THE UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES INSTITUTE OF ANTHROPOLOGY, GENDER AND AFRICAN STUDIES

DEGREE: B.A. ANTHROPOLOGY

COURSE: NAF: 306: ECONOMIC ANTHROPOLOGY

LECTURER: OWUOR OLUNGAH, Ph.D.

PRESENTERS: GROUP 2 EDWIN AMBANI AMESO CYNTHIA AKINYI ODUOR SANDRA KAGWIRIA MWARANIA RUTH KIHARA THOGORI NO6/1255/2009 N06/1298/2009 N06/1351/2009 N06//2009

TOPIC: FACTORS OF PRODUCTION

LABOUR RELATIONS IN NON-WESTERN SOCIETIES LAND TENURE SYSTEMS IN THE AFRICAN CONTEXT

DATE OF SUBMISSION: 20TH AUGUST 2012

INTRODUCTION
The growth of an interdisciplinary field that merges more than the elements of a single field has drawn so much attention from many sections. The field, economic anthropology, brings together the economic field and the anthropology as a field. Scupin (1995) defines economy of a society as that consisting of the social relationships that organize the production, distribution, and exchange of goods and services. The definition raises three concepts that he further breaks down into various recognized meanings. Production, he states, is bringing out the aspects that organized systems for creation of goods and services. Distribution brings out the aspects of handing out, or allocating the goods and services to members of society. Exchange, is the process whereby members of society transfer goods and services among one another. Moore (1965:155) refers to economics in non-western societies or primitive societies or world as the system which relates human beings through goods which are shared or exchanged. He goes ahead to state that in primitive economics the mechanisms ensures the sharing of goods is embedded in the institutions of household, kinship, rituals, and politics. Singh (2006) defines production as the creation of utility. Furthermore, he points out that production can also mean the creation of the want satisfying goods and services. He also tries to elaborate on what production implies in an economic sense; he states that to produce something which has utility but no value cannot be production, thus, production is the creation of utility but creation or addition of value. For this reason, it can be the transformation of one set of goods into another. Therefore, factors of production can refer to the inputs which are merely the resources required to produce a given product. The term factor is used for a class of production elements and the individual element is known as a unit. Therefore, there are four major factors of production: labor, land, technology and enterprise and entrepreneurship.

LABOR RELATIONS IN NON-WESTERN SOCIETIES Labor relations in non-western societies in economic anthropology intend that we consider an understanding of labor and how it works in non-western societies. Labor as a factor of production tends to receive various definitions. Singh (2006) defines it as any exertion of mind or body undergone partly or fully with a view to some good other than the pleasure derived from the work. Brickhill (1993) points out that labor simply works. However, his interests to understand further what labor does on the system of production, he comes out with what he terms as the two basic functions of labor. The first, labor can act on the chemical, physical or mechanical forces which alter the state of a raw material using an instrument of labor, which is some type of tool or machine. The tool tends to be an inert object until acted on by the labor. The human element in production is inescapable for a machine to produce.

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Secondly, labor has an indirect role to play in service industries which in turn are the support systems for production enabling banking, distribution, and recordkeeping and government existence. Production is therefore an integral part of humanity and human history and moreover, is inconceivable without the intervention of people. People apply their ability, which is a uniquely human ability, to create, re-shape and re-create the raw materials and resources of the world. Labor tends to be characterized by various issues in non-western society. First, labor is different from the other factors as it is living. Secondly, labor is not only an input for production but is an end of production as well. Thirdly, labor cannot be separate from the laborer. Furthermore, labor is to be sold by the laborer in person. Fifth is that labor is perishable from the product end. Sixth, labor reacts curiously to changes in exchange. Seven, labor has a weak bargaining capability look at the likes of slave labor, serfdom, primitive communalism and others. Lastly, the supply of labor cannot be adjusted to the demand for labor. For labor to function well in non-western societies, division of labor exists. Singh (2006) looks at the division of labor as that which means work will be split up into several processes and each process will be entrusted to a separate set of workers. Brickhill refers to the division of labor simply as the different categories and types of workers. He suggests that there are two basic reasons for the division of labor. First, a degree of specialization is necessary in all productive activity. This is because specialization takes special training and experience. Therefore, to achieve specialization the tendency is for a worker or a group of workers to be specially trained to fulfill a certain function. It is enhanced by the fact that specialist tasks require a higher degree of efficiency and to achieve and this is necessary to develop certain styles of work uniquely designed for that specialist task. Secondly, it depends on rationalism that certain measures need to be taken to become more efficient. Here, you categorize those specialists within a given work into departments to enable proper working like the information department, human resource and others. Division of labor can be simple, complex, and territorial. The advantages of division of labor include: improved productivity; increase in dexterity and skill; facilitates inventions and innovations; mechanization is facilitated and computerization; saving in time, saves on the depreciation of tools and equipment; enables large-scale production; diversifies the employment opportunities; and right person is placed in the right place. However, disadvantages can be noted such as: monotony; human development is retarded; the industry overlooks the human element involved in production; the deterioration of skills; higher risk of unemployment; disrupts family life; and it gives to the evils of the factory systems. Division of labor more or less takes several forms in non-western societies. These include sexual, age, co-operation and craft specialization. Sexual: this form of division of labor states that a given piece of work by either a man or woman tends to vary according to a given group. The division gets its enforcement from the biological roots. Womens work tends to be those that can be carried out near home and are easily resumed after interruptions. Mens tasks tend to be characterized by: 2|Page

