Becoming a Bwana and Burley Tobacco in the Central Region of Malawi

University of Antwerp, IOB Working Paper 2009.04

31 Pages Posted: 19 Oct 2009

Date Written: October 1, 2009

Abstract

Smallholders now grow most of Malawi's main export crop – burley tobacco. Based on nineteen months' fieldwork in the Central Region, this article offers a sociological interpretation of why some smallholder growers spend a proportion of burley income on conspicuous consumption in rural towns and trading centres. This practice can be seen as a form of inculcated behaviour whereby smallholders reproduce elements of one model of success in this region: that of the Malawian tobacco bwana (boss/master). The article discusses implications from this form of potlatch behaviour by describing the contrasting fortunes of two non-farm rural enterprises, examining data on how tobacco production and 'cooling off' is viewed by wives, and comparing the crop preferences of husbands and wives. It concludes by suggesting that the concept of conspicuous consumption may provide an alternative prism through which to view apparently unintelligible investment decisions in African economies to the instrumental lens of neo-patrimonialism.

Keywords: tobacco, Malawi, smallholders, conspicuous consumption, status

Suggested Citation

Prowse, Martin, Becoming a Bwana and Burley Tobacco in the Central Region of Malawi (October 1, 2009). University of Antwerp, IOB Working Paper 2009.04, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1489917 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1489917

Martin Prowse (Contact Author)

University of Antwerp ( email )

Prinsstraat 13
Antwerp, 2000
Belgium

HOME PAGE: http://www.ua.ac.be/main.aspx?c=martin.prowse

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