Abstract:Through an analysis of the taxation of business activities in Adamaoua Province, Cameroon, this article aims to provide ethnographic substance to current debates about the “tax effort” in sub-Saharan Africa. Although the current mission of the tax authorities to identify all potential taxpayers and track their locations, movements, and activities is often presented in the context of nationwide reform and a commitment to making all taxable enterprises visible, a close examination of the government's practices reveals other factors at work. The case of cattle traders in particular shows that taxation policies in Adamaoua today are based on an interplay between, on the one hand, modes of state control and levels of administrative ef-ficiency, and on the other, longstanding repertoires of business practice and idioms of documentation.
Le projet d’exploitation pétrolière et d’oléoduc Tchad-Cameroun constitue un des projets d’infrastructure les plus importants entrepris en Afrique durant ces dernières années. Les variations sur le thème du développement élaborées par le consortium pétrolier se basent sur une notion aseptisée du local, dépourvue d’histoire et de politique. L’accès au global des « locaux » qui ont profité du projet en qualité de sous-traitants est passé par l’acceptation de leur représentation comme enracinés dans un espace imaginaire, qui a été recréé largement au profit d’une audience internationale.
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