The need for physical strength. The rapid mobilization of high bursts of energy Frequent travel of some distance Assumption of high levels of risk and danger It gets enforcement from the historical development of the particular body of traditions by which a particular people order their lives. Each society has a given sexual division of labor such as the Maasai people of Kenya. Age: is the second form where division of labor is in accordance to the age of an individual, for example, among the Tiwi of north Australia, the men had the following duties to perform: Those who were too old to hunt manufactured tools and artifacts of the tribe. Older men, the ones with multiple wives and large households had a larger labor force. As a result, they had leisure time to develop skills in manufacture of canoes, baskets, digging sticks, and beautifully made artistic creations such as grave posts and ceremonial spears. They composed songs and dances as well. The wives and women provided their households with abundant vegetables, grubs, and worms so that all were well fed. Another society is the Ihalmiult of northern Canada. Here, the elderly were responsible for dispatching the following duties: The old people were repositories of wisdom, the libraries of a nonliterate people. Old age however came with difficulties, as harsh climate and migratory life of the Caribou hunters posed special hardships for the old. Also, the old were more of a burden for the Ihalmiult than for people for whom subsistence activities were less difficult. Children were seen as a burden and the teens were however, viewed as an economic contribution. Among the South Vietnam, for instance, young children played the following roles:Looking after their younger brothers and sisters Help with housework Handling of food and preparing or lighting an oil lamp The elderly, on the other hand, were seen for various duties. For instance, the grandmothers held the purse strings, went to the market, cooked and cleaned the house. Cooperation: is the other form of division of labor. Division occurring according to cooperative work groups that exist and the effort involves the whole community; there is a festive spirit to the work. Individuals like Jomo Kenyatta described enjoyment after a days labor that, a worker in his own environment does not rely on time calibrations or the clock but works with good spirit and enthusiasm to complete the tasks before him. In Dahomey, for example, the iron workers cooperate on their forges. Each man owns iron, and the members of the forge work on the iron of one man at a time. The product always belongs to the man who provided the iron, and he is free to sell it in the market for personal gain, reinvesting in more iron. However, he works for each other man until his turn comes. Cooperative work ranges from: 3|Page

