The land, labor, credit, and trading institutions of Marmara village, in Hausaland, northern Nigeria, are detailed in this study through fieldwork conducted in two national economic cycles - the petroleum-boom prosperity in 1977-1979, and the macro-economic decline of 1985, 1996 and 1998. The book unveils a new paradigm of economic change in the West African savannah, demonstrating how rural accumulation in a polygynous society actually limits the extent of inequality while at the same time promoting technical change. A uniquely African non-capitalist trajectory of accumulation subordinates the acquisition of capital to the expansion of polygynous families, clientage networks, and circles of trading friends. The whole trajectory is driven by an indigenous ethics of personal responsibility. This model disputes the validity of both Marxian theories of capitalist transformation in Africa and the New Institutional Economics.
- ISBN10 1306562821
- ISBN13 9781306562829
- Publish Date 1 January 2014
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 4 March 2015
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Berghahn Books
- Format eBook
- Pages 468
- Language English