Marginal Gains: Monetary Transactions in Atlantic Africa

by Jane I. Guyer

In America, almost all the money in circulation passes through financial institutions every day. But in Nigeria's "cash and carry" system, 90 percent of the currency never comes back to a bank after it's issued. What happens when two such radically different economies meet and mingle, as they have for centuries in Atlantic Africa?

The answer is a rich diversity of economic practices responsive to both local and global circumstances. In Marginal Gains , Jane I. Guyer explores and explains these often bewildering practices, including trade with coastal capitalism and across indigenous currency zones, and within the modern popular economy. Drawing on a wide range of evidence, Guyer demonstrates that the region shares a coherent, if loosely knit, commercial culture. She shows how that culture actually works in daily practice, addressing both its differing scales of value and the many settings in which it operates, from crisis conditions to ordinary household budgets. The result is a landmark study that reveals not just how popular economic systems work in Africa, but possibly elsewhere in the Third World.

Genres: History, Anthropology, Economics, Africa

207 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2004

Reviews

[Amy Rieth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fought absolute demons reading this for class - interesting book with some INSANELY good quotes interspersed, but lost momentum in many places (granted, that may be because I just got tired of reading this all in two long sittings). Between a 3 and a 4 but Guyer’s writing pulled this up to a 4.

[Dagezi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is maybe the densest thing I've ever read. It is to Marilyn Strathern what Strathern is to everything else. When you are reading it, time and space bend under its weight. It takes an hour or more to get through 15 pages. My undergrads hated hated hated it--wanted to shoot it into space is one of the more printable ideas--yet three weeks later it keeps coming up in class. It is a weird sort of density--not a Spivaked-up poseur density but a near isomorphism of words and ideas. Spare spare writing stuffed to the gills with ideas. Frankly of all the exchange theory stuff I've been wading through since the summer, this book is head and shoulders if not torsos above the rest. The chapter on conversions between various monetary regimes on the Congo river system in pre and early colonial Africa is on the short list of best things I've ever read. That and some the stuff on quantity as quality.... Still reading it but already impressed.

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bit cryptic but help me a lot.