Voluntary Fulfilling duties to in-laws Performing for chiefs or priests The usage of command Institutions such as family, kinship, religion, and the state nature and condition each workers cooperative obligation. Another example is seen among the Afar tribesmen of the Ethiopian Danakil depression. They are miners of salt and it has been used for a long time trade in East Africa. The men rely on cooperative effort in order for them to pry loose slabs of solid in a heat of extreme temperatures of 140 degrees and 156 degrees F during the day. Here, we have a crew of men who pry up and remove the salt. Another cut it into standard-sized blocks and a third crew smoothes those down. Craft specialization: is another form of division of labor. In non-western societies individuals tend to have knowledge and competence in all aspects of work appropriate to his or her age and sex. Due to specialization of craft, division of labor tends to lean towards craft specialization. For instance, the arrow points of one man may be in some higher demand than anothers due to the particular skill in making them (reshaping). However, it is more among people who produce their own food. For instance, among the Trobriand Islanders, the artisans of one village specialized in stone blades for adzes, whereas their neighbors may specialize in a certain function. This is enhanced by the fact that specialist tasks require a higher degree of efficiency and to achieve this it is necessary to develop certain styles of work uniquely designed for that specialist task. Types of Labor Relations In non-western societies, social organization is usually linked to kinship relations, for example, among the pastoralists. There is little formal organization of work though some works require more, like hunting. Specialization is not very common but it exists. The types of labor relations range from familial, custodial, contractual and voluntary labor. Familial labor relations tend to align towards the family, from the nuclear to extended family. It is based upon kinship. Personnel are based on the same type of the kinship. Membership is compulsory failure to which there are sanctions like social sanctions. Here, the organizations of labor such as division of labor be sex and age, cooperation and craft specialization was encouraged as the basis of labor in production. Custodial labor relations were based on political power and ranking was a determinant factor. A rank sort of serfdom was employed. Here, the personnel are drawn from political groups defined predominantly in political terms. Membership is compulsory and participation may be legitimately forced if necessary. It is based on difference of ascribed power with kinship being secondary. Serfdom also falls here. Contractual labor relations entail an agreement that is a contract between people. Participation is based on terms of contract. Wage labor falls under this category. Participation is motivated by the benefits gotten and offered. It also entails voluntary contracts between one group and one person 4|Page

who needs help from another group. Participation is compulsory in terms of contract. People work together in an organization for pay accountants like wage labor. It relies on seasons. Voluntary labor relations include membership based on self interest with no sanctions. No social mechanisms exist to compel membership and recruitment is territorially based.

LAND TENURE IN THE AFRICAN CONTEXT

The Concept of Land Tenure According to Adams Sibanda and Turner (1992:2), tenure derives from the Latin word holding or possessing. Therefore, land tenure is defined as the terms and conditions on which land is held, used and transacted. Wadie and Appah (1981:290) add that a land tenure system refers to customary or legal rights which regulate ownership and control relating to land use. Therefore, it also involves a bundle of rights which covers both what to do and not what to do with the land. For instance, one may have tenure or a right to the land, but may not have taken possession of it. De Villiers (1996:14) and Kishindo (1995:103) further define land tenure as the type of access, use, or occupation arrangement one has on land and the conditions attached thereto. Land tenure is accompanied by a set of value systems attached to culture and these affect the way land is used. Therefore, land tenure is a context-bound issue and is accompanied by a set of values that are often culture-bound. This particular issue often leads to conflicts between particular interest groups, specifically where land is a scarce resource. Indeed, the cultural diversity that characterizes the African contexts has led to land conflicts being witnessed across the continent. The rights and obligations emanating from the land tenure system may include the rights to the following:1. The right to occupy a homestead, to use the land for annual and perennial crops, to make permanent improvements, to bury the dead, to have access to gathering fuel, poles, wild fruit, thatching grass, minerals. This category of rights is called use rights and these apply in a communal land tenure system. 2. The right to transact, give, mortgage, lease, rent and bequeath areas of land for exclusive use. This form of rights are called alienation rights (concerned with the right-holders handing over their properties to another person/s or entities) and are applicable in an individualized freehold tenure system. Legal mechanisms exist in freehold systems enabling the right-holder to evict non-members. This right is however abused in areas where the political and legal instruments are corrupt. For instance, in Zimbabwe, this right does not apply effectively as we see land been taken away from owners with freehold titles without their consent and with no legal recourse nor compensation for the ownership of the land. 3. The right to exclude others from the above-listed rights at community and/or individual levels. 4. The right to enforcement of legal and administrative provisions in order to protect the right-holders. 5|Page

