Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-22dnz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T13:25:45.359Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

‘Disordered surroundings’: money and socio-economic exclusion in Western Kenya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2017

Mario Schmidt
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article explores relations between ways of experiencing socio-economic disorder, strategies on how to deal with it, and monetary classifications that symbolize these ways and strategies. It assumes that we can learn something from the fact that the concept of pesa makech (‘bitter money’) has been replaced with the much more diffuse notion of pesa marach (‘bad money’) in Western Kenya during the last twenty-five years. This shift in how ‘negative forms’ of money are discursively marked indexes a change in the way in which the people of Kaleko, a small market centre in Western Kenya, conceptualize the disorder of their surroundings. Instead of interpreting disorder as an effect of events taking place inside their sphere of influence, residents of Kaleko now predominantly situate the cause of disorder in actions of external actors that are perceived as uncontrollable: the ‘economy’, money itself, politicians, members of other ethnic groups and untrustworthy Luo. This necessarily changes the ways in which disorder is tackled: while pesa makech’s bitterness could be resolved by ‘sorting out’ (rieyo) the homestead's disorder, nowadays people employ other ways that aim at resolving disorder: upscaling rieyo’s potential to the Kenyan nation; ‘struggling’ (chandre) through disorder; and relativizing rieyo’s applicability.

Résumé

Cet article explore les liens entre les modes d'expérience du désordre socioéconomique, les stratégies pour y faire face, et les classifications monétaires qui symbolisent ces modes et stratégies. Il suppose que l'on peut apprendre quelque chose du fait que le concept de pesa makech (« argent amère ») a été remplacé par la notion bien plus diffuse de pesa marach (« mauvais argent ») dans l'Ouest du Kenya au cours des vingt-cinq dernières années. Ce changement dans la manière d'utiliser des « formes négatives » d'argent comme marqueurs discursifs indique un changement dans la manière dont les habitants de Kaleko, une petite ville de marché de l'Ouest du Kenya, conceptualisent le désordre de leur environnement. Au lieu d'interpréter le désordre comme l'effet d’événements survenant au sein de leur sphère d'influence, les résidents de Kaleko situent aujourd'hui principalement la cause du désordre dans l'action de facteurs extérieurs perçus comme incontrôlables : l’« économie », l'argent lui-même, les politiciens, les membres d'autres groupes ethniques et les Luo, peu dignes de confiance. Ceci change nécessairement la façon de faire face au désordre : là où il était possible de résoudre l'amertume du pesa makech en « rangeant » (rieyo) le désordre du foyer, on emploie aujourd'hui autres moyens de résoudre le désordre : appliquer le potentiel du rieyo à l’échelle de la nation kenyane ; « se débattre » (chandre) à travers le désordre ; et relativiser l'applicabilité du rieyo.

