Money Matters: Instability, Values and Social Payments in the Modern History of West African Communities

Abstract

Introduction: the currency interface and its dynamics, Jane I. Guyer. Part 1 Pre-colonial currency dynamics: Raphia monies among the Teke, Marie-Claude Dupre cowries, gold and dollars - exchange rate instability and domestic price inflation in Dahomey, Robin Law. Part 2 Currency revolutions redescribed: the history and the adventures of a monetary object of the Kwele of the Congo, George Dupre monetization and the Asante state, Kwame Arhin. Part 3 Colonial situations in long-term perspective: the of Beti bridewealth, Jane I. Guyer currency instability and social payments among the Igbo of Eastern Nigeria 1890-1990, Felicia Ekejiuba money and informal credit institutions in colonial Western Nigeria, Toyin Faloa changes in marriage and funeral exchanges in Asante, Takyiwana Manuh. Part 4 Long-term themes in present situations: money, self-realization and the person in Yoruba texts, Karin Barber the state, the courts and value - caught between matrilineages in Ghana, Gwendolyn Mikell how Gambians save - culture and economic strategy at an ethnic crossroads, Parker Shipton the capitalization of money and credit in the development process in Nigeria, Akin L. Mobogunje. Part 5 Epilogue: stable prices, unstable values - some thoughts on monetization and the meaning of transactions in West African economies, Sara S. Berry.