There are many different types of land tenure system that exist all over the world. Following are the ones most prevalent in the sub-saharan region of Africa. Communal/Customary land tenure This is a form of land tenure where land is held by a group through shared rules, and where their land administration systems are informed by and practised in terms of shared values and customary systems. This system is characterized by a number of norms and conventions that regulate the use of resource. Baer (1990:40) adds that an individuals right to benefit from this jointly held resource is dependent upon membership of, or acceptance by, the group or land owners. Indeed, the management group (the co-owners) has the right to exclude non-members and non-members have a duty to abide by such exclusion. There three different categories of land that are allocated in a communal land tenure system and these include: residential land, ploughing land, and grazing land. In the residential land, all members of the community (including tenants) have a right to a stand of residential land. It includes enough land for homesteading, that is, keeping small livestock and growing vegetables. Ploughing land is mostly reserved for the influential members of the community, while grazing land is used communally. This classification clearly illuminates the lack of equity in land use and access in communal areas. Hence it is not surprising that problems are often coming up in this system, ranging from corruption, maladministration, nepotism and inability to attract new farming skills due to the consideration of ones standing in the community. Wadie and Appah (1981:70) point out that in some cases, members observe specified principles of land use to ensure fair distribution; proper working rules and husbandry practices or restrictions of taboos, religions and superstitions as may be imposed by the local chiefs/headmen. In the communal land tenure system, no single individual has the right to a particular piece of land which enables him/her to sell it or give it away. In view of this, it is believed that some principles associated with the communal land tenure system are so complicated that they discourage agricultural investment in land and hence hinders rural development. Leasehold tenure system This is a form of land tenure under which someone other than the registered owner holds land under a contractual obligation for a specified period only and for a specified rent. This system often promotes over-exploitation of resources because the leaseholder tends to strive to maximize profit at the expense of the land.

Freehold/Modernized tenure system According to Bruce (1981:27) and Chaudhub et al (1997:11), this is a form of land tenure under which land is held by individuals and is free of obligations to the monarchy or state. It is commonly referred to as private land ownership. In the freehold tenure system, the working rules and sanctions are defined in the Acts of parliament adopted by the state. While the working rules of 6|Page

communal tenures vary from one place to the other, those of the freehold tenure system are more uniform. The advantage of this system is that it promotes the productive use of the land due to fewer restrictions about the use of land. However, the possibility of non-compliance with environmental laws by the rights-holders is high likely, for example, over-exploitation of resources. Moreover, inequity present in society, brought about by varying levels of social stratification, means that this tenure system may only benefits minority groupings such as elitist groups (chiefs, white settlers and so forth).

The trends on land tenure system in the sub-saharan region of Africa confirm that the different systems of property rights pertaining to private and communal land are a related problem. The dual-racially based system of land rights introduced by colonial regimes continues to prevail in the sub-saharan region. This has not only alienated indigenous people from local resources and the means of production, but it has also promoted the loss of indigenous knowledge since people have been systematically alienated from the local resource that is linked to a particular knowledge and system. For instance, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization (2000:11) and Lahiff (2000:34), laws involving arbitrary racial distinctions in the South African context have been repealed but land in the former reserves or communal areas continue to be registered in the name of the state. This implies that the local inhabitants have limited access to and control over their land. The African Context Agriculturalists Among agriculturalists, less shifting occurs, more stress is laid on the importance of land, greater feeling exists against trespass and boundaries are delineated much more sharply as compared to hunting or pastoral societies. Among agricultural societies, the concept of private land ownership exists but rarely and what is prized is the exclusive right to benefit from the produce raised on a given plot. There are three categories of land among the agricultural societies namely the village sites also called residential land, the uncleared forest or grazing land and garden plots or ploughing land. Village sites and garden plots are restricted while uncleared forests are available to every member of the community. Agriculturalists inhabit settled villages. They may steadily be pushed further and further from the central location because of progressive exhaustion of land. Their stability in terms of settled villages is not tied to the fact of land holdings but rather to those attachments to land which derive from the fundamental fact that it takes more initiative to move than to continue routine living Among the Ibo of eastern Nigeria land tenure takes four forms. The first is the sacred or tabooed lands which consist of sacred shrines of public deities and the evil bush. This is owned by the deities or spirits concerned. Secondly, they have the virgin forests which are not farmed because of a number of reasons like, there may be more land than is needed or its conservation may be decided upon by the village for shade, defense or to serve as a source of wood. Land held by the relationship groups-the kindred or extended families is called ancestral land and can only be alienated by the 7|Page

