| | This article aims to show, on the basis of a micro-level case study, the nature of the relations that exist between peasants, notably those in the Balante village of Birkama in Casamance in South Senegal on the one hand, and capitalism and the state on the other. I shall take as my basis a subsidiary activity: shrimp fishing, dominated as it is by French companies. Against the background of conflicts, including strike action, that arose in 1975 in the shrimp fishing industry in Casamance, an analysis will be given of the complex and constantly shifting relations between the diverse groupings: peasants and fishermen, industry, middlemen and government officials. Attention will also be paid to the question why the ostensibly weakest grouping, the shrimp fishermen, eventually succeeded in settling the conflict in their favour. |
