Anthropology and Social Change
About: This article is published in British Journal of Sociology.The article was published on 1970-12-01. It has received 23 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Social change.
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TL;DR: In this paper, an empirical perspective regarding customary land sales in Cote D'Ivoire, focusing on their socio-political embeddedness and the implications of such processes for the content of the rights and duties transferred, is presented.
Abstract: The article offers an empirical perspective regarding customary land sales in Cote d'Ivoire, focusing on their socio-political embeddedness as well as on the implications of such processes for the content of the rights and duties transferred. Two interlinked aspects of land transfers, which usually come together in African contexts, are to be taken into account: rights and obligations regarding land access and control ('the land resource dimension'), and rights and obligations regarding group membership, and more generally the socio-political dimensions that condition the social recognition and effectiveness of the transfer of land rights ('the socio-political dimension'). These two dimensions are empirically explored, together with the processes of their connection and possible disconnection/reconnection. We show that the diverging interpretations of land transfers, from emic as well as from etic viewpoints, do not necessarily correspond to mutually exclusive explanatory models, or to a simple transition phase from customary to 'pure' market land transfers. Access to land may become commoditized without extinguishing the socio-political dimension of land transactions. Another point is that the articulation of these two dimensions of land transfers is a specific and always contextualized issue. This has direct consequences on the legitimacy of land transfers as well as on the security of the stranger right holder within the local community and more generally on the politicization of land issue. Resume: L'article offre une perspective empirique des ventes de terres coutumieres en Cote d'Ivoire, en s'interessant a leur enchâssement sociopolitique et aux implications de tels processus pour le contenu des droits et des obligations transferes. Il prend en compte deux aspects interconnectes des transferts de terres, generalement reunis dans des contextes africains : d'une part les droits et les obligations impliques dans l'acces a la terre et son controle (« la dimension ressource fonciere »), et d'autre part les droits et les obligations impliques dans l'appartenance a un groupe, et plus generalement les dimensions sociopolitiques qui conditionnent la reconnaissance sociale et le caractere effectif du transfert des droits fonciers («la dimension sociopolitique»). L'article explore ces deux dimensions de maniere empirique, ainsi que les processus afferents a leur connexion et leur deconnexion/reconnexion possible. Il montre que les interpretations divergentes des transferts de terres, tant du point de vue emique que du point de vue etique , ne correspondent pas necessairement a des modeles explicatifs mutuellement exclusifs, ni a une simple phase de transition d'un transfert coutumier a un transfert de marche « pur ». Une marchandisation de l'acces a la terre peut survenir sans effacer la dimension sociopolitique des transactions foncieres. D'autre part, l'articulation de ces deux dimensions du transfert de terres est un sujet specifique qui s'inscrit toujours dans un contexte. Il en decoule des consequences directes sur la legitimite des transferts de terres, ainsi que sur la securite du titulaire de droit etranger au sein de la communaute locale et, plus generalement, sur la politisation de la question fonciere.
77 citations
TL;DR: The role of the state in the reform of customary land rights is discussed in this article, where the authors suggest that an understanding of actually existing land markets is central to the analysis of the roots of conflict and insecurity in Africa today.
Abstract: Land is of fundamental concern in economic and political development. In African contexts discussion of land is commonly framed by questions of how customary land tenure systems are moving towards private property models involving land markets. Empirical studies remain sparse, but the evidence suggests that, while land markets are becoming more common, disputes over the meaning of transactions are also increasing. Most published work tends to concentrate on market development rather than exploring the social relationships embodied in land markets, and their political consequences. This Special Issue, comprising an extensive introduction by the guest editors and a further six papers covering studies on Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Zimbabwe and Zambia, seeks to address these gaps. Themes and questions addressed include the role of the state in the reform of customary land rights. Despite trends towards private property, around ninety percent of land in Africa is still considered to be under customary land tenure. Thus the majority of land market transactions are 'informal', the meaning of transactions is disputed, and there is widespread insecurity over the transferred land rights. Land markets are also implicated in key questions relating to discourses of fairness or justice of land access, and the linkage of land rights to autochthony, ethnicity and citizenship. The broader significance of the papers is to contribute to a more critical analysis of institutional change. They mark a step forward in African land policy debates that largely remain polarized between those seeking poverty reduction through promoting land markets, and opponents who seek to protect the poor from losing their land to the market. Of perhaps most far-reaching significance, the papers suggest that an understanding of actually-existing land markets is central to the analysis of the roots of conflict and insecurity in Africa today.
