of these foodstuffs were more

attractive” (2001; 52 – 53).

The Senufo, then, optimized their trades with the Dyula and were able to pay the taxes imposed by

the colonial government without converting all production into exports. Nevertheless, they could

not resist coercion. Thus, when the colonial government forced them, the levels of export-oriented

production rose. This situation enabled some peaks in production, but could not lead to a stable

growth. As a result, cotton export records were unsatisfactory in the period between 1912 and 1945,

while Senufo trade relations with the Dyula survived despite the aggressive French competition

(Bassett, 2001; 55).

4 “Excellent agriculteur”, my translation

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This form of resistance managed to put pressure on French authorities and drove them to take a

different approach. This process was enhanced after World War II. Cooper notes that “the colonial

state in the 1950s (…) was already much transformed” and was able to “obtain knowledge about all

dimension of life within its territory and to intervene in many of them” (2002; 87 – 88). In French

Western Africa representatives of indigenous populations were involved in the administration, and

so more targeted reforms were implemented. Two changes were decisive for Korhogo: the abolition

of forced labour in 1946 and the development of the Ivory Coast southern regions for cocoa and

coffee production during the 1950s (Bassett, 2001; 94 – 103). These changes created new

opportunities for the Senufo, especially among the youth. The labour of young people in Senufo

society was traditionally under the control of the katiolofolo, the Senufo household head, and was

focused on the segbo, the collective household field. Furthermore, after poro, the Senufo initiation

ritual, youths were expected to be at the disposal of the chief for working in his field (Bassett, 2001;

132 – 136). The colonial authorities strengthened these forms of control, making them more

coercive and unpopular (Coulibay, 1960; 27). Thus the “replacement of forced local labourers with

voluntary migrant labour” (Hellweg, 2011; 33) in the southern regions’ plantations constituted, for

young Senufo, an opportunity to get rid of oppressive constrictions.

In this context the institutional reforms implemented by the colonial and post-colonial

administration to foster cotton production were successful. The creation of the IRCT (Institute for

research in cotton and exotic textiles)5 in 1946 and of the CFDT (French company for the

development of textile fibres)6 in 1949 became the basis of these reforms (Bassett, 2001; 104 – 106).

These institutions, supported by the government of the Ivory Coast after independence7, acted with

the aim of making cotton production profitable for peasants. The CFDT introduced a high harvesting

variety of cotton in 1959 called Allen, along with a package of inputs which included credit, pesticide

and fertilizer supplies. Moreover, the CFDT became a monopsony on the cotton market and

guaranteed an attractive fixed price for this quality of cotton (Bassett, 2001; 104 – 106). Yet the

imposition of Allen was a long and coercive process. As Allen could not be intercropped with food

crops, many peasants preferred the old seeds. Furthermore, as argued by Peltre-Wurtz (1976) these

5 Institut de Recherches du Coton et des Textiles Exotiques, as translated by Bassett (2001; 88)

6 Compagnie Francaise pour le Developpement des fibres Textiles, as translated by Bassett (2001; 90) 7 In 1974 a national agency was created called the CIDT, Compagnie Ivorienne pour le Developpement des fibres Textiles (Ivory Company for the Development of Textile Fibres, my translation), which is owned by the Ivorian government and works in partnership with the CFDT (Le Roy, 1999; 201).

16

new technologies lead to “an overburdening of agricultural works time8” which were hard to bear

for peasants, especially in the context of reduced control over the labour of the youth.

Senufo resistance to Allen was implemented through uncoordinated acts of sabotage. The reaction

of authorities was highly coercive and effectively obliged peasants to farm Allen seeds (Bassett,

2001; 107 – 114). Finally Allen plantations spread: the area under cultivation rose from 2.518 ha in

1963 to 48.000 ha in 1968 and the production was successful throughout the 1960s and 1970s

(Bassett, 2001; 112). According to Le Roy, the imposition of this variety gave cotton a “new

economic function9” (1999; 201), enabling the development of a market-oriented mentality.

