- Title
- Household, production and the organisation of cooperative labour in Shixini, Transkei
- Creator
- Heron, Gavin Stewart
- Subject
- Xhosa (African people)
- Subject
- Agriculture -- South Africa -- Transkei
- Subject
- Agriculture, Cooperative -- South Africa -- Transkei
- Subject
- Cooperative societies -- South Africa -- Transkei
- Date Issued
- 1990
- Date
- 1990
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Masters
- Type
- MA
- Identifier
- vital:2109
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007448
- Identifier
- Xhosa (African people)
- Identifier
- Agriculture -- South Africa -- Transkei
- Identifier
- Agriculture, Cooperative -- South Africa -- Transkei
- Identifier
- Cooperative societies -- South Africa -- Transkei
- Description
- Incidences of cooperation in agricultural activity are widespread phenomena in low-income third world communities. Two forms of cooperative labour groupings are identified in Shixini, Transkei . These are the work party and the ploughing company. It is argued that different organisational principles operate in the different cooperative forms. Work parties are based on principles of neighbourhood whi Ie ploughing companies are organised around kinship relationships. Factors which determine the principle of organisation are social values; the wider South African economic system; ecology; reciprocity; the constitution and structure of the household; economic differentiation; and labour demand and supply. The dissertation is divided into five chapters. The first is an overview of the Shixini social, economic and political systems. This chapter discusses the influence of the wider South African politico-economic system on agricultural production; the Shixini!Transkei political context; kinship and its relation to social organisation; and the likely effects of an agricultural 'betterment' scheme on the area. The second chapter is an overview of agricultural production in Shixini. It is found that the most significant determinants of agricultural production is the structure and constitution of the household and the way in which stock is distributed in the community. The third and fourth chapters describe and analyse Xhosa work parties and ploughing companies . Argument is lead as to the reasons for the specific organisational principles operating in each case. The penultimate chapter is an analysis of sacred and secular ritual. It is argued that both ritual forms reveal cooperative principles of organisation. Secular ritual dramatises the organisation of work parties while sacred ritual dramatises kinship relationships and so, the organisation of ploughing companies.
- Description
- KMBT_363
- Format
- 226 leaves
- Format
- Publisher
- Rhodes University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Humanities, Anthropology
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Heron, Gavin Stewart
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