What explains the development possibilities of rural people in poor countries? Existing theories tend to overemphasize the importance of the colonial past and continuing international inequalities in contemporary rural decision making. This project by an anthropologist from American University uses a case study approach to investigate the local variation of individual economic strategies in a rural area of Mali. The focus will be on how people get the social and technical knowledge needed to work, in particular how they use social networks to access resources and markets. The relationship between group characteristics (gender, ethnicity, age, religion, education) and individual experiences will be examined. The patterns of allocation between consumption and investment will be analyzed. Data will be collected by the researcher and her Malian anthropological colleagues to update a sample of 60 households first studied in 1978. Repeat visits to rural households will collect data on economic activities over time, intra-household transfers of resources and production, livestock transfers, expenses and investment. The new knowledge to be created will advance our understanding of how local action can be pro-active as well as reactive in economic development, and the extent to which individual as well as group action can be effective in creating social change. In addition the knowledge will be valuable for policy makers designing strategies to improve living standards for people in this savanna West African region.