Following a modernist approach, he concludes that this mentality, along with the effectiveness of

new technologies, were the main reasons for the cotton boom (1999; 201 - 203). However, this

description does not account for the complexity of the processes involved in this change. People’s

attitudes towards Allen were not uniform among the Senufo. On the contrary, many among the

youth considered the new seeds an opportunity. Through Allen they could increase their income and

become emancipated from the control of the elders. Bassett’s interviews with former development

agents reports that they were aware of this generational gap and used to ask youths to start Allen

plantations. They knew youths were more motivated and thought that if they had good outcomes

using Allen, other peasants would follow their example (2001; 107 – 114).

Hence the imposition of mono-cropping cotton was a complex process. Colonial and post-colonial

states forced the Senufo to accept it both through incentives and coercion. These pressures came

along at the same time as social transformation among the Senufo, which made people’s reactions

to them heterogeneous. Despite being in a context of general resistance, many Senufo youths

accepted the new seeds, partially due to a lack of alternatives, partially because the political changes

after World War II gave them more room for manoeuvre and a stronger will for emancipation

(Bassett, 2001; 107 – 114). The effectiveness of this technology boosted on-going transformations.

The traditional intercropping between food crops and cash crops was no longer possible and the

amount of labour required increased and became distributed differently (Peltre-Wurtz, 1976).

Therefore the Senufo had to adapt to novel circumstances: they reduced millet plantation, whose

harvest overlapped with that of cotton, and replaced it with the more suitable one of rice and maize.

The traditional calendar was reshaped, postponing the period for funeral celebration and

interpreting flexibly the tiandin, the Senufo traditional rest days. Finally, the introduction of ox-

8 “Alourdissement des temps de travaux agricole”, my translation.

9 “Nouvelle fonction economique”, my translation.

17

plough, fertilizers and herbicides was accompanied by a reshaping of the rotation of fields, in order

to adapt it to the needs of the new technologies (Bassett, 2001; 136 – 143).

Cotton plantation spread because of the effective interaction between peasants’ knowledge and

intentions and external inputs. These changes affected social life. Bassett reports that household

heads both pressurized youths not to leave their family and offered them more land for private

fields in order to keep their support in the segbo. At the same time, there were revolts of tyolobele,

the youths who graduated from the poro, against their chiefs, as the time for farming was becoming

scarcer and the imposition to work freely for chiefs more difficult to sustain (2001; 132 - 136). Le

Roy summarizes these transformations arguing that chiefs were losing authority on people while

keeping control “over the goods”10 (1982; 70). Forster (1998) emphasizes the increasing social

polarization, as not all households had the same abilities to adapt to this new context. The tensions

and contradictions related to these changes emerged during SAP’s implementation period, which

harshly affected cotton production.

3.3 Senufo strategies in the SAP era

Two external factors supported the cotton boom: the high prices of commodities in the global

market and the subsided technical inputs, which made investment in cotton profitable. This system

worked effectively during the 1970s in all of rural Ivory Coast, and during that period the country

was considered a successful development model (World Bank, 1978). Moreover, as the southern

region benefited more from commodities export income, in the 1970s President Houphouet-Boigny

started a policy of infrastructural investment in the north, in order to reduce the gap between these

regions (Le Guen, 2004). Thus cotton revenues and state investment curbed social inequalities and

tensions in Korhogo.

The downturn of this trend began in the 1980s, when world cotton prices lowered and the state

reduced its intervention. Bassett emphasizes two points that affected the Senufo: the tightening of

subsidies for inputs and the cutting of prices paid to producers (2001; 147 – 151). These changes

were accompanied by the launch of a new seed quality, the GL7, which was expected to improve the

productivity and compensate for the reduction of subsidies. According to the World Bank (1981)

strategy these reforms should lead peasants to a more efficient use of resources. However, this did

not turn out to be the case. The Senufo responded to these measures by slashing the use of

technical input in order to cut on expenditures. This reduced, rather than optimized, productivity.

10 “Sur les biens”, my translation

18

They then reacted to productivity reduction with the extension of farmed surfaces and crop

diversification (Bassett, 2001; 151 – 163).

Scholars emphasize, as main consequences of these changes, a growing social polarization and

tension, related to household ability to strengthen control over land and labour (Forster, 1998;

Bassett, 2001, 2002). Land became a crucial social arena where these changes were played out.

