Stefano Ponte's article in the first JMAS issue of 2001 brings good
news: previous pessimistic accounts of the dynamics of economic life in
the Uluguru Mountains, especially mine, have to be revised (Ponte
2001; van Donge 1993c). There may have been economic decline in the
area, but economic liberalisation has turned that around and raised
incomes. Ponte collected rich material, especially in his household
survey. Whereas I found it difficult to get precise estimates of money,
land, and so on from people there, he collected precise quantitative
insights. This information covers not only their present situation:
people recalled with considerable precision their situation back to the
mid eighties when I did research there. His critique touches, however,
not only changes over time, but also the assumptions about how actors
behave: people are much more resourceful than I portrayed them.