Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T01:49:24.777Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

How to sustain a living? Urban households and poverty in the Sahelian town of Mopti

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

Annelet Harts-Broekhuis
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Increasingly, the poor are to be found in the urban areas of developing countries. Many urban households, not only the very poor, face economic insecurity and deprivation. Despite the steady growth of low-income groups in the urban areas of Africa, the mechanisms for coping with urban poverty were not studied to any great extent until the end of the 1980s. Most research into the strategies developed by households to cope with poverty had centred on the rural household. This article focuses on the inhabitants of the town of Mopti, situated in the Sahelian zone of Mali on the border of the inland delta of the river Niger. It deals with the subsistence strategies of different types of urban households and their adjustments to uncertain and deteriorating economic circumstances. In analysing these coping mechanisms account is taken of the various factors affecting households' ability to cope with reduced earnings or lack of income, such as their socio-economic position, migration status, composition and size, and ethnic background. A pertinent question in the analysis is whether urban households, in deteriorating circumstances, diversify their sources of income or specialise in one activity.

Résumé

De plus en plus, les pauvres se trouvent dans les milieux urbains des pays en voie de développement. Beaucoup de ménages urbains, et non seulement ceux qui sonttrès pauvres, font face à l'insécurité économique et la privation. Malgré la croissance régulière des groupes auxbas-salaires dans les milieux urbains d'Afrique, les mécanismes pour faire face à la pauvreté urbaine n'avaient pas été étudié de façon approfondie jusqu' à la fin des années 1980. La plupart des recherches sur les stratégies dévelopées par les ménages pour faire face à la pauvreté se sont concentrées sur le ménage rural. Cet article se concentre sur les habitants de la ville deMopti, située dans la zone sahélienne du Mali sur les bords du delta intérieur de la rivière du Niger. II examine les stratégies de subsistance des différents types de ménages urbains et leurs ajustements àdes circonstances économiques qui sont incertaines et se détériorent. En analysant ces mécanismes de survie, on prête attention aux différents facteurs qui affectent l'abilité des ménages à faire face à la diminution de salaire ou au manque de revenu tels que: leurs positions socio-économiques, leurs status migratoires, la taille et composition du ménage, et leurs origine ethniques. Une question pertinente dans cette analyse examine si les ménages urbains diversifient leurs sources de revenu ou se spécialised dans une seule activité dans ces circonstances détériorantes.