Among Senufo private land ownership had never existed. The owner of the land are “the creature of

wilderness” (Forster, 1998; 103), and all activities regarding land should be done according to its will.

The role of the taarfolo, which Forster translates as “earth priest” (1998; 104), is to mediate

between the world of these creatures and the human world. Thus, he establishes the areas where

and the periods when it is possible to farm and, through appropriate rituals, allow peasants to farm

suitable plots of land. The taarfolo used to receive tardan, a symbolic gift, from the user of the land

for performing these rituals (Forster, 1998; 104 - 105). The transformations of the 1980s affected

this system. Land availability had already been put under pressure because of its use by Fulani

herders. Their presence increased since 1960s because of changing climate conditions and the

growing cattle-market of the Ivory Coast (Le Guen, 2004; 5 - 8). The extension of farmed surface

further contributed to these pressures. A consequence of this was the growing importance of land

control, which was used by the traditional elite group as a source of income. The tardan

progressively became a regular cash payment (Bassett, Kone, 2008; 14), while the traditional

limitations related to growing certain kinds of crops were ignored (Forster, 1998; 111). Thus, the

main consequence of growing land competition was to turn the control “over the goods”11 described

by Le Roy (1982; 70) into a precious resource for the “Senufo household” in order to “augment

incomes that have fallen as a result of structural adjustment policies” (Bassett, Kone, 2008; 14).

Another arena where household heads used the crisis to reinforce their authority was women’s

labour. The use of new technologies reduced the importance of physical strength in agricultural

labour and so augmented women’s possibility to work (Bassett, 2001; 134 – 136). This tendency

though was reversed during the cotton crisis. The expansion of farming along with the reduction of

inputs made the control over labour a crucial issue for the households. Senufo men implemented

several strategies. One was a restrictive interpretation of the traditional farming calendar, which

reduced women’s time for cotton farming. Refusing to support them in tasks they could not

accomplish alone was another tactic. The traditional land tenure system, which does not allow

women entitlement over land, was what gave men the most effective leverage, as they could simply

11 “Sur les biens”, my translation

19

refuse women access to cotton fields registered under their name (Bassett, 2002; 363 – 366).

Though women’s efforts to defend their role were strong, during the 1990s Bassett reports “a

dramatic decline in women’s cotton” (2002; 368), which reversed previous changes.

Another consequence of the cotton crisis was the search of alternative kind of production. To this

end, social relations with the Dyula in order to implement profitable local trades were once again

crucial. Launay (1999) emphasizes the increasing permeability of ethnic divisions between the

Senufo and the Dyula as a strategy to access the food market. Ivory Coast trades are traditionally

based on Muslim networks, where the Dyula were the predominant, but not exclusive, group.

Conversion to Islam then became a suitable strategy for the Senufo in order to gain access to this

network and, at the same time, to benefit “from *their+ ties with local producers” (Launay, 1999;

287). The relations with the Dyula therefore supported the Senufo shift to food production and

trade during the cotton crisis, giving them more room for manoeuvre, as had already occurred

during the resistance to French rule (Bassett, 2001). Another strategy was the use of the dam basins

area for market gardening. During the 1970s governments built several dams in Korhogo in order to

have permanent water basins. These basins should have facilitated the Fulani herder settlements.

Senufo employed these water reservoirs in order to farm those kinds of crops which were difficult to

grow in Korhogo due to water scarcity. These strategies enabled growth in food production

throughout the 1990s, with “outcomes sometimes spectacular in some villages”12 (Le Guen, 2004;

11), like the fact that Senufo tomatoes and onions were sold even in the Abidjan market, about 500

km fare from Korhogo.

A common aspect of these reactions is the lack of coordination among peasants. Different

individuals implemented their own strategies to reduce the impact of the SAP. However, even in a

context of growing competition and tension, the Senufo were able to implement their most

cooperative resistance action against the CIDT. The introduction of GL7 seeds and the reduction of

prices in 1991 were strongly opposed. GL7 seeds, even while assuring a better harvest, required

more technical inputs and work that the Senufo had to invest in, while the prices offered by the CIDT

could not compensate for the national currency devaluation. Thus in December Korhogo peasants

organized a strike involving all the department producers, refusing to sell their cotton after

harvesting. The strike was effective and pushed for the first time the CIDT to directly negotiate with

peasants, which resulted in the renunciation of the GL7 and the modification of cotton prices

(Bassett, 2001; 162 – 165).

