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Male Rationality in Economics - a critique of Godelier on Salt Money
... Although Lewis- Williams (1981a) has given attention to some of the sexual symbolism present in the art and has located the imagery in relation to the sexual division of labor (Lewis-Williams 1982) (using Godelier's (1977) symbolic labor concept), this interpretation is founded on the notion of gender complementarity and cooperation. The notion of symbolic labor cannot accommodate differential valorization of male and female labor (Bradby 1977), nor does it acknowledge that gender is a political relation. Although few researchers have failed to comment obliquely on the prominent sexual imagery in San rock art, it remains inconsistently studied, and has not been contextualized in relation to gender organization. ...
Interpretation of San rock art has been heavily dependent on the various San ethnographies, particularly those of the /Xam, who inhabited the northern Cape Province, South Africa, until the early 20th century. A different reading of these ethnographies enables another avenue of interpretation: the interlinked themes of gender, sexuality, and rain appear to be as important in the art as shamanistic elements (reference to which has been a key development in understanding the art). While interpretation centering on the trance dance, recorded ethnographically from recent and contemporary San groups, has been most productive, many features of the art may be related to other aspects of San culture—to the female initiation ceremony, social organization, and the complex of notions and practices surrounding feminine gender and female sexuality.
Within the past two decades or so gender, and the women’s question in particular, has taken on a new significance. In Uganda, and Africa in general, studies dealing with the women’s question and the role played by women in agricultural production have been undertaken.1 These studies have some common underlying assumptions. First, the advent of colonial rule and the penetration of capital enhanced the exploitation of women’s labour. Second, women’s role in capitalist agricultural production has not been sufficiently recognised. Third, capitalism consolidated the social and ideological structures that exacerbate the oppression of women. Sexual and social division of labour, control over productive resources, control over benefits from productive labour, and reconstruction of marriage and kinship institutions have enhanced the exploitation of women. Fourth, women’s struggles against oppression and exploitation are primarily struggles against capitalist exploitation of women’s labour and the resultant social structures, which have denied them a share of the productive resources.
Within the past two decades or so gender, and the women’s question in particular, has taken on a new significance. In Uganda, and Africa in general, studies dealing with the women’s question and the role played by women in agricultural production have been undertaken.1 These studies have some common underlying assumptions. First, the advent of colonial rule and the penetration of capital enhanced the exploitation of women’s labour. Second, women’s role in capitalist agricultural production has not been sufficiently recognised. Third, capitalism consolidated the social and ideological structures that exacerbate the oppression of women. Sexual and social division of labour, control over productive resources, control over benefits from productive labour, and reconstruction of marriage and kinship institutions have enhanced the exploitation of women. Fourth, women’s struggles against oppression and exploitation are primarily struggles against capitalist exploitation of women’s labour and the resultant social structures, which have denied them a share of the productive resources.
This paper is an empirical study of the cultural context and historical development of the division of labour by sex in the farming systems of two peoples of the West African cocoa belt: the Yoruba of Western Nigeria and the Beti of South-Central Cameroun. It examines the way in which cocoa as an export crop has been integrated into two different indigenous economies, one in which farming was predominantly a set of tasks for males in the pre-cocoa era, and the other in which farming was women's work.
Three main forms of agrarian change are shown to have occurred in the Ngwa region during the period covered in this article. The first was the adoption of a new hand-processing method for palm oil, which can be seen as a response to growing pressures on female labour resources as Ngwa farmers increased their export production of palm oil and kernels. The second was the adoption of cassava by women. This increased their workloads but helped them to fill a hungry-season gap in local food supplies. It formed part of a long-term trend of diversification within Ngwa agriculture. Finally, men began helping with cassava processing. Like their earlier entry into palm-oil processing, this move reflected not only a growing pressure on female labour resources but also a need for men to participate in processing if they were to claim a share of the saleable product. In the concluding sections of the article, gender relations are shown to have influenced farmers' patterns of saving and investment. An awareness of gender is seen to be relevant when considering both the issue of mechanisation and the history of other kinds of agrarian change.
The paper takes Gregory's (1982) Gifts and Commodities as a point of departure to suggest that the gift, and the relations of reciprocal dependence which correspond to it is only one of several forms of relationship/prestation occurring in tribal systems. Others are ritualized tributary prestations associated with the chieftainship, and the non-gift associated with culturally negated labour.
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