MILA: A Journal of the Institute of Anthropology, Gender and African Studies

Preliminary Pages

Isaac K Nyamongo — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 08:35:25 +0000

Institute of Anthropology, Gender and African Studies, University of Nairobi

Introduction to the Special Issue “Exploring African Potentials: The Dynamics of Action, Living Strategy, and Social Order in Southern Africa."

Akira Takada, Isaac K Nyamongo — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 07:26:53 +0000

This special issue is the product of an international symposium titled "The dynamics of socioeconomic changes in local societies in southern Africa: The challenges of area studies", which was held on 20th November, 2010, at the University of Namibia (UNAM), Windhoek.

The Decline in Migrant Labor and its Impact on Diversified Rural Livelihoods in a Mountain Area of Lesotho

Miyo Matsumoto — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 07:37:30 +0000

Lesotho is a mountainous country located in Drakensberg Mountains in southern Africa. This small, landlocked country is about 30,000km and is completely surrounded by the Republic of South Africa. (South Africa). Its rural inhabitants depend on agriculture and pastoralism; they also work as migrant laborers in mines of South Africa. Maize and wheat are the staple crops, cattle are raised for food, and sheep and goats are raised for sheared wool and mohair that are sold to provide cash income. Migrant labor is also a very important source of livelihood, and most young men, after initiation, undertake such labour. Following the discovery of gold in South Africa in 1886, the population of migrant workers in South Africa grew constantly, and Lesotho became known as a labor reserve for these mines. Soon after settlement of mountainous areas of altitudes of 2,000 m or higher began the late 1800s, the population began to rely on local workers who migrated to neighboring countries for jobs to supplement local earnings. Thus, wages sent home by migrant laborers have been responsible for the development of mountain farmland along with agriculture and livestock farming. However, since the 1990s, factors such as the reduced price of gold, resource exhaustion, and wage inflation have resulted in a great retrenchment of Basotho workers, and the number of workers has declined dramatically. This paper focuses on rural villages in the mountain region of Lesotho where cash earning activities were incorporated into residents’ livelihoods during the early stages of village establishment, and analyses the impact of macro-social changes in South Africa after the 1990s on this mode of livelihood. This research was conducted in L village, in the mountainous Mokhotlong district, for a total of 12 months (Aug 2005- March 2006, January-March 2008, March 2009). During the research period, the author lived in the village and interviewed villagers, using the English and Sesotho languages, about their personal histories, livelihoods and cash income. Interviews that focused on the personal histories and experiences of migrant laborers found that most men in their 60s and younger had experienced migrant labor, and their incomes had been spent on buying items for daily life, clothes, and livestock such as cattle and sheep. After the 1990s, the reduction in available mine employment had a serious effect on households in L village, which lost a major source of income. A decrease in remittances also reduced the ability to purchase livestock, a situation made worse by an increase in stock theft in the country. This resulted in a shift of livelihood modes from a non-agricultural base to an agricultural base, with villagers focusing on agriculture as a significant source of income. However, this has led to another concern; an increasing burden in the land.

Rural Entrepreneurs and Social Connections: The Management of Cattle Posts and Interactions among Farmers in North-central Namibia

Yuichiro Fujioka — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 07:42:51 +0000

Increasing numbers of entrepreneurs have emerged in rural agrarian societies of Namibia. These entrepreneurs have introduced new approaches to maintaining livelihoods, and these new approaches may have changed the social connections among households that had been based on the previously rural economy of Africa. The paper examines recent changes in the social connections and relationships between rural entrepreneurs and other farmers in a specific local society in post-apartheid Namibia. Some farmers in the Owambo agro-pastoral society have changed their approach to livestock farming by establishing annual cattlepost. This approach to farm management differs from local methods, which have used a seasonal cattle post, and resembles those used in commercial farms. However, farmers involved in annual cattle posts tend to use their salaries from jobs in the subsistence economy, which is strongly supported by social relationships, to invest in new enterprises. Although these individuals have entrepreneurial skills and have actively introduced new methods of livestock farming, they have not totally shifted the market economy. Indeed, despite major economic disparities, the characteristics of rural economies, especially the value placed on coexistence, may lead to greater upward economic mobility among rural economies, especially the value placed on coexistence, may lead to greater upward economic mobility among rural households.