12

“Resultat parfois spectaculaires dans certains villages”, my translation.

20

In conclusion, it seems difficult to find a linear interpretation of the Senufo’s behaviour. Following

Bassett (2001), I emphasized three main moments: the initial refusal of export-oriented cotton

production, when the Senufo had the ability to resist French pressures; then the boom of export-

oriented production and its complex relation with the social context; and finally the effects of the

SAP, which led the Senufo to tighten their land and labour control and to diversify production. The

complexity of peasants’ agencies and social relations, as well as their variety, are the main outcomes

of this analysis. The next chapter proposes a model that is able to account for this complexity and for

the role the peasant category could play in it.

21

4 Analysing Senufo development: a pattern for complexity

This section outlines a method and a theoretical framework for dealing with peasantry complexity

and suggests research areas where it could be applied. The first part emphasizes some

methodological tools that can account for the Senufo case. The second relates these tools to the

broader idea of ‘indigenization’ proposed by Sahlins. The third presents particular topics where a

focus on peasantry through this approach could generate productive results.

4.1 The complex interaction between Senufo and development

The starting point of peasantry analysis was the dualism it entails between market and subsistence

production. This dualism has been confirmed by its application to this African case: peasantry has

usually been described through its relations with market, either as un-captured (Hyden, 1986) or as

exploited (Bernstein, 1979, 2010). Rural development policies took off from similar assumptions and

focused on driving peasants to a complete market-oriented approach, either via state incentives, or

via market-led policies. Resistance or assimilation to the market appears then the sole possible

choice for peasants. However Senufo’s case presents a more complex situation.

The Senufo avoided being captured by the French during the colonial period. Nevertheless, the

backbone of their resistance was not the retirement from the market, as implied by Hyden’s theory

(1986), or the boycott of modernization policies, as in Scott’s model (1977). Their actions were

primarily based on their relation with the Dyula. Pre-colonial trade relations gave the Senufo both

motivations and opportunities to resist French pressures. Though unable to resist coercion, they

successfully used their networks in order to prevent a total assimilation to French trade. Thus, they

chose a kind of market relation that suited them best. Through this resistance they could not

overcome the power relations at play, but they were able to handle them in order to obtain better

conditions. The main effect of their behaviour gained them more bargaining power after World War

II, which pushed state authorities to come up with incentives in order to foster cotton production.

The complexity of the switch to market-oriented production has already been explained. Regarding

this point, I found that the categories of selection and appropriation used by Olivier de Sardan (1988;

222 – 223) to explain the logics behind peasants’ actions could give a better account of Senufo

22

behaviours. Many youths selected new technology on their way to emancipation and appropriated

it, thereby reshaping the organisation of fields in order to make them suitable for their needs.

Quoting Long, they were able to “process information and strategize” (2001; 13), adapting their

abilities to new opportunities. Thus the complex whole of social changes was part of this intricate

negotiation process among “multiple rationalities, desires, capacities and practices” (2001; 15)

whose final outcome was the Senufo shift toward export-oriented production.

The capacity to appropriate external inputs is crucial also in the Senufo’s reactions to the SAP. The

use of the dams’ basins described by Le Guen (2004) shows their creative abilities: they started a

new kind of production cycle by appropriating resources deployed for other purposes. The same

manipulative attitudes could explain their relation to traditional rule. During the 1960, the Senufo

manipulated it on order to accommodate a holiday’s calendar with new seeds’ tasks. In the 1980s,

household heads reshaped it in order to take advantage of growing land competition and

compensate for the reduction of cotton’s income by rent-seeking. Therefore the flexible nature of

traditional land tenure is not an intrinsic qualitative aspect but, as argued by Berry (1993) and Peters

(2004), it is a consequence of peasants’ societies’ dynamicity. The tenure system is an expression of

social relations, and their appropriation by individuals for different purposes is part of the process of

social struggle. The switch from the tardan to land-lending described by Forster (1998) and Bassett

(2008) could be considered an outcome of this process, and the analysis of the local socio-economic

context is necessary for its comprehension.