consent of the entire membership. When these families divide, its holdings are allocated among the newly formed groups. The family land on which the compound stands is a special element and is alienated only under conditions of severe stress since to sell, pledge or rent is believed to bring resentment and hence punishment of the ancestors buried there. The most important form of land tenure is private ownership. In many villages, there is almost no land that within the boundary of a group which is not held by individuals. Such land is acquired by, clearing a forest tract, by inheritance, or by possessing it by default of a loan. Such land is private with the rights to lease, sell or pledge it. It can be rented for a pot of palm wine or a feast at harvest time or for no return at all. Among the West African Ashanti, land is not regarded as a single immovable entity or possession. It is necessary to consider it as comprising three distinct attributes namely: the land itself - this means the soil, literally the earth; the usufruct - which is the use to which the soil maybe put; and thirdly, is the important fact that trees and houses were not regarded as immovable or inseparable from the soil in which they had their roots or upon which they stood. Primitive folk are concerned with the products of the land and not with the land itself and this is a reflex of the lack of economic surplus, production being for use and attention being focused on yield rather than on land. All land occupied by the tribe is vested in the chief and administered by him as head of the tribe. This is the principle of tenure among the south eastern Bantu. This doesnt mean that the chief is the owner of the land. Natural resources are available to all members of the tribe. They may graze their cattle anywhere on the pasture lands, they may all use the springs, cut wood, dig for clay for pots and gather wild fruits. Only land used for residence and cultivation is restricted but such land has private rights but its not private property. Its assigned by the chief and while in use, its exclusively reserved for those who live and work on it. It may be handed down to a mans heir and the head of the household has the word on how it will be subdivided among its dependents. It can be transferred to a friend with the permission of the headman and it can only be taken away by a process of confiscation if the holder is guilty of some serious crime. Among some communities in Congo and West Africa, holdings may be sanctioned by village or clan assignment though rulers more frequently figure as the eventual source of a given tenure. This is a federal system. In Congo, the land surrounding a town belongs to the people who live in that town. Certain land marks such as streams and forests are agreed upon as boundaries within which the people are free to farm and build their houses where they like, so long as the land is not already occupied by someone. Priority of occupation is therefore the only title recognized. The Tonga of northern Rhodesia used rain shrines to demarcate boundaries whereas the kikuyu of Kenya and bahaya of Tanganyika used terrestrial landmarks. Bohannan (1967) This principle is contradicted by the occurrence of private ownership among the Ibo. Their system of private ownership arises from the fact that among them, there is little or no surplus land so that the pressure of population is that a man who has begun cultivating a piece of land dares not give it up. In Gold coast, the hoe is the one to lat claim to the land, this is an Ashanti proverb. Another saying is the farm produce is mine; the soil is the chiefs. Provided a man continues to use the soil and pay his due to the stool from which he derived his right, his possession is undisturbed. Pastoralists

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Among these people, land generally falls in the same category as air or any other gift of nature on whose use, no limitation is placed. Therefore its not considered a property. Land is valued on the basis psychological elements in land ownership, emotional attachments to districts of birth and exercised rights like magical and religious rights. In the evaluation of land, land must not be a free good but some sense of scarcity is associated with it. Land must also figure consciously in the general economic life of people as it must lend itself to exploitation and labor must be expended in connection with its use. Thirdly, land must yield some recognizable return both economically and psychologically. Among the bushmen of south Africa, the basic grouping according to Schapera is the hunting band which possesses its own territory, exercises authority and has rights only within this territory and boundaries of natural landmarks are recognized. Areas belonging to different bands are separated using neutral zones which are forest belts or open flats of water where no-one trespasses. Waterholes are the real property of the band and are jealously guarded and trespass is vigorously resented and repulsed. In other Bushmen territory, members hunt at will but the division of land is not forgotten as they retire to their own property when different seasons set in. Among the Auen, a more restricted or private ownership is reported. When a man or woman burns a patch of veld in order to grow veldkos (wild vegetable foods) on it, he or she alone can claim its products. In south west Africa, where water rather than grass was the problem, each pool or fountain was thought to belong to a specific people who did not restrict its use. Land was inalienable and every member of a tribe had full right to the use of whatever tribal land he wanted, though they did not lay exclusive claims. Among some tribes, certain trees were considered exclusive property. A person who dug a waterhole or opened a spring made it his property. Among the cattle keeping bantu people of south and east Africa, who combine pastoralism and agriculture, land tenure derives from the theory that all land belongs to the head of the tribe. In South Africa, anyone may graze his cattle anywhere he pleases. In Basutoland, chiefs reserve special areas for grazing during winter. Among the ankole, pasture land was so plentiful that it was free to all bahima herders. Tribesmen who dug a waterhole regarded it their own property as long as they lived near it and watered their stock there but on their departure, it was available to anyone. Scarcity of land may emphasize ownership and restriction among the hima cattle keepers of Rwanda. This led to the rise of family ownership of large tracts of land. Among the lango people, land is owned by villages which control grazing and water rights.

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