Recent Changes in Communal Livestock Farming in North-Western Namibia with Special Reference to the Rapid Spread of Livestock Auctions and Mobile Phones

Koki Teshirogi — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 08:26:30 +0000

Commercialization of livestock farming has increased rapidly among communal farmers in north-western Namibia over the past 4 to 5 years. The livestock auction system allows local people to make decisions regarding the sale of their livestock according to the price offered and their household’s demand for cash. The availability of cash income has established their livelihoods and allowed them to purchase luxury items. The availability of cash income has stabilized their livelihoods and allowed them to purchase luxury items. However, not everyone has taken advantage of this situation. The introduction of the auction system in the study area, the increase in income, and the increasing income gap in the study area all occurred in the context of this evolving national situation. This study also observed that use of mobile phones has rigidly increased since 2006 in rural areas. Today, more than one person in each household in the study area owns a mobile phone. People typically use mobile phones to communicate with their relatives or friends in towns but they have also utilized them in tasks relating to livestock farming such as checking prices at auctions before participating and/or looking for buyers when they need to sell livestock. The utilization of mobile phones has also enabled people living in towns to herd livestock in rural areas, the so-called mobile farmers. Mobile farmers, who direct employed herders with their phones, have been increasing in the study area in recent years. The introduction of livestock auction and the rapid spread of mobile phones have contributed to an expansion in commercialization and the diversification of the sector. As a result, these recent changes to livestock herding may impact the utilization of natural resources.

The Growth of ‘Rural Business’ and its Impact on Local Society in Zambia

Chihiro Ito — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 08:31:17 +0000

Securing a livelihood in rural Africa has become progressively more complex in the last several decades, as typified by the burgeoning rural non-agricultural sector. Rural society is difficult to understand without considering the non-agricultural sector. Non-agricultural activities include various types of income-earning activity. The rural business described in this study engaged in year-round, rather than, seasonal activities. Although the focus of this study is nearly identical to what has been called the “rural information sector” and ‘micro and small-scale enterprises’, previous studies have examined its impact from a macro-scale perspective, such as describing the size of the sector in terms of employment volume and enterprise development. Few studies have examined rural business dynamics or their impact on a certain community. The case study of commerce and trade in rural Zambia assessed the characteristics of rural businesses and their impact on local communities and livelihoods. During a field survey, I interviewed18 business owners in the study area of rural Zambia. The results indicatedthat business owners had relatively high-level educational backgrounds educational backgrounds and productive assets. They did not commit themselves to one activity, but increased their profits by engaging in multiple economic activities simultaneously, importantly, the relationship between rural and urban areas, especially neighboring towns, appeared to be essential for sustaining and expanding rural business. The examination of business impact showed that salaried employment provided by shop owners was rare and unlikely to increase. However, temporary labor contracts, piecework, easily met labour demands. Most community members had access to piecework, which served as an essential income-generating activity in the study area. Finally, this study demonstrates the importance of a flexible view of sectoral and geographic mobility in attempts to understand rural livelihood dynamics, relevant impacts on rural society, and development prospects.

Land Use of Angolan Immigrants in Western Zambia: Rethinking the Autonomy and Coexistence of Self-settled Refugee Communities in Host Countries

Rumiko Murao — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 09:25:43 +0000

When studying self-settled refugees in Africa, driven by war from rural villages into a host country and losing property in the process, there has been an assumption that after achieving self-sufficiency, the livelihood of these groups is stable. Though there are attempts to refer their livelihoods to identify solutions of refugee problems, this assumption has not been examined comprehensively in the light of political change at the macro level. The present study examines actual land use and livelihoods among self-settled refugee Angolan immigrants in Western Zambia in order to comprehensively clarify the dynamics involved in their reestablishment of an autonomous livelihood. The economy of this group depends on shifting cultivation in the woodlands of the Kalahari uplands and subsequent sale of crops. Because land use is limited by the traditional political system of Lozi people, who is the host in Western Zambia, integrated into the Zambian government’s land act, these immigrants have opened shifting cultivation fields from the western edge of the woodlands to the east. Land transactions have therefore followed prior occupation, with a tacit understanding that primary forests has been a source of intra-group competition. The autonomous land use of these self-settled refugees shows new methods of land acquisition which reinforce practical units of common social organization, has demonstrated the dynamics of reestablished livelihood in a flexible and practical manner, allowing them to coexist in a politically marginalized situation in the host country.

Imagined Entrepreneurs in Neoliberal South Africa: Informality and Spatial Justice in Post-Apartheid Cities

Yohei Miyauchi — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 09:47:48 +0000

Despite a comparatively stable political situation and economic growth, South Africa has faced a number of challenges that have polarized society since democratization in early 1990s. Although one cannot ignore South Africa’s history of Apartheid and its negative legacy, wealth and resources have not been distributed appropriately, due to the neoliberalism of South Africa. In neoliberal projects, people are required to become entrepreneurs, who take responsibility for their own welfare. Although the government has promoted entrepreneurship and self-help, this strategy entails many difficulties when you consider the reality of South African society. Indeed, I assume economic activities are one of the most affected groups in this situation. Although the size of the informal economy of South Africa is comparatively small, recent growth in the informal economy has been remarkable in the form of traders as well as informal workers within the formal sector. However, people working in informal conditions are often eliminated from the new urban spaces that are being shaped in commercially-oriented forms. This paper concludes that by seeking “the right to the city” (David Harvey) and “spatial justice” (Edward W. Soja), there can be some hope for people who currently struggle to acquire living spaces in South Africa.