Land, Investment, and Migration Thirty-Five Years of Village Life in Mali

"How do people survive and thrive in the uncertain, and risk-prone Sahel? This long-term study portrays the people of Dlonguebougou in Central Mali to show how they have adapted to change over the last 35 years, shaping new strategies and finding new sources of cash. Drawing on my two years in the village in 1980-2, published in Cattle, Women and Wells ; Managing household survival in the Sahel (OUP 1992), I have re-visited the people to explore the village economy and society today. A tripling in population, unpredictable rainfall, and the arrival of the Chinese have forced people into new ways of making ends meet and building up wealth - some doing much better than others. Using a combination of infographics, satellite images, interviews and survey data, my research presents the different strategies and fortunes of individuals and their families, the search for new cash incomes, the shift of people from village to town, and the erosion of collective solidarity at household and village levels. Overall, people's fortunes have been mixed. Many people acknowledge they have become better-off, but they are no longer so rooted in the life and landscape of millet farming, which had structured household relationships and village society. Land has become much scarcer, and the villagers can no longer exert much power over the wider society and environment. In eight chapters Land, investment and migration is written in an engaging style, with plenty of illustrations, and material from interviews"--