This manipulation was also part of the strategies related to labour control. This process, as well as

the switch to food production, could support Bernstein’s petty commodity production model.

According to him, the policies implemented during the 1980s had the purpose to increase

“corporate control” (2010; 81) over farming and push peasant towards the provision of cheap petty

commodities. Thus the Senufo production diversification and labour squeeze could be explained as a

consequence of pressures from the global market system. However, Bernstein’s model overlooks

important internal dynamics and intentions. Bassett’s (2001) interviews in Korhogo show that the

tightening of labour control was not only a reaction to external pressures, but was also a strategy to

reaffirm men’s control over women. Furthermore, different researches (Coulibaly, 1960; Launay,

1999; Bassett, 2001) emphasize that food production has traditionally been a strategic resource for

the Senufo. It enabled them to resist French pressures and offered an alternative source of income

during market crises. These agencies and knowledge, necessarily grounded in this context, would be

ignored by analyses based on abstract models.

23

Bernstein’s model has the merit of relating different contexts dynamics to global policies (Harriss,

2000). However, when assessing these issues from a deductive approach it is not possible to account

for the grounded agencies and the knowledge employed on the field, which could crucially affect life

in a particular context. Therefore, the heterogeneous attitudes of the Senufo, which moved across

different kinds of markets appropriating diverse techniques and trades, would be absent in such an

analysis. These aspects need what Reyna calls an “inductive approach”, based on an empirical

analysis of “the local level” (1988; 2). This approach can allow scholars to understand the contextual

agencies of social actors and effectively interpret their behaviours. Through this method,

anthropologists could explain the strategic use peasants make of their position across market and

subsistence production, and could relate it to broader trends. A limitation of this method seems to

be the difficulty to generate general knowledge that is applicable in different contexts. The next

section outlines a theoretical framework to tackle this problem.

4.2 Interpreting complexity: from the modernization of indigenous to

indigenization of the modernity

The main finding of the Senufo case analysis lies in its complexity. Following Olivier de Sardan (1988)

and Long (2001), I explained this complexity by identifying as the cornerstone of peasants’ agency

their ability to combine internal and external inputs, due to their location at the boundaries of

different production systems. This ability to deal with different inputs constitutes the basis of

peasants’ active participation in rural development. I think that this ability could be integrated in the

processes of indigenization described by Sahlins. Through this category, Sahlins explains the way

modernity’s tools and institutions are elaborated by different social actors on local levels, and how

“externalities” are inserted “in local configuration”, turning them into something “different from

what they were” (1999; 412). The ability of peasants to appropriate external inputs could be

effectively interpreted through this framework and related to the broader indigenization process

that occurs with modern inputs in different local context. Sahlins’s approach is useful because it

refutes both the evolutionism of the modernization model and the populist assumption that

“money, market, and the relations of commodity production are incompatible with the organizations

of the so-called traditional societies” (2000; 516). On the contrary, it assumes that “their experiences

of capitalism is mediated by the habitus of an indigenous form of life” (Sahlins, 2000; 519). Through

this process external inputs “acquire indigenous logics, intelligibilities and effects” (Sahlins, 1999;

412) becoming, as a result, part of the local communities’ cultural order. This process makes local

24

actors able to interact with external inputs, as “without cultural order there is neither history nor

agency” (1999; 412). Therefore, local communities’ agency should not be reduced to resistance

against modernization or assimilation to it, but should be instead explored within its contextual

complexity.

Through this approach, market and subsistence, as well as resistance and assimilation, could be

viewed as options in a continuum, rather than abstract models, that peasants adapt to and enact

from their grounded context. Though its focus on local actors’ agency could lead this approach to

the same weakness of populist approaches, on the contrary it overcomes those limits. In fact, the

limit I found in the main populist approaches is related to what Olivier de Sardan calls ideological

populism, that is “a romantic vision” (2004; 9) of peasants’ knowledge and agencies. Chambers’s

emphasis on “more dynamic and up-to-date” local knowledge (1997; 173) and Scott’s concept of

metis as “forms of knowledge embedded in local experience” (1998; 311) implicitly assume these

knowledge as separate and more efficient than the “abstract knowledge deployed by the state and

its technical agencies” (1998; 311). A similar weakness could be attributed to Escobar’s hybrid

cultures, which are necessarily “critical” or “transgressive and humorous” of modernity (1995; 219).

