A Claim to Land by the River
A Household in Senegal, 1720-1994
Published on 24. October 1996
Book
Hardback
316 pages
978-0-19-820191-5 (ISBN)
Description
In the early part of the eighteenth century, Jaabe So's ancestors founded a farm on the left bank of the Senegal river. Twenty years ago, Jaabe So set up an independent farmers' association based among a group of towns along that river. Since then, he and Adrian Adams have spent much of their lives struggling to defend the existence of that association against a state development corporation lavishly funded by development aid. This is a narrative of that struggle, placed in the context of three centuries of Senegalese history. This extraordinary book will be an invaluable reference for those who believe that Africans may yet redeem a future free from the false promises of development, by drawing upon an inherited past.
Reviews / Votes
very unusual book ... powerful in its conclusions * London Review of Books * a remarkable case study of the impact, dispersal and maladministration of outside funding for agrarian development as it is experienced by those at the periphery ... This book is remarkable on three counts, by virtue of its authorship, its format and its subject matter ... Serious students of West African history and those whose special interest lies in the political analysis of neo-colonial development are bound to find this first-hand account immensely valuable ... the overall dynamic impact has something of the quality of a folk opera and is totally appropriate in the circumstances. * Una Maclean, University of Edinburgh, Policies for an Information Society *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
4 maps
Dimensions
Height: 226 mm
Width: 144 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
543 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-820191-5 (9780198201915)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Adrian Adams won the Orwell Memorial Prize for her book La Terre et les Gens du Fleuve (of which the present book is a major reworking) in 1985, and for her work in the field of African literacy. Both Adams and her husband, Jaabe So, a subsistance farmer, are activists trying to defend a peasant organisation against encroachments made by a state development corporation.