Type
Class and connectivity
Information
Africa , Volume 87 , Issue 2 , May 2017 , pp. 278 - 299
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bayart, J.-F. (1996) The State in Africa: the politics of the belly. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Bonhomme, J. (2012) ‘The dangers of anonymity: witchcraft, rumor and modernity in Africa’, Hau: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 2 (2): 205–33.Google Scholar
Bonhomme, J., Berthome, F. and Delaplace, G. (2012) ‘Preface: cultivating uncertainty’, Hau: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 2 (2): 129–37.Google Scholar
Carotenuto, M. P. (2006) ‘Cultivating an African community: the Luo union in 20th century East Africa’. PhD thesis, Indiana University.Google Scholar
Chernoff, J. M. (2003) Hustling is not Stealing: stories of an African bar girl. Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Christiansen, C., Utas, M. and Vigh, H. E. (eds) (2006) Navigating Youth, Generating Adulthood: social becoming in an African context. Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet.Google Scholar
Cohen, D. W. and Odhiambo, E. S. A. (1989) Siaya: the historical anthropology of an African landscape. London: James Currey.Google Scholar
Cooper, E. (2012) ‘Sitting and standing: how families are fixing trust in uncertain times’, Africa 82 (3): 437–56.Google Scholar
Cooper, E. (2014) ‘Charity and chance: the manufacture of uncertainty and mistrust through child sponsorship in Kenya’ in Cooper, E. and Pratten, D. (eds), Ethnographies of Uncertainty in Africa. London: Palgrave.Google Scholar
Cooper, E. and Pratten, D. (eds) (2014) Ethnographies of Uncertainty in Africa. London: Palgrave.Google Scholar
De Boeck, F. and Honwana, A. (2005) ‘Children and youth in Africa: agency, identity, and place’ in de Boeck, F. and Honwana, A. (eds), Makers and Breakers: children and youth as emerging categories in postcolonial Africa. Oxford: James Currey.Google Scholar
Dietler, M. and Herbich, I. (2009) ‘Domestic space, social life, and settlement biography: theoretical reflections from the ethnography of a rural African landscape’, Arqueo Mediterrània 11: 11–23.Google Scholar
Durham, D. (2000) ‘Youth and the social imagination in Africa: introduction to Parts 1 and 2', Anthropological Quarterly 73 (3): 113–20.Google Scholar
Ferguson, J. (2006) Global Shadows: Africa in the neoliberal world order. Durham DC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Finnström, S. (2008) Living with Bad Surroundings: war, history and everyday moments in Northern Uganda. Durham NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Geissler, P. W. and Prince, R. J. (2010) The Land is Dying: contingency, creativity and conflict in Western Kenya. New York NY: Berghahn Books.Google Scholar
Haram, L. and Yamba, B. C. (eds) (2009) Dealing with Uncertainty in Contemporary African Lives. Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet.Google Scholar
Haugerud, A. (1993) The Culture of Politics in Modern Kenya. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hay, M. J. (1972) ‘Economic change in Luoland: Kowe, 1890–1945’. PhD thesis, University of Wisconsin.Google Scholar
Honwana, A. (2012) The Time of Youth: work, social change and politics in Africa. Sterling VA: Kumarian Press.Google Scholar
Hutchinson, S. E. and Pendle, N. R. (2015) ‘Violence, legitimacy, and prophecy: Nuer struggles with uncertainty in South Sudan’, American Ethnologist 42 (3): 415–30.Google Scholar
Isaksson, A. (2001) ‘Financial liberalisation and price stability in Kenya’, Journal of Policy Modeling 23 (5): 503–10.Google Scholar
Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (2013) Kenya Economic Report 2013. Nairobi: Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis.Google Scholar
Kurimoto, E. (1992) ‘An ethnography of “bitterness”: cucumber and sacrifice reconsidered’, Journal of Religion in Africa 22: 47–65.Google Scholar
Mbembe, A. and Roitman, J. (1995) ‘Figures of the subject in times of crisis’, Public Culture 7 (2): 323–52.Google Scholar
Morrison, L. B. (2007) ‘The nature of decline: distinguishing myth from reality in the case of the Luo of Kenya’, Journal of Modern African Studies 45: 117–42.Google Scholar
Mueller, S. D. (2008) ‘The political economy of Kenya's crisis’, Journal of East African Studies 2 (2): 185–210.Google Scholar
Northcote, G. A. S. (1907) ‘The Nilotic Kavirondo’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 38: 58–66.Google Scholar
Ochola, S. O. (2009) Integrated Flood Hazard, Vulnerability and Risk Assessment in Nyando River Catchment, Kenya: options for land-use planning. Göttingen: Sierke Verlag.Google Scholar