These approaches define social actors and their skills and agencies as necessarily isolated or

opposed to external inputs, and in so doing they undervalue these actors’ “attempt” to order them

“according to their own system of the world” (Sahlins, 2000; 506). This process could be understood

through Olivier de Sardan methodological populism, which considers peasant “knowledge and

strategies (…) without commenting on their value or validity” (2004; 9).

Applying this model to African rural development is useful in highlighting the complexity of peasants’

behaviour. In fact, the processes of selection and appropriation are strategies that interact with

development policies and adapt their inputs in a suitable way. Thus rural development could be

described as an original process through which different actors combine a bundle of inputs in

various ways and with heterogeneous purposes. Acknowledging these multiple purposes and

processes enables the comprehension of peasants’ complex knowledge and agencies, highlighting

the various roles they can play. In this framework, peasants’ location across the market and

subsistence realms gives them a specific role, as they are able to interact with diverse inputs. This is

why I found peasantry’s dualism an added heuristic value rather than a limit: an analysis of it

through the idea of indigenization gives us access to a relevant spectrum of original and otherwise

possibly unnoticed processes. The last paragraph suggests some areas for the application of these

ideas.

25

4.3 Implications for Anthropology and Development

Peasants’ ability to originally act on the boundary between different productions systems could be

used to critically revise some of the assumptions underlying rural development policies. The findings

of this dissertation may point to the areas where social anthropology could provide a critical

contribution in the recent wave of interest towards rural development in Sub-Saharan Africa. My

aim is to focus especially on those issues where the comprehension of peasants’ agencies could be

an added value for the implementation of policies. This will hopefully ultimately contribute in

making the collaboration between anthropology and rural development more fruitful.

The last World Bank (2007) report on agriculture marks the start of a new focus on rural

development. It recognizes three different “worlds, one agriculture based, one transforming, one

urbanized” (2007; 1) and moves from the assumption of an “evolutionary path (…) from one country

type to another” (2007; 4). The main strategy for developing rural areas is the improvement of the

“productivity, profitability and sustainability of smallholder farming” (2007; 10), distinguishing

between market-oriented farmers, whose “competitiveness” should be increased, and “subsistence

farmers”, whose “livelihood and food security” should be guaranteed (2007; 20). Although the

peasantry category is not used, the dichotomy that is set up between profit and subsistence markets

is implicit in the two categories of farmers. This framework sets the conditions to drive farmers

towards more profitable attitudes. It shows, then, the weakness in interpreting the complexity of

peasants’ behaviours and intentions that was hypothesized in the introduction to this dissertation.

Moving from the observations made in previous sections, I identify two areas where an

anthropological approach could be effectively applied to overcome these limits.

The first is common resources management. According to the World Bank (2007) effective

development policies should prioritize and secure the access to most productive actors, in order to

make them able to foster agricultural production. Thus, an efficient land market “could improve

productivity” as well as access to irrigation systems (2007; 9). However, the analysis of the Senufo

case emphasizes the bundle of relations and strategies that regulate land access and deployment.

Control over land and the use of its resources are related to a set of dynamic practices embedded

within their social life. Consequently, focusing on it just as a tool for the increase of productivity

would not effectively regulate it. As argued by the FAO on its Land tenure studies, it is necessary to

consider the “multi-dimensional” approach of peasant communities (2002; 7). Regarding this point,

Ostner (1990) showed that local communities tend to develop their own approaches for managing

26

common resources, arguing that they are more effective and sustainable than standardized modern

practices, as they are targeted to specific contexts. I think that land tenure and water management

could be effectively tackled with this approach. This paper shows that the Senufo implemented a

system which enabled them to manage their resources. Moreover, this system was progressively

adapted to meet new needs, through the complex process of struggles and negotiations described in

chapter 3. An anthropological approach could highlight these dynamics, as well as their social and

political implications, leading to more targeted policies.

