Ganyu in Malawi: transformation of local labour relations under famine and UIV/AIDS duress

Bryceson, D.F. (2012) Ganyu in Malawi: transformation of local labour relations under famine and UIV/AIDS duress. In: Abbink, J. (ed.) Fractures and Reconnections: Civic Action and the Redefinition of African Political and Economic Spaces. Series: African Studies Centre (5). Lit Verlag: Berlin, Germany, pp. 37-59. ISBN 9783643902566

Abstract

Ganyu labour, a longstanding form of ad hoc casualized rural labour, has come to the fore in recent years as the major coping mechanism for the rural poor to combat food insecurity in Malawi. This chapter explores ganyu in light of long-term trends in Malawi’s local rural economies and the shocks of famine and the HIV/AIDS pandemic experienced at the outset of the 21st century. It is argued that ganyu, evolved from balanced to negative reciprocity over the past hundred years. During Malawi’s 2001-02 famine, with many rural families adversely affected either directly or indirectly by HIV/AIDS morbidity and mortality, ganyu labour increasingly altered in character in terms of: growing inequalities of rural asset holdings, labour exchange negotiated under extreme duress, growing labour negotiations between members of the famine-affected rural areas with non-kin from outside of the local community, a diminishing ethical foundation to labour contractual terms and, in the case of women, sometimes the necessity of morally degrading sexual compromise for the sake of securing vital food supplies or cash.

• Item Type: Book Sections
• Status: Published
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Bryceson, Dr Deborah
• Authors: Bryceson, D.F.
• Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > G Geography (General)
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Geographical and Earth Sciences > Geography
• Publisher: Lit Verlag
• ISBN: 9783643902566