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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Livestock transfers and social security in Fulbe society in the Hayre, central Mali
Author:Dijk, Han vanISNI
Year:1994
Periodical:Focaal: tijdschrift voor antropologie
Issue:22-23
Pages:97-112
Language:English
Geographic term:Mali
Subjects:Fulani
social networks
poverty
animal husbandry
Abstract:Property relations and the transfer of ownership rights over livestock are important constituents of social relations and may form the basis of networks that contribute to the social security of the individuals and families involved. This paper, which is based on fieldwork carried out among Fulbe (Jalloube and Riimaybe) pastoralists in two villages in the Hayre in the 'cercle' Douentza, central Mali, in 1990-1992, shows that in this society the redistribution of livestock has hardly any practical importance for the alleviation of poverty in the present ecological and economic crisis. This is due to the specific form and content of social relations, and the manipulation of rules and norms with respect to livestock transfers. An overview of literature dealing with the redistribution of livestock in pastoral societies is followed by a discussion of social relations and cattle transfer mechanisms in Fulbe society in the Hayre. Attention is paid to the inheritance and pre-inheritance rules governing livestock transfers between close kin, cattle transfers within the herding community (the 'fute', a kind of 'dowry', and obligations derived from marriage, charity ('zakat') and gifts), and herding contracts with nonpastoralists. An evaluation of the contribution of these transfers to the alleviation of poverty concludes the paper. Bibliogr., notes, ref.
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