A second aspect is that of knowledge and technology. The World Bank emphasizes the lack of

investment by African governments in rural development and the need to improve farmer’s tools

(2007; 14). When looking at the Senufo case though, the main issues appear to be different. Bassett

noted that their main curb before the 1960s agricultural boom was not a lack of technology, but its

integration in a production system “appropriate to situation” (2001; 113). The Senufo’s ability to

appropriate and adapt new technology was crucial and the outcomes original, as shown by the

changes in the fields rotation or the use of the dam’s basins for market gardening. They were also

able to refuse those innovations that they recognized as unfit, such as the GL7 seeds. Chambers

(1997) already stressed the importance of peasants’ knowledge for rural development. Building on

this, anthropology could emphasize the dynamicity of these knowledge systems as well as the

complex way they are “produced (…) and negotiated across opposing views” (Mosse, 2005; 95). In

both these areas, the recognition of local processes of indigenization and the construction of

development policies over them could be keys for developing successful approaches.

Finally, the focus on peasants and their creative abilities could also improve the tools of

anthropologists in approaching issues related to contemporary globalization. In fact, the duality

embodied by peasants makes them a privileged “window into complexity”, quoting Candea (2007;

179), to assess the effects of global fluxes of knowledge and goods in local contexts. Their roles

make them particularly fit in processing external inputs, contributing to the huge process of cultural

creation defined as indigenization. Thus, analyses based on peasantry and their various and original

reactions to rural development policies, which can vary from the radical social movements described

by Escobar (1995) to the original elaboration over market-economy models, can constitute an

important arena for tackling the heterogeneous processes of creation and transformation of cultures

related to the complex interactions globalization is triggering.

27

5. Conclusion

The main purpose of this dissertation was to think through the role of peasants in rural

development. I started off with the hypothesis that the main rural development models were not

able to account for the complexity of peasants’ behaviour. I also proposed that peasantry could

become a heuristic tool, as focusing on it through an anthropological approach could emphasize the

particularities of peasant’s roles and overcome the limitations of mainstream development models. I

based my argument on the historical reconstruction of a particular case study, that of the Senufo of

the Korhogo region. Certain aspects of this case enabled me to highlight the weaknesses in models

related to rural development. A common aspect of peasants’ studies and rural development policies

is to locate peasants’ behaviours among actions of resistance or acceptance of the market. However,

the attitudes of the Senufo on this point and their strategies have never been univocal. Furthermore,

the analysis showed that behind the label ‘Senufo peasants’ there are different social actors engaged

in complex relations with other actors who could have conflicting strategies and intentions. An

ethnographic approach enabled the comprehension of the multiple agencies and intensions as well

as the complex outcomes of their interactions.

I therefore found that an anthropological contribution to rural development must be strongly

related to peasants’ agency analysis. Through an anthropological approach, I unpicked and explained

the active role peasants could play in rural development. In fact, their location across different

production systems gives them access to several inputs and resources. These inputs and the

pressures related to them represent at the same time a constraint and an opportunity. Thus, their

ability to originally handle it sets the possibility, as well as the limits, of their role. Moreover, as

peasants’ societies could be very heterogeneous, the ways inputs are received and used are varied

and strongly related to the context.

The recognition of this complexity could lead to a deadlock: in order to formulate policies or analyse

processes, scholars need some analytical tools to achieve a broader explanation and more general

conclusions. Approaches based on the interaction of actors and on their ability to appropriate and

manipulate different inputs (Long, 2001; Olivier de Sardan, 2004) seem to be more effective in

achieving this task. Sahlins’s framework of indigenization allows then to relate these particular

practices to the broader process of culture creation and transformation. A targeted approach of a

28

particular context employing these tools can give an effective overview of complexity, as the analysis

of the Senufo case showed. Thus an anthropological approach could give useful outcomes both for

theoretical and practical matters. I put forward common resources management and local

knowledge as possible overlapping topics, where Anthropology could have a fruitful dialogue with

rural development. Though the difficulties to accommodate anthropology focus on particular case

and development need of general models remain relevant and obstruct the partnership between the

two disciplines, these areas could constitute an important step in the effort to bridge this gap. In the

light of this, the recent wave of attention for African rural development could be an important

opportunity, with reciprocal benefit for both the disciplines.

29

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