L'Afrique des individus

Marie, Alain; Vuarin, Robert; Leimdorfer, François; Werner, Jean‐François; Etienne, Guillaume; Tiékoura, Ouassa

doi:10.3917/kart.marie.2008.01

Cited by 86 publications

(13 citation statements)

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“…It is expected that those who have succeeded in life must show their gratitude to the relatives who, even from a distance, materially and/or affectively supported them from childhood.To breach this moral commitment to the family may lead those who consider themselves as offended and injured to carry out acts of vandalism in the absence of the entrepreneur, to plunder the firm after his death, or to attack him through witchcraft. My informants explicitely relate witchcraft with a breaking of reciprocity between generations (see Marie 1997). From their point of view, it results from the 'jalousie' (resentment in this context) of relatives against those who do not fulfil their obligations although they have the means to do so.…”

Section: The Relationship With Relativesmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘We, the Congolese, we cannot trust each other’. Trust, norms and relations among traders in Katanga, Democratic Republic of Congo¹

Rubbers

2009

British Journal of Sociology

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Congolese traders in Katanga claim that they cannot trust their peers, customers, and employees. Existing literature about social capital in Africa does not enhance our understanding, as it tends to consider trust as depending on the degree of social knowledge. In the Congo, social proximity does not exclude suspicion, nor does social distance necessarily prevent trust. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, this article aims at developing a more detailed framework. It studies how Congolese traders negotiate two key norms for the building of economic trust - property and reciprocity - with non-relatives, distant relatives, and close relatives.

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Section: The Relationship With Relativesmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘We, the Congolese, we cannot trust each other’. Trust, norms and relations among traders in Katanga, Democratic Republic of Congo¹

Rubbers

2009

British Journal of Sociology

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“…From a different perspective, Tereza Connor (2002) speaks of "rootlessness" regarding people living in Pafuri in the Mozambican Gaza Province, in a borderzone close to South Africa and Zimbabwe. In that case, it would be a different process of individualization than those observed in Congo-Brazzaville (Balandier 1955) or, more recently, in West Africa (Marie 1997) because of the detraditionalisation and the decrease of family and ethnic solidarities resulting from city life. To understand this specific individualisation experienced by Mozambican migrants in Johannesburg, it is necessary to go further in the analysis of their process of adaptation to the South African metropolis.…”

Section: The Lack Of Political Organisation and The Weakness Of Smentioning

confidence: 89%

Living in, out of, and Between Two Cities: Migrants from Maputo in Johannesburg

Vidal

2010

Urban Forum

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Using quantitative data and ethnographic fieldwork carried out in Johannesburg and Maputo between 2005 and 2007, this article explores the meaning of city life for Southern Mozambican migrants in Johannesburg. First, I analyze the trajectories of migrants in Maputo and Johannesburg, before and after migration to South Africa. Second, I propose an explanation of the absence of political organization and the weakness of social links among Mozambican migrants, probably the major characteristic that distinguishes them from other African migrants in Johannesburg. Third, I focus on Mozambicans' everyday life in Johannesburg to illustrate the nature and extent of adaptation and transformation within the city. In focusing on differences linked to workplace and residence, I show how a foreigner moves from being a total outsider to becoming part of the metropolis by learning to cope with the city, establishing good relationships with his neighbors, and building a minimal level of trust with his work mates.

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“…Military sociologists have long told us that soldiers generally do not risk their lives for God (an abstract ideology), country (another social abstraction) or glory, but out of solidarity with, and to maintain the respect of, their peers in their immediate fighting units (Janowitz, 1960). Similarly sociologists and anthropologists studying Africa tell us that people seek wealth, at least in the first instance, in order to meet the social obligations to their kin that they accumulated while growing up and that they subsequently use it to purchase status in their communities (Berry, 1993; Marie, 1997: 416).…”

Section: How Is ‘Everyday Order’ Created In ‘Chaos’?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…And survival, which certainly is highly valued, will often be put at risk for the sake of this same network. Indeed, as Elias has observed, in most of the developing world and certainly in Africa, the kinship group and locality are not in conflict with personal survival but are seen as the basic units through which it is achieved (Marie, 1997: 415).…”

Section: How Is ‘Everyday Order’ Created In ‘Chaos’?mentioning

confidence: 99%

What Does the Somali Experience Teach Us about the Social Contract and the State?

Leonard

Samantar

2011

Development and Change

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Since 1991 the international system has struggled and failed to recreate a state on the territory of the former Somalia. Proto‐state systems have been formed by Somalis themselves in Somaliland and Puntland and alternative forms of governance and order exist in other parts of Somalia, but none enjoys international recognition. The polities of Somalia offer important lessons concerning our general theories about social contract, the role that states play in creating wealth, indigenous systems of governance, and the failure of existing international approaches to state reconstruction. Contemporary Somali politics is re‐explored here to extract these lessons. The article explores the assumptions embedded in the works of the classic Western social contract theorists in the light of Somali experience in order to show that the underlying conceptual structure of international state reconstruction work needs to be rethought. We conclude that it frequently is better to allow for bottom‐up, organic, disjointed negotiation of indigenous governance solutions (even though they probably will not conform to Western ideas of liberal democracy) than for the international system to impose top‐down answers. The former more closely tracks the history of state formation in Europe and the latter is troubled by the inconsistent and not necessarily benign interests of the international actors involved. Indigenous, local political systems are changed by the stresses of violent conflict, so prompt action to employ them in a post‐conflict situation is indicated.

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L'Afrique des individus

Cited by 86 publications

References 0 publications

‘We, the Congolese, we cannot trust each other’. Trust, norms and relations among traders in Katanga, Democratic Republic of Congo¹

‘We, the Congolese, we cannot trust each other’. Trust, norms and relations among traders in Katanga, Democratic Republic of Congo¹

Living in, out of, and Between Two Cities: Migrants from Maputo in Johannesburg

What Does the Somali Experience Teach Us about the Social Contract and the State?

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L'Afrique des individus

Cited by 86 publications

References 0 publications

‘We, the Congolese, we cannot trust each other’. Trust, norms and relations among traders in Katanga, Democratic Republic of Congo1

‘We, the Congolese, we cannot trust each other’. Trust, norms and relations among traders in Katanga, Democratic Republic of Congo1

Living in, out of, and Between Two Cities: Migrants from Maputo in Johannesburg

What Does the Somali Experience Teach Us about the Social Contract and the State?

Contact Info

Product

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‘We, the Congolese, we cannot trust each other’. Trust, norms and relations among traders in Katanga, Democratic Republic of Congo¹

‘We, the Congolese, we cannot trust each other’. Trust, norms and relations among traders in Katanga, Democratic Republic of Congo¹