This 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...

List of Maps, Tables, Charts and Figures Preface Maps Introduction: Methods of Fieldwork and Analysis Chapter 1. An Introduction to the Political Economy and Culture of Marmara Hamlet Chapter 2. The Cultural Logic of Non-Capitalist Accumulation Chapter 3. Land Distribution and Land Transfers Chapter 4. Farm Labouring Systems Chapter 5. Credit Relations and Social Consumption Chapter 6. Inter-regional Produce Markets Chapter 7. Rural Produce Traders and Wealth Acquisition Chapter 8. Economic Change from 1985 to 1998 Chapter 9. Change, Continuity – and Growth Appendix I: Basic Information on Household Heads, Marmara, 1979 Appendix II: Innovation, Agricultural Extension and Yields Appendix III: All Landholding Household Heads Grouped by Labour Practices During the Weeding Operation, 1978 Appendix IV: Household Consumption of Food Grain and Soup Ingredients` (Cefane) Appendix V: Trading Purchases, Sales and Margins of `M`, 1978 Appendix VI: Land Sales and Labour Use, Marmara, 1978 and 1979 Glossary of Key Hausa Words in the Text Bibliography

“Clough's large and data-packed book… is directly contesting a truism of contemporary economics and politics, that there is only one way to do markets and that Western-style capitalism will and must sweep all other ways of conducting market behavior before it… One of the most fascinating points that Clough makes is the impact of Islam on labor relations…” • Anthropology Review Database “This is a remarkable book…The field work is of extraordinary richness. It studies … the core aspects of any rural economy, indeed of any economy: land, labour, credit, markets, investment, inequalities, accumulation… The study is meticulous in its attention to detail and sensitive to the people whom he is studying. The statistical material is richer, more extensive, better grounded, and thus more accurate in its measurements than in any other West African study of which I am aware. The concept which binds the study, ‘non-capitalist accumulation’, is distinctive and original and will make a new and valuable contribution to future research of rural societies.” • Gavin Williams, Oxford University “The [author’s] period of fieldwork results in an amazingly dense description of economic processes. Quantitative and qualitative data is analysed and presented in a fascinating manner. The chapters on money lending, on labour relations and on trade I rate superb… the theoretical analysis and modeling is highly significant and important.” • Michael Bollig, University of Cologne