Type
Poverty and prosperity on the margin
Information
Africa , Volume 67 , Issue 1 , January 1997 , pp. 106 - 129
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Affaires Sociales. 1985. Recensement des camps sinistrés. Mopti.Google Scholar
Aldous, J. 1962. ‘Urbanization: the extended family and kinship ties in West Africa’, Social Forces 41, 6–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, J. (ed.). 1990. Small-town Africa: studies in rural-urban interaction. Seminar Proceedings 23, Uppsala: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies.Google Scholar
Baker, J., and Claeson, Cl.-F.. 1990. ‘Introduction’, in Baker, J. (ed.), Small-town Africa: studies in rural-urban interaction. Seminar Proceedings 23, Uppsala: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies.Google Scholar
Braun, J. von, and Panda-Lorch, R.. 1992. ‘Income sources and diversification strategies of the malnourished rural poor’, Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture, 31 (1), 36–54.Google Scholar
Bruce, J. 1989. ‘Homes divided’, World Development 17 (7), 979–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burg, B. van der. 1987. ‘Vrouwen en werk: een analyse van de economische positie van vrouwen op de arbeidsmarkt van Mopti’. Unpublished M.A. thesis, Utrecht: Geografisch Instituut, Universiteit Utrecht.Google Scholar
Burgers, M., and Lenssen, M. 1988. Mopti als marktplaats; een onderzoek naar de markthandel in de stad Mopti. Unpublished M.A. thesis, Utrecht: Geografisch Instituut, Universiteit Utrecht.Google Scholar
Coquery-Vidrovitch, C. 1988. Africa: endurance and change south of the Sahara. Berkeley, Cal.: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Corbett, J. 1988. ‘Famine and household coping strategies’, World Development 16(9), 1099–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diagnostic de la Région. 1985. Edition Définitive. Bamako and Mopti:Comité Régional de Développement.Google Scholar
Fluehr-Lobban, C. 1977. ‘Agitation for change in the Sudan’, in Schlegel, A. (ed.), Sexual Stratification: a cross-cultural view, pp. 127–43. New York: Columbia Univeristy Press.Google Scholar
Gallais, J. 1967. Le Delta intérieur du Niger: étude géographique régionale. Dakar:IFAN.Google Scholar
Gardi, B. 1985. Ein Markt wie Mopti. Handwerkerkasten und traditionelle Techniken in Mali. Basel: Ethnologisches Seminar der Universität und Museum für Völkerkunde.Google Scholar
Gugler, J. 1991. ‘Life in a dual system: urban-rural ties in Enugu, Nigeria, 1961–87’, World Development 19 (5), 399–409.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gugler, J., and Flanagan, W. G.. 1978. Urbanization and social change in West Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Harts-Broekhuis, E. J. A., and de Jong, A. A. 1987. ‘Emploi et niveau de vie de la population urbaine de Mopti’, Etudes sahéliennes 1987, 47–55. Cahiers géographiques de Rouen 28, Rouen: Institut de géographie, Université de Rouen.Google Scholar
Harts-Broekhuis, E. J. A., and de Jong, A. A. 1993. Subsistence and Survival in the Sahel: responses of households and enterprisesto deteriorating conditions, and development policy in the Mopti Region of Mali. Netherlands Geographical Studies 168, Utrecht: Koninklijk Nederlands Aardrijkskundig Genootschap/Faculty of Geographical Sciences.Google Scholar
Harts-Broekhuis, E. J. A., Romein, A., Tempelman, G. J., and Verkoren, O. 1983. Investigation socio-économique de la ville de Djenné et ses environs. 4, Les Mouvements migratoires de la population urbaine. Bamako and Utrecht: Institut des sciences humaines/Institut de géographie de l'Université d'Utrecht.Google Scholar
Herbert, D. T., and Thomas, C. J. 1990. Cities in Space: city as place. London: Fulton.Google Scholar
Hinderink, J. 1970. ‘No longer at ease’: Afrikanen in steden; steden in tropisch Afrika. Assen: Van Gorcum.Google Scholar
Hinderink, J., and Sterkenburg, J. J. 1975. Anatomy of an African Town: a socioeconomic study of Cape Coast, Ghana. Utrecht: Geographical Institute of the University of Utrecht.Google Scholar
Jamal, V., and Weeks, J. 1988. ‘The vanishing rural-urban gap in sub-Saharan Africa’, International Labour Review 127 (3), 271–92.Google Scholar
Janssen, G. 1987. ‘Aanpassingen van huishoudens in de Sahel: een analyse van overlevingsstrategieën in de stad Mopti, Mali’. Unpublished M.A. thesis, Utrecht: Geografisch Instituut, Universiteit Utrecht.Google Scholar
Jong, A. A. de, and Harts-Broekhuis, E. J. A. 1987. La Ville de Mopti: habitat démographie et emploi dans un centre urbain sahélien. Rapports du projet RESEMOS 1, Bamako and Utrecht: Institut des Sciences Humaines/Institut de Géographie.Google Scholar
Kamminga, E., et al. 1988. Bamako et Segou: une étude du milieu urbain au Mali Bamako: Association néerlandaise d'assistence au développement.Google Scholar
Krings, T. 1987. ‘Surviving in the periphery of the town—the living conditions of Sahelian refugees in Mopti, Republic of Mali’,GeoJournal 14 (1), 63–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, B. C. 1977. Economic activity and marriage among Ivorian urban women', in Schlegel, A. (ed.), Sexual Stratification: a cross-cultural view, pp. 161–91. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Lowder, S. 1986. Inside Third World Cities. London: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
Mangahas, M., and Jayme-Ho, T. 1976. ‘The economic status of women: an analytical framework’, Economic Bulletin for Asia and the Pacific 27 (1), 62–72.Google Scholar
Ministère du Plan, 1987a. Recensement général de la population et de l'habitat, 1987. Bamako: Direction nationale de la statistique et de l'information.Google Scholar
Ministère du Plan, 1987b. Enquête sur les dépenses des mênages urbains, mai 1986-juin 1986. Projet de renforcement de la Gestion publique de l'economie malienne, Bamako:Direction nationale de la statistique et de l'information.Google Scholar
Murphy, A. D. 1979. ‘Urban Development and Household Adaptive Strategies on Oaxaca: a secondary city of Mexico’. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis. Temple University. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms.Google Scholar
Murphy, A. D. 1991. ‘City in crisis’, Urban Anthropology 20 (1), 1–13.Google Scholar
Neefjees, P., and van der Strigt, C. 1989. ‘Mensen in beweging. Sociaal-geografische aanpassingen van migranted in een stadje in de Sahel’.Unpublished M.A. thesis, Utrecht: oGeografisch Instituut, Universiteit Utrecht.Google Scholar
Post, J. 1992. ‘Small-scale economic activity and town planning in Kassala, Sudan’, Third World Planning Review 14 (1), 53–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rakodi, C. 1985. ‘Self-reliance or survival? Food production in Africa, with particular reference to Zambia’, African Urban Studies 1, 53–64.Google Scholar
Rakodi, C. 1991. ‘Women's work or household strategies?’, Environment and Urbanization 3 (2), 39–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rakodi, C. 1995. ‘Poverty lines or household strategies?’ Habitat International 19 (4), 407–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogers, B. L., and Lowdermilk, M. L. 1988. Les Prix et la consommation des denrées alimentaires au Mali urbain. Rapport Intermédiaire du Project Tufts/DNSI/AID, Medford, Mass.: School of Nutrition, Tufts University.Google Scholar
SADS. 1988. Stratégies vivrières. Rapports saisonniers (1987–88) du survie alimentaire du Delta Seno. Mopti: UICN/SCF/Oxfam.Google Scholar
Schmitz, H. 1982. ‘Growth constraints on small-scale manufacturing in developing countries: a critical review’, World Development 10 (6), 429–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Selby, H. A. 1991. ‘The Oaxacan urban household and the crisis’, Urban Anthropology 20 (1), 87–98.Google Scholar
Sijm, J. 1992. Food Security and Policy Interventions in Mali. Rotterdam: Tinbergen Institute.Google Scholar
Stren, R. E. 1992. ‘African urban research since the late 1980s: responses to poverty and urban growth’, Urban Studies 29 (3/4), 533–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomi, W. H. 1989. Struktur und Funktion des produzierenden Kleingewerbes in Klein- und Mittelstädten Ghanas. Stuttgart: Steiner.Google Scholar
Toulmin, C. 1986. ‘Access to food, dry season strategies and household size amongst the Bambara of central Mali’, International Development Studies 17 (3), 58–66.Google Scholar
Van Westen, A. C. M. 1995. Unsettled: low-income housing and mobility in Bamako, Mali. Netherlands Geographical Studies 187, Utrecht: KNAG/Faculty of Geographical Sciences, University of Utrecht.Google Scholar
World Bank. 1990. World Development Report: special issue on poverty. Oxford:Oxford University Press.Google Scholar