A Claim to Land by the River: A Household in Senegal 1720-1994 [Hardcover]

Adrian Adams (Author), Jaabe So (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 5, 1996 | ISBN-10: 0198201915 | ISBN-13: 978-0198201915

In the early part of the eighteenth century, Jaabe So's ancestors founded a farm on the left bank of the Senegal river. Twenty years ago, Jaabe So set up an independent farmers' association based among a group of towns along that river. Since then, he and Adrian Adams have spent much of their lives struggling to defend the existence of that association against a state development corporation lavishly funded by development aid. This is a narrative of that struggle, placed in the context of three centuries of Senegalese history. This extraordinary book will be an invaluable reference for those who believe that Africans may yet redeem a future free from the false promises of development, by drawing upon an inherited past.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Adrian Adams won the Orwell Memorial Prize for her book La Terre et les Gens du Fleuve (of which the present book is a major reworking) in 1985, and for her work in the field of African literacy. Both Adams and her husband, Jaabe So, a subsistance farmer, are activists trying to defend a peasant organisation against encroachments made by a state development corporation.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 300 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (December 5, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198201915
• ISBN-13: 978-0198201915
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,499,276 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is my aunt!!! R.I.P., November 19, 2007

By 

Fred Hunter "Elements" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Claim to Land by the River: A Household in Senegal 1720-1994 (Hardcover)

This happens to be my aunt. My grandfather was a diplomat, a vice counsel to different embassies and such, hence Adrian grew up everywhere. She was a very caring person. I remember visiting her village of Kounghani with my father when I was 10, it was an amazing experience. Diabe treated me like one of his own sons.

This book is a tale of the lives of people of the land fighting against the nasty bureaucracy of the Senegalise government. Adrian was very much against imperialism and capitalism. FIGHT THE POWER!!!