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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:'The Little Farming Soldiers': The Evolution of a Labor Army in Post-Colonial Mali
Author:Bogosian, Catherine
Year:2003
Periodical:Mande Studies
Volume:5
Pages:83-100
Language:English
Geographic term:Mali
Subjects:neocolonialism
forced labour
civic service
socialism
Military, Defense and Arms
Politics and Government
Development and Technology
Labor and Employment
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/44078824
Abstract:In 1960, the government of Mali's president, Modibo Keita, established the 'Service civique rural' as an important part of its programme of building a socialist and self-sufficient Malian State. According to its design, young, mostly rural men recruited into the 'Service civique' would learn modern agricultural methods, receive lessons in literacy, and become familiar with the values of the socialist State and the duties of citizens within that State. Putting the history of these 'farming soldiers' in the context of the then all too recent past, this paper argues that the 'Service civique' was a direct descendant of the colonial forced labour policy known as the 'deuxième portion du contingent militaire': the 'second portion' of the colonial army. Though very different governments created the 'deuxième portion' and the 'Service civique', and did so in order to meet extremely different goals, the 'Service civique' echoed the 'deuxième portion' in three ways: the Malian government drew upon the legislative legacy of the colonial period; each institution, in its own way, reflected the concerns held, both by the colonial government and by the independent Malian government, about the relationship between rural citizens and the central government; individual Malians shared a communal memory of, and a communal distaste for, requisitioned labour in any form. This communal memory acted as a dead weight that hindered the potential of the 'Service civique'. Bibliogr., notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]
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