The changing character of economies not only affects the geographic distribution of economic activities, it also affects the form and nature of participation by different groups of people in different types of activities. In western Africa, the production and marketing of produce grown in gardens traditionally was conducted by women, but changes in economic and social structures during the 20th Century have altered the roles of men and women in these processes. This doctoral dissertation research project will examine the social history of market gardening in the Bobo-Dioulasso region of southwestern Burkina Faso through three critical eras of change: (1) the 1920s and 1930s, when missionaries introduced European vegetables, cultivation techniques, and dietary habits; (2) the drought years of the 1970s, when foreign donors funded agricultural diversification and irrigation projects; and (3) the current period of World Bank-mandated structural adjustment and austerity programs. Ethnographic data-collection techniques will be used in three gardening villages and in central marketplaces of the study area in order to obtain information about land, labor, and technology employed in commercial vegetable production. These data will be complemented by information from gardeners and traders, village elders, and government and non-governmental officials. In addition to advancing empirical knowledge about changing African food-production economies, this project will contribute to theoretical understandings of the dynamic interaction among macroeconomic conditions, social ideologies, and local practices and gender relations. As a doctoral dissertation improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.
