Maidens, Meal and Money: Capitalism and the Domestic Community (Themes in the Social Sciences)

For over twenty years, Claude Meillassoux has been concerned with the study of the different modes of production which existed in Africa prior to colonisation, and the ways in which they responded to colonisation. In this book Professor Meillassoux draws both on his extensive fieldwork in Africa and on the anthropological literature to provide a detailed theoretical analysis of the self-sustaining agricultural community and its articulation with capitalism through the process of colonisation. Using evidence from the usually separated disciplines of ethnology and economics, he explores the major contradiction created by the persistence within the heart of capitalism of the self-sustaining domestic community as a means of reproduction of labour power, and shows that in fact there is a logical connection between the kinship structures which control reproduction in such communities and the forms of exploitation of workers from groups dominated by imperialism. This book offers the elements both of an advanced theory of the domestic mode of production and of a radical critique of classical and structuralist anthropology. just as Professor Meillassoux's earlier work, L'Anthropologie iconomique des Gouro de Côte d'Ivoire was received as a 'turning point in the history of anthropology', this study, which goes beyond a discussion of concepts in an attempt to further the practical steps taken by Marx and Engels, represents a major contribution to the contemporary progress of historical materialism. For Years, Matthew Greene And Daniel Rosen Have Enjoyed A Quiet Domestic Life Together In Northampton, Massachusetts. Opposites In Many Ways, They Have Grown Together And Made Their Relationship Work. But When They Learn That Daniel's Twin Brother And Sister-in-law Have Been Killed In A Bombing In Jerusalem, Their Lives Are Suddenly, Utterly Transformed. In Dealing With Their Families And The Need To Make A Decision About Who Will Raise The Deceased Couple's Two Children, Both Matthew And Daniel Are Confronted With Challenges That Strike At The Very Heart Of Their Relationship. What Is Matthew's Place In An Extended Family That Does Not Completely Accept Him Or The Commitment He And Daniel Have Made? How Do Daniel's Questions About His Identity As A Jewish Man Affect His Life As A Gay American? Tensions Only Intensify When They Learn That The Deceased Parents Wanted Matthew And Daniel To Adopt The Children--six-year-old Gal, And Baby Noam. The Impact This Instant New Family Has On Matthew, Daniel, And Their Relationship Is Subtle And Heartbreaking, Yet Not Without Glimmers Of Hope. They Must Learn To Reinvent And Redefine Their Bond In Profound, Sometimes Painful Ways. What Kind Of Parents Can These Two Men Really Be? How Does A Family Become Strong Enough To Stay Together And Endure? And Are There Limits To Honesty Or Commitment--or Love?-- The Domestic Community -- Locating The Domestic Community -- Why Incest? -- The Band And The Relations Of Adhesion -- Mating And Filiation -- Protected Women, Abducted Women -- Domestic Reproduction -- The Level Of The Productive Forces -- The Constitution Of The Relations Of Production -- The Constitution Of The Relations Of Reproduction -- The Alimentary Structures Of Kinship -- The Reproduction Of Human Energy Or The Process Of Production: Energy -- Subsistence -- Energy -- Surplus-labour -- The Circulation Of Offspring -- The Dialectic Of Equality -- The Circulation Of Wives And Bridewealth -- Bridewealth As Wives' Claims -- Identical Exchange -- Incipient Value -- Who Are The Exploited? -- Women -- Juniors -- Contradictions And Contacts: The Premises Of Inequality -- The Exploitation Of The Domestic Community: Imperialism As A Mode Of Reproduction Of Cheap Labour Power -- The Paradoxes Of Colonial Exploitation -- Direct And Indirect Wages -- Primitive Accumulation -- Without Hearth Or Home: The Rural Exodus -- Periodic Migration: The Eternal Return To The Native Land -- The Maintenance Of Labour-reserves -- The Double Labour Market And Segregation -- The Profits From Immigration -- The Limits Of The Over-exploitation Of Labour -- The Poverty Datum Line -- The Objective Criterion For The Division Of The Proletariat -- Competition. Claude Meillassoux. Translation Of Femmes, Greniers Et Capitaux. Includes Index. Bibliography: P. 162-188. Front Cover 1 Title Page 5 Copyright 6 Contents 7 Preface to the English translation 9 lntroduction 13 PART I The domestic community 17 1. Locating the domestic community 24 2. Domestic reproduction 49 3. The alimentary structures of kinship 66 4. The dialectic of equality 77 5. Who are the exploited? 91 6. Contradictions and contacts: the premises 98 PART II The exploitation of the domestic community: imperialism as a mode of reproduction of cheap labour power 105 1. The paradoxes of colonial exploitation 107 2. Direct and indirect wages 115 3. Primitive accumulation 120 4. Without hearth or home: the rural exodus 123 5. Periodic migration: the eternal return to the native land 126 6. The maintenance of labour-reserves 133 7. The double labour market and segregation 136 8. The profits from immigration 140 9. The limits of the over-exploitation of labour 143 Conclusion 154 Notes 161 Introduction 161 PART I The domestic community 161 1. Locating the domestic economy 162 2. Domestic reproduction 165 3. The alimentary structures of kinship 167 4. The dialectic of equality 167 5. Who are the exploited? 168 6. Contradictions and contacts: the premises of inequality 169 PART II The exploitation of the domestic community: imperialism as a mode of reproduction of cheap labour power 170 1. The paradoxes of colonial exploitation 170 2. Direct and indirect wages 170 4. Without hearth or home: the rural exodus 172 5. Periodic migration: the eternal return to the native land 172 6. The maintenance of labour-reserves 173 7. The double labour market and segregation 174 8. The profits from immigration 174 9. The limits of the over-exploitation of labour 175 Conclusion 176 References cited 178 Index 205 Back Cover 213 Cambridge University Press