African Friends and Money Matters, Second Edition. David E. Maranz
carried, whether or not they were even conscious of their existence.61 A lesson provided by this episode is just how complex African social interactions can be and how difficult it is for outsiders to recognize, let alone understand, them.
61 Hansen 2003:202–208.
Giving and receiving
Sharing brings a full stomach: selfishness brings hunger
Bekwel proverb, Congo-Brazzaville62
62 Phillips 1999:2–4.
Giving and receiving material goods and services feature far more importantly in personal relationships with Africans than is the case in the West. LeVine even goes so far as to write, “Relationships are frequently characterized by Africans primarily in terms of the type of material transaction involved: who gives what to whom and under what conditions. Even premarital sexual liaisons and courtship are discussed in these terms.” While Westerners define friendship largely in terms of mutual interests and emotional support, Africans “are frankly and directly concerned with the material transfer itself as indicative of the quality of the relationship.”63 I experienced this on a number of occasions. For example, over a period of a couple of years I was able to funnel funds from an international aid organization to a small project an African friend had established. The man frequently “hung out” at my house. He said people were constantly coming to his house to ask for money and assistance while it was peaceful at my place. When I no longer had access to funds, he stopped coming to the house and had no further dealings with me. I had thought we were friends, but it turned out that to him material interest was inseparable from friendship. No issue had developed between us, but without monetary implications the friendship was no longer a priority in his busy life. I do not believe he consciously ditched me; rather, the lack of material involvement took me off his list of current contacts.
63 LeVine 1970:288.
The Zambian scholar Mwizenge Tembo takes strong issue with LeVine’s description of the African personality. He places LeVine among those who attack
the African past as retrogressive and reactionary. This school of thought does not entertain at length any questions about why Africans behave and think as they do. Implicitly, this school of thought emphasizes Westernization as the “solution” to Africa’s lag in electronic technology without recognizing Africa’s superiority in spiritual and cultural sectors…. He (LeVine) states that evidence indicates that the African society is distinguishable from societies elsewhere.64
64 Tembo 1990:196.
Tembo continues his criticisms, writing that LeVine provides “at best, highly subjective value judgments of the African society.” The criticisms seem more emotional than factual. For instance, he says that LeVine’s description of African society, emphasizing material transactions as it does, cannot be true. Africans are too poor for this to be so. “How many material goods do Africans have which could generate a reliance on their exchange? A few cattle, a couple of chickens, several goats perhaps.”65 But having few possessions does not in any way rule out their being important to the people involved. Tembo’s critique does not deny the validity of LeVine’s descriptions, but he insists that these should be understood in their African context, suggesting that anyone in similar circumstances acts the same way.
65 Ibid.
Africans who visit other people, or call on an official or important figure for help almost always take a gift of some sort with them. This should never be interpreted as a bribe, but as an acknowledgement of the status of the person on whom they are calling. The quality, substance and amount of the gift carry a great deal of importance. Even when invited to a friendly call or meal