Odhiambo, E. S. A. (2004) ‘Ethnicity and the politics of democratization. Hegemonic enterprises and instrumentalities of survival: ethnicity and democracy in Kenya’ in Berman, B. J., Eyoh, D. and Kymlicka, W. (eds), Ethnicity and Democracy in Africa. Oxford: James Currey.Google Scholar
Ogutu, G. E. M. (2001) Ker in the 21st Century Luo Social System. Kisumu: Sundowner Press.Google Scholar
Oswald, F. (1915) Alone in the Sleeping-Sickness Country. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co.Google Scholar
Oyoo, M., Shilabukha, K., Otieno, S. and Owuor, B. (2008) ‘Folkloric cues and taste bias in African vegetable foods’, Journal of Eastern African Studies 2: 60–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parkin, D. (1978) The Cultural Definition of Political Response: lineal destiny among the Luo. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Piot, C. (2010) Nostalgia for the Future: West Africa after the Cold War. Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Population Reference Bureau (2011) Kenya Population Data Sheet 2011. Washington DC: Population Reference Bureau.Google Scholar
Prince, R. (2006) ‘Popular music and Luo youth in Western Kenya: ambiguities of modernity, morality and gender relations in the era of AIDS’ in Christiansen, C., Utas, M. and Vigh, H. E. (eds), Navigating Youth, Generating Adulthood: social becoming in an African context. Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet.Google Scholar
Republic of Kenya (2013) The Value Added Tax Bill, 2013. Kenya Gazette Supplement No. 88. National Assembly Bills No. 9. Nairobi: Government Printer.Google Scholar
Rono, J. K. (2002) ‘The impact of the structural adjustment programmes on Kenyan society’, Journal of Social Development in Africa 17: 81–98.Google Scholar
Schatzberg, M. G. (2001) Political Legitimacy in Middle Africa: father, family, food. Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Schmidt, M. (2014) ‘It Will Always Be With Us’: corruption as an ontological fact among Kenyan Luo. Global Cooperation Research Paper 7. Duisburg: Centre for Global Cooperation Research.Google Scholar
Schmidt, M. (forthcoming) ‘“Money is Life”: on quantity, social freedom and combinatory practices in Western Kenya’, Social Analysis.Google Scholar
Seyer, D. (1987) The Violence of Abstraction: the analytical foundations of historical materialism. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Shipton, P. (1989) Bitter Money: cultural economy and some African meanings of forbidden commodities. Washington DC: American Anthropological Association.Google Scholar
Shipton, P. (2007) The Nature of Entrustment: intimacy, exchange, and the sacred in Africa. New Haven CT and London: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Shipton, P. (2009) Mortgaging the Ancestors: ideologies of attachment in Africa. New Haven CT and London: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Shipton, P. (2010) Credit Between Cultures: farmers, financiers, and misunderstanding in Africa. New Haven CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Smith, D. J. (2001) ‘Kinship and corruption in contemporary Nigeria’, Ethnos 66 (3): 344–64.Google Scholar
Taussig, M. (2010) The Devil and Commodity Fetishism in South America. Chapel Hill NC: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Utas, M. (2005) ‘Victimcy, girlfriending, soldiering: tactic agency in a young woman's social navigation of the Liberian war zone’, Anthropological Quarterly 78 (2): 403–30.Google Scholar
Vigh, H. (2009) ‘Motion squared: a second look at the concept of social navigation’, Anthropological Theory 9 (4): 419–38.Google Scholar
Weiss, B. (1997) ‘Northwestern Tanzania on a single shilling: sociality, embodiment, valuation’, Cultural Anthropology 12 (3): 335–61.Google Scholar
Weiss, B. (ed.) (2004) Producing African Futures: ritual and reproduction in a neoliberal age. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Weiss, B. (2009) Street Dreams and Hip Hop Barbershops: global fantasy in urban Tanzania. Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Welby, H. E. (1922) Annual Report of South Kavirondo 1922. Kenya National Archive, Nairobi, DC/KSI/I/2.Google Scholar
Whisson, M. G. (1964) Change and Challenge: a study of the social and economic changes among the Kenyan Luo. Nairobi: Christian Council of Kenya.Google Scholar
Whyte, S. R. (1997) Questioning Misfortune: the pragmatics of uncertainty in Eastern Uganda. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar