Eaters Of The Dry Season: Circular Labor Migration In The West African Sahel [Hardcover]

David Rain (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 29, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0813336163 | ISBN-13: 978-0813336169

In this illuminating new work on the geography of poverty, David Rain dispels the notion that relentless human mobility is a byproduct of Western technological advances like superhighways and airports. Instead, it is much older and more deeply ingrained in the human spirit. Every year after the rainy season ends in the arid West African Sahel, hundreds of thousands of men and women leave their villages to work in the informal economies of West African cities. The seasonal flux of peasants swells urban markets and neighborhoods, as it has for centuries. These migrants, called masu cin rani in Hausa, or “those who eat the dry season,” travel after their crops are harvested in order to conserve household food supplies and earn money which is funneled back to their villages of origin. These “eaters” come from all walks of life, though they are more commonly poor and living by their wits.This book focuses on the activities of the seasonal migrants, persisting as they have through colonial and postcolonial changes, and constituting an important response to uncertainty in the region. Based on a combination of survey-interviews and geographic analysis, the book regards the migrants as practical people who are simply making the best of what has been dealt to them. Contextual andpanoramic, and centered on the immediacy of daily and seasonal routines, Eaters of the Dry Season delves deeper than typical alarmist accounts of African drought and famine, which are all too common in current literature. It will challenge laypeople as well as scholars and policymakers to consider how actual people respond to global changes in the next century, especially for the billions who are labeled “poor.” Unraveling the dynamics behind population, environment, and poverty requires us to set our sights on the intersection of the human and the physical realms, and to enter the worlds inhabited by the poor.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A remarkable blend of geography, cultural anthropology, ecology, politics... this book dispels many misconceptions and is an education in itself." -- Choice --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

David Rickter Rain is a professional geographer living with his family in the Washington DC area. He served in the US Peace Corps in Niger from 1985 to 1987, and in 1997 he earned his Ph.D. from Penn State University. This is his first book.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: Westview Press (July 29, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813336163
• ISBN-13: 978-0813336169
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,523,143 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sahelian Migration As Economic Strategy, January 9, 2004

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Chimonsho (Turtle Island) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Eaters Of The Dry Season: Circular Labor Migration In The West African Sahel (Paperback)

"Eaters of the Dry Season" (masu cin rani in Hausa) corrects the stereotype of Sahel migrants as hapless, helpless victims of drought and poverty. Most are poor, of course, but this work on rural-urban mobility in Niger documents a centuries-old way of maximizing labor and resources following each rainy season. This is not news, since fine earlier research by Ken Swindell and Polly Hill, among others, found similar patterns, but David Rain's data provides a new level of concreteness on the topic. His fieldwork in villages and the city of Maradi is precise, though the sheer amount of detail is rather overwhelming at times. But it clearly shows Nigeriens' resilience and ingenuity, with circular migration vital to their risk-aversion strategies. Significantly, Rain locates migrants themselves at the center of his study, not the usual official statistics or theories of development experts. He summarizes surveys and paraphrases interviews well, with many men (and some women) emerging as individuals, though their stories would be further enhanced with more of their own words. For this see N. Cross & R. Barker eds, "At the Desert's Edge" which covers the whole Sahel region. There is a wonderful social history in B. Cooper, "Marriage in Maradi," while W. Miles, "Hausland Divided" notes interesting contrasts between Francophone Niger and Anglophone Nigeria. N.B. The dust jacket does not list Rain as having a professional position; "Eaters" is certainly strong enough to earn him a good job in his field.