David J. Parkin - Town and Country in Central and Eastern Africa: Studies Presented and Discussed at the Twelfth International African Seminar 1972

Volume 53

Edited by
DAVID PARKIN

First published in 1975 by Oxford University Press for the International African Institute.

This edition first published in 2018

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1975 International African Institute

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ISBN: 978-0-8153-8713-8 (Set)

ISBN: 978-0-429-48813-9 (Set) (ebk)

ISBN: 978-1-138-59130-1 (Volume 53) (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-429-49045-3 (Volume 53) (ebk)

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Edited with an Introduction by
DAVID PARKIN

INTERNATIONAL AFRICAN INSTITUTE 1975

Oxford University Press, Ely House, London W.1

GLASGOW NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE WELLINGTON

CAPE TOWN IBADAN NAIROBI DAR ES SALAAM LUSAKA ADDIS ABABA

DELHI BOMBAY CALCUTTA MADRAS KARACHI LAHORE DACCA

KUALA LUMPUR SINGAPORE HONG KONG TOKYO

ISBN 0 85302 044 2

International African Institute 1975

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press

TO

THE MEMORY OF
MAX GLUCKMAN

Printed in Great Britain by

Clarke, Doble & Brendon Ltd., Plymouth

The papers in this volume were presented at the 12th International African Seminar, held at the University of Zambia, Lusaka, from 11th to 20th September, 1972, under the chairmanship of Professor Jaap Van Velsen. In the absence of the Vice-Chancellor, the seminar was opened by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Professor J. Omer-Cooper.

For various reasons Professor Van Velsen has been unable to prepare the volume for publication and to provide an introduction. These tasks have been performed by Dr David Parkin, to whom the International African Institute is most grateful.

We are happy to express our continued gratitude to the Ford Foundation for its generous financial support which made possible both the holding of the seminar and the publication of these papers. And we thank the staff of the University of Zambia for their efforts and kindness which made the seminar itself so pleasant and memorable an occasion for the participants.

J.M.

THE INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT OF MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Modern migrations in Western Africa have been extensively surveyed in an International African Institute book of that title which may be regarded in part as the sister volume to this (Amin 1974). As its title indicates, however, the present volume is not exclusively concerned with modern migratory patterns. Rather, it looks more broadly at a range of factors which mediate the development of social processes in both town and country: as well as migration, there is the ebb and flow of beliefs, ideologies, and educational and occupational opportunities. These may become located in a particular town or rural area but, insofar as they involve specific groups of people, remain responsive to developments affecting distant urban or rural members of the same social groups.

The volume, then, starts from the now generally accepted view that the rural and urban areas of East and Central Africa have to be regarded as part of a single field of relations made up of a vast criss-crossing of peoples, ideas, and resources. Indeed, it depends on the particular problem being investigated as to where the boundaries of this field are drawn. Though the spread of innovative ideas and ideologies may be extensive, the movement of people, cash, and material resources is generally more controlled by political and administrative factors, and this, if anything, justifies the isolation of East and Central Africa as a socio-geographical field of enquiry within which links have been established through labour migration. For the countries in which the studies making up this volume were carried out are Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania (East Africa), and Zambia, Malawi, and Rhodesia or Zimbabwe (Central Africa), which, as part of their common colonial past under the British, were subject to a variety of attempts at economic integration. There was the colonial attempt in 1953 to translate the common fiscal and transportation system of Central Africa into a Federation, which broke up in 1963, shortly before Zambias independence. There was also an abortive attempt in the early 1960s by the independent governments of East Africa to become a Federation on the same colonial foundation. The East African Economic Community set up in 1967 has, as yet, achieved very little. The East African Common Services Organization continues to deal with the shared network of railways, harbours, and posts and telecommunications, but the prospect of a Federation is remote. Political developments in the twelve years or so since independence in East and Central Africa have already redefined the colonial pattern of connections including those of labour migration, as we shall see. But important traces remain including the extensive use of English in various domains, and similar judicial and administrative systems, with Tanzania most removed from the colonial pattern. This said, it is unfortunate that budgetary limitations on space precluded contributions to this volume based on studies in, say, non-Anglophone Zaire or Ethiopia, against which comparisons might have been made.