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- Convenors:
-
Jörg Wiegratz
(University of Leeds)
Catherine Dolan (SOAS)
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- Stream:
- Economy and Development
- Location:
- 50 George Square, G.04
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 12 June, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
While commercialisation in Africa is not a new phenomenon as such, the contemporary forms it takes are in key aspects specific to the neoliberal period. Intensified commercialisation of non-/previously-less-commercialised sectors is key to the current (re-)production of capitalist societies.
Long Abstract:
Many African countries have been reconfigured by three decades of neoliberal reform. This reform typically advanced the role and power of capital in not just the economy but also in society and culture more generally. That is, it promoted the expanded and deeper influence of capital (and markets) in the wider social order as part of the making and reproduction of capitalist societies in Africa. Intensified commercialisation of non- or previously-less-commercialised sectors is one of the key aspects of this process. Examples are plentiful, across the continent; they range from education and health to sports and arts. While commercialisation in Africa is not a new phenomenon as such, the contemporary forms it takes (configurations, models, visions, discourses etc.) are in important ways specific to the neoliberal period, and reflect among others shift in global economy, development policy, domestic politics, etc. This panel seeks case study based analyses that shed light on the political-economic, socio-cultural and/or socio-psychological aspects of the current phase of commercialisation in Africa. It is interested in analyses of the following aspects, to name a few: scope, depth and forms; local embedding; actors that promote/broker/resist etc.; role of foreign and/vs. local actors; dynamics concerning local support, legitimacy, criticism etc.; links and interactions between global, national and local (cultural) political economy; political, political-economic, socio-cultural and -psychological dynamics/changes triggered by it (regarding interests, power, conflicts, discourses, social categories, desires, subjectivities, values, norms, moralities, practices, social reproduction, mobilities/connections/disruptions, inclusion/exclusion, futurities etc.).
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Wednesday 12 June, 2019, -Paper short abstract:
This paper focuses on mobile-based projects to improve financial accessibility of healthcare. It compares two programs deployed by Telcos in Africa in the past years to finance access to healthcare through mobile money services ; services that represent brand new forms of social protection.
Paper long abstract:
Many health actors as well as Telcos have promoted the potential benefits of "mHealth" in Africa. In developing countries where banking enrolment is low, mHealth is matched with mobile banking services that allow individuals to pay health expenses via mobile money. These services represent brand new forms of social protection that need to be analyzed. Based on qualitative research done in Ghana and Kenya, this paper compares Airtel insurance - a free micro health insurance offered by Airtel in 8 African countries - and M-TIBA, Safaricom's mobile wallet dedicated to health expenses launched in Kenya.
In one of the most "uninsured" part of the world, these programs constitute a commercial response to a burning international public health issue : universal health coverage. Shedding light on the lack of a welfare state, these services promise their first health coverage to Africans that fall into debt to cover medical costs. Because mobile markets in Africa are dominated by prepaid users - 90% of customers buy credit as they go and repeatedly switch operators - mobile based health insurances are strongly related to the construction of sustainable and profitable mobile markets in a competitive and unstable African context. Indeed, health coverage comes here as a "stickiness" program ; a bonus for loyal customers and a way to keep them. This paper analyzes strategies, and resistances that characterize these programs and highlights the market implications that make them rise and shine or collapse in a day.
Paper short abstract:
Market systems programming facilitates demand and supply of goods and services. However, women face patriarchal socio-economic constraints and are economically more vulnerable as consumers.Target-driven programmes risk exacerbating such vulnerability, making a feminist and ethical lens critical.
Paper long abstract:
Market systems interventions (also known as M4P) facilitate the demand and supply of goods and services, bringing commercialisation as "market linkage" to Africa's poorest. But whether an agricultural input, a mosquito net, or a financial product such as micro-credit, poor "beneficiaries" still need a degree of purchasing power, either immediately and upfront (e.g. a bag of fertiliser) or over time (e.g. loan repayments with interest). And with private sector stimulation at the heart of a successful market systems programme, a market linkage is essentially expenditure on the part of a (poor) man or woman "reached" by a private sector programme client.
However, women face greater social and economic constraints on their access to resources and economic opportunities compared to men. This inequality often unjustly limits women's returns for their productive capacities and makes them economically vulnerable, particularly among the poorest. That vulnerability extends to their role as consumers within markets. With many women engaged in horizontal, cash-based, survivalist enterprises, they are often less resilient to economic shocks. Target-driven market programmes that ignore/over-simplify gendered power relationships run the risk of exacerbating such vulnerability, creating an ethical predicament where "do no harm" principles are concerned. As these programmes seek to move into more volatile humanitarian environments such as early post-conflict, this concern becomes greater.
Drawing on existing research and technical assistance experience from northern Nigeria and framed within feminist power analysis, this paper will unpack and critique ethical concerns within market systems programming in relation to women's rights, empowerment, and justice outcomes in Africa.
Paper short abstract:
This paper is an anthropological study of the commercialisation of football in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, thus contributing to studies looking at the intensified commercialisation of a previously less-commercialised sector. By focussing on supporters of Azam FC, an attempt is made to understand the socio-cultural and psychological changes triggered by commercialisation.
Paper long abstract:
The intensified commercialisation of the local football industry in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, is affecting the country’s most popular sport at various levels – from ownership, sponsorship, gambling to TV broadcasting. This paper is concerned with the commercialisation of football, thus contributing to studies looking at the intensified commercialisation of a previously less-commercialised sector. By focussing on supporters of Azam FC, a new club whose commercial model is evident in the team’s slogan, “Better Team, Better Products”, an attempt is made to understand the socio-cultural and psychological changes triggered by commercialisation. An emphasis is placed on how the supporters themselves perceive agency and social structure in their own social context, for example by rationalising their consumption of Azam products as a mode of supporting their team and contributing to the circulation of money in the local environment. The analytical intention is to argue against the hegemonic coherence of neoliberalism, which is presented as being natural and having no alternative, and instead to show how neoliberalism is negotiated and subverted in local landscapes. Ultimately, it is shown that football supporters are key actors in determining how the commercialisation of football becomes embedded in society.
Paper short abstract:
This paper will explore the different types of commercialization of wildlife in Namibia and focuses on the changing human-animal relationships induced by the market value given to (particular) species.
Paper long abstract:
African wildlife has long been seen as a material resource in form of ivory, skins, trophies, or meat and has been integrated in capitalist market development since its very beginning. This integration lead to the depletion of wildlife in certain regions or of particular species. Consequently, the establishment of parks and reserves as wildlife sanctuaries should protect habitats and species under threat. While these sanctuaries have been created and maintained at high financial (not to mention social) costs for the colonial and post-colonial public authorities, wildlife conservation itself today has turned into a source of profit. Parks and reserves transformed into tourist attractions. At the same time, there is an increasing privatization of wildlife encounter going on. This market is dominated by private entrepreneurs and companies but also by nature conservation NGOs. The trade for African wildlife "worth experiencing/watching/hunting" emerges in form of auctions and sells by catalogue for hunting concessions, trophies as well as life animals for the purpose of breeding and wildlife watching in private game reserves. It is estimated that today 80 % of the wildlife in Namibia is in possession of private game farmers and reserves.
This paper will explore the different types of commercialization of wildlife in Namibia and focuses on the changing human-animal relationships induced by the market value given to (particular) species.