Agrarian class relations in Rwanda: a labour-centred perspective. Issue 6 (19th September 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Illien, Patrick; Pérez Niño, Helena; Bieri, Sabin
• Is Part Of: Journal of peasant studies. Volume 49:Issue 6(2022)
• Page Start: 1181
• Page End: 1206
• Publication Date: 2022-09-19
• Subjects: Class dynamics -- labour relations -- wage employment -- sharecropping -- coffee -- Rwanda; Peasantry -- Periodicals; Sociology, Rural -- Periodicals; Rural development -- Periodicals; 305.563305
• DOI: 10.1080/03066150.2021.1923008
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0306-6150

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This paper explores the organization of production in Rwanda's main coffee producing zone. Most rural households in the region have limited access to land and stable employment. Yet, while differences in property and employment appear small from afar, this paper shows why they are consequential: even when marginal, these differences interact with time and market pressures (e.g. relative dependence on household food production or need for cash) that shape the complex and gendered labour relations between and within generally land-poor households. In a context of heightened precarity, such a labour-centred approach helps chart the prevailing trajectories of accumulation and exploitation.