The Peasant Cotton Revolution in West Africa

The Peasant Cotton Revolution in West Africa PDF Author: Thomas J. Bassett
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521788830
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
The literature of Africa is dominated by accounts of crisis and gloom. But Thomas Bassett, a distinguished American geographer well known in the field of development, tells an unusual story of the growth of the cotton economy of West Africa. One of the few long-running success stories in African development, change was brought about by tens of thousands of small-scale peasant farmers. While the introduction of new strains of cotton in French West Africa was in part a result of agronomic research by French scientists, supported by an unusually efficient marketing structure, this is not a case of triumphant top-down 'planification'. Employing the case of Côte d'Ivoire, Professor Bassett shows agricultural intensification to result from the cumulative effect of decades of incremental changes in farming techniques and social organization. A significant contribution to the literature, the book demonstrates the need to consider the local and temporal dimensions of agricultural innovations. It brings into question many key assumptions that have influenced development policies during the twentieth century.

The Peasant Cotton Revolution in West Africa

The Peasant Cotton Revolution in West Africa PDF Author: Thomas J. Bassett
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521788830
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Get Book Here

Book Description
The literature of Africa is dominated by accounts of crisis and gloom. But Thomas Bassett, a distinguished American geographer well known in the field of development, tells an unusual story of the growth of the cotton economy of West Africa. One of the few long-running success stories in African development, change was brought about by tens of thousands of small-scale peasant farmers. While the introduction of new strains of cotton in French West Africa was in part a result of agronomic research by French scientists, supported by an unusually efficient marketing structure, this is not a case of triumphant top-down 'planification'. Employing the case of Côte d'Ivoire, Professor Bassett shows agricultural intensification to result from the cumulative effect of decades of incremental changes in farming techniques and social organization. A significant contribution to the literature, the book demonstrates the need to consider the local and temporal dimensions of agricultural innovations. It brings into question many key assumptions that have influenced development policies during the twentieth century.

Cotton Cultivation in Africa

Cotton Cultivation in Africa PDF Author: Benjamin Coates
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Abolitionists
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Book Description


Cotton, Colonialism, and Social History in Sub-Saharan Africa

Cotton, Colonialism, and Social History in Sub-Saharan Africa PDF Author: Allen F. Isaacman
Publisher: Heinemann International Incorporated
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
By linking cotton and colonialism in this way, these eleven case studies open up new comparisons between different colonial agricultural policies, different labor regimes, and different forms of African response to colonial economic policies. This study of cotton in colonial Africa highlights both the way industrial capitalism sought to call forth tropical raw materials and the ways this colonial project was shaped by the dynamic local processes of production, exchange, social reproduction, and rural resistance.

Cloth in West African History

Cloth in West African History PDF Author: Colleen E. Kriger
Publisher: Rowman Altamira
ISBN: 0759114234
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
In this holistic approach to the study of textiles and their makers, Colleen Kriger charts the role cotton has played in commercial, community, and labor settings in West Africa. By paying close attention to the details of how people made, exchanged, and wore cotton cloth from before industrialization in Europe to the twentieth century, she is able to demonstrate some of the cultural effects of Africa's long involvement in trading contacts with Muslim societies and with Europe. Cloth in West African History thus offers a fresh perspective on the history of the region and on the local, regional, and global processes that shaped it. A variety of readers will find its account and insights into the African past and culture valuable, and will appreciate the connections made between the local concerns of small-scale weavers in African villages, the emergence of an indigenous textile industry, and its integration into international networks.

Global Histories, Imperial Commodities, Local Interactions

Global Histories, Imperial Commodities, Local Interactions PDF Author: Jonathan Curry-Machado
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137283602
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
The papers presented in this collection offer a wide range of cases, from Asia, Africa and the Americas, and broadly cover the last two centuries, in which commodities have led to the consolidation of a globalised economy and society – forging this out of distinctive local experiences of cultivation and production, and regional circuits of trade.

The Cultivation of Cotton in West Africa

The Cultivation of Cotton in West Africa PDF Author: Elijah Helm
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


An Economic History of West Africa

An Economic History of West Africa PDF Author: A. G. Hopkins
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 042968312X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 406

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Book Description
This pioneering and celebrated work was the first, and remains the standard, account of the economic history of the huge area conventionally known as West Africa. The book ranges from prehistoric times to independence and covers the former French territories, as well as those colonised by the British. It criticises conventional beliefs about economic backwardness, offers an alternative account that explains the particular configuration of poverty that characterised the pre-colonial period, and assesses the consequences of the region’s interaction with the wider world – from the growth of the Saharan and Atlantic trades to the rise and demise of colonial rule. This edition contains a substantial new Introduction that discusses the development of the subject during the past 50 years, evaluates the debate over the original interpretation, and provides a valuable guide to additional reading, bringing the reader up to date with current scholarship on the subject, as well as providing avenues for further independent research. Appearing at a time when the study of African economic history is enjoying a revival and is engaging economists as well as historians, the book fills a large gap in African studies, provides newcomers with a stimulating point of entry into the subject, and contributes to our understanding of wider issues of global underdevelopment.

Cotton in British West Africa, Including Togoland and the Cameroons

Cotton in British West Africa, Including Togoland and the Cameroons PDF Author: Penzer N M 1892-1960
Publisher: Hardpress Publishing
ISBN: 9781313125833
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 70

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Book Description
Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Africa's Gene Revolution

Africa's Gene Revolution PDF Author: Matthew A. Schnurr
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN: 0228000459
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
As development donors invest hundreds of millions of dollars into improved crops designed to alleviate poverty and hunger, Africa has emerged as the final frontier in the global debate over agricultural biotechnology. The first data-driven assessment of the ecological, social, and political factors that shape our understanding of genetic modification, Africa's Gene Revolution surveys twenty years of efforts to use genomics-based breeding to enhance yields and livelihoods for African farmers. Matthew Schnurr considers the full range of biotechnologies currently in commercial use and those in development - including hybrids, marker-assisted breeding, tissue culture, and genetic engineering. Drawing on interviews with biotechnology experts alongside research conducted with more than two hundred farmers across eastern, western, and southern Africa, Schnurr reveals a profound incongruity between the optimistic rhetoric that accompanies genetic modification technology and the realities of the smallholder farmers who are its intended beneficiaries. Through the lens of political ecology, this book demonstrates that the current emphasis on improved seeds discounts the geographic, social, ecological, and economic contexts in which the producers of these crops operate. Bringing the voices of farmers to the foreground of this polarizing debate, Africa's Gene Revolution contends that meaningful change will come from a reconfiguration not only of the plant's genome, but of the entire agricultural system.

Boundaries, Communities and State-Making in West Africa

Boundaries, Communities and State-Making in West Africa PDF Author: Paul Nugent
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107020689
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 637

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Book Description
By examining three centuries of history, this book shows how vital border regions have been in shaping states and social contracts.