No Condition Is Permanent : The Social Dynamics of Agrarian Change in Sub-Saharan Africa

"No Condition Is Permanent", a popular West African slogan, expresses Sara Berry's theme: the obstacles to African agrarian development never stay the same. Her book explores the complex way African economy and society are tied to issues of land and labour, offering a comparative study of agrarian change in four rural economies in sub-Saharan Africa. These include two that experienced long periods of expanding peasant production for export (southern Ghana and southwestern Nigeria ), a settler economy (central Kenya), and a rural labour reserve (northeastern Zambia). The resources available to African farmers have changed dramatically over the course of the 20th century. Berry asserts that the various ways resources are acquired and used are shaped not only by the incorporation of a rural area into colonial (later national) and global political economies, but also by conflicts over culture, power, and property within and beyond rural communities. By tracing the various debates over rights to resources and their effects on agricultural production and farmers' uses of income. Berry presents agrarian change as a series of on-going processes rather than a set of discrete "successes" and "failures". "No Condition Is Permanent" aims to show how multi-disciplinary studies of focal agrarian history can constructively contribute to development policy. The book is designed to be a contribution both to African agrarian history and to debates over the role of agriculture in Africa's recent economic crises. “No condition is permanent,” a popular West African slogan, expresses Sara S. Berry's theme: the obstacles to African agrarian development never stay the same. Her book explores the complex way African economy and society are tied to issues of land and labor, offering a comparative study of agrarian change in four rural economies in sub-Saharan Africa, including two that experienced long periods of expanding peasant production for export (southern Ghana and southwestern Nigeria), a settler economy (central Kenya), and a rural labor reserve (northeastern Zambia). The resources available to African farmers have changed dramatically over the course of the twentieth century. Berry asserts that the ways resources are acquired and used are shaped not only by the incorporation of a rural area into colonial (later national) and global political economies, but also by conflicts over culture, power, and property within and beyond rural communities. By tracing the various debates over rights to resources and their effects on agricultural production and farmers'uses of income, Berry presents agrarian change as a series of on-going processes rather than a set of discrete “successes” and “failures.” No Condition Is Permanent enriches the discussion of agrarian development by showing how multidisciplinary studies of local agrarian history can constructively contribute to development policy. The book is a contribution both to African agrarian history and to debates over the role of agriculture in Africa's recent economic crises. Annotation A comparative study of the changing patterns of resource access and resource use in several local agrarian systems in sub-Saharan Africa during and after the colonial period. Specifically, traces the effects of commercialization and political centralization on the conditions under which African farmers gained access to productive resources and how that access influenced patterns of resource use. A contribution both to African agrarian history and to debates over the role of agriculture in the recent economic crises in Africa. Paper edition (unseen), $22.50. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR The author's thesis declares that the obstacles to African agrarian development never stay the same. She explores the complex way in which African economy and society are tied to issues of land and labour, and offers comparative studies of agrarian change in four sub-Saharan areas.