Poverty and Wealth in East Africa: A Conceptual History

Rhiannon Stephens' book "Poverty and Wealth in East Africa" provides a conceptual history of how people in eastern Uganda have sustained and changed their ways of thinking about wealth and poverty over the past two thousand years, challenging the received wisdom about economic and social inequality in the region's deeper past.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 312 pages
Publication date: 01 November 2022
Publisher: Duke University Press

Rhiannon Stephens delves into a captivating conceptual history, spanning over two thousand years, that explores the evolving perspectives of people residing in eastern Uganda concerning wealth and poverty. This profound exploration serves as a poignant reminder that colonialism and capitalism did not introduce economic thought to this region. Instead, it reveals that even in contexts of relative material equality between households, individuals invested intellectual energy in crafting innovative ways to describe the poor and the rich. Through an interdisciplinary approach, Stephens crafts this history for societies without written records prior to the nineteenth century. She reconstructs the words spoken by people across different eras by employing comparative historical linguistics techniques, overlaying them with evidence from archaeology, climate science, oral traditions, and ethnography. By showcasing the dynamism of people's thinking about poverty and wealth in East Africa long before colonial conquest, Stephens challenges prevailing notions about the nature and existence of economic and social inequality in the region's distant past. This insightful work sheds light on the rich tapestry of human experiences and provides valuable insights into the complex dynamics of wealth and poverty throughout history.

Weight: 445g
Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781478018827