75 citations
TL;DR: Action theory in political anthropology differs from behavioralism in social psychology and from the behavioral approach in political science, although it has sometimes been confused with both. as discussed by the authors The approach to the study of politics to be reviewed in this essay is charac- terized essentially by a focus upon individual actors and their strategies within political arenas.
Abstract: -:.9612 The approach to the study of politics to be reviewed in this essay is charac terized essentially by a focus upon individual actors and their strategies within political arenas. In its earlier formative phase, the approach which, following Cohen (41) we shall call action theory, was associated with a range of theoretical frameworks, among them those built around transac tions, symbolic interaction, systems analysis, methodological individualism, game theory, interaction theory, and political clientelism. Today action theory relates most closely to dialectical theory and the general sociology of Marx and Weber (24, 35, 51, 98, 130). Action theory in political anthropology differs from behavioralism in social psychology and from the behavioral approach in political science, although it has sometimes been confused with both. In these disciplines, analysis begins with the individual and his motives, proceeds to emphasize choice, and concludes by inferring structural limitations from behavior. Action theory in anthropology begins by locating the individual within the framework of both formal and interstitial social organization and then proceeds to the analysis of political action and interaction. Within political anthropology itself, the approach differs from evolutionary and structural anthropology by virtue of its attention to processes, to political formations other than categories and corporate groups and, above all, by its underpin ning in a particular mode of fieldwork (50, 80, 85) that resulted in a distinctive form of finely grained political ethnography (25, 43, 46, 71, 76, 80, 118). Deriving explicitly from social anthropology, the action approach within political anthropology developed largely in conjunction with the analysis of
68 citations
Dissertation•
01 Jan 2011
TL;DR: In this paper, the impact of socio-economic crisis and prosperity in the town of Trikala, Thessaly, central Greece, is analyzed in relation to history, social status and concepts of time.
Abstract: This thesis is concerned with how people negotiate periods of socio-economic crisis and prosperity in the town of Trikala, Thessaly, central Greece. Localised understandings of the global economic crisis are analysed in relation to history, social status and concepts of time. The complex interaction between people within global and local economic networks is also emphasised.
It is argued that certain historical periods are crucial to Trikalini conceptualisations of the current economic crisis. Specific past events significantly inform understandings of the present crisis through what is termed ‘cultural proximity’. This is the notion that previous times of social and economic turmoil, apparently distant points in time, are embodied within the context of the present. Some past epochs of prosperity and crisis have proved more significant than others in shaping contemporary crisis experience. As accounts of the Great Famine of 1941-1943 are brought to the fore by the current economic crisis, concepts of lineal time and the nationalisation of critical events must be interrogated.
How economic crisis affects perceptions of social status, mobility and political accountability in Trikala are also explored. Such perceptions are further informed by the consequences of past local and national level crises and the uneven incorporation of capitalist trends in central Greece.
Through the exploration of cultural economic patterns and the social significance of historical events, the impacts of economic crisis in Trikala are explored. By examining accounts of crisis in Trikala, the case is made for understanding crisis trends with global implications within the context of cultural repertoires and historical frameworks. Trikala thus becomes a microcosm through which to conceptualise the current economic crisis in Europe.
46 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a prejuge ancien devalorise la periode feodale, c'esta-dire la France et l'Europe des 10e and 11e siecles, ou a partir de l'an mil.
Abstract: Un prejuge ancien devalorise la « periode feodale », c'est-a-dire la France et l'Europe des 10e et 11e siecles, ou a partir de « l'an mil ». Une theorie sous-jacente dissuade trop d'historiens, pretendument empiriques, d'y voir aucune sorte d'esprit public ou d'autorite regulatrice. De quoi surprendre et meme choquer un esprit teinte d'anthropologie ! Et n'y a-t-il pas aussi quelque arbitraire dans les recits d'une edification de « l'Etat », aux 12e et 13e siecles, « par la feodalite », c'est-a-dire en recuperant ou detournant des principes reputes « feodaux » ? Il est bien temps ensuite, aux epoques ulterieures, d'opposer les « residus feodaux » a la « modernisation par l'Etat », dans les intrigues que l'on tisse ou les tableaux que l'on brosse… Le livre de Susan Reynolds detruit allegrement tout cela. On ne peut qu'applaudir tout d'abord, tant la critique est forte et convaincante. Mais on se demande ensuite si elle ne va pus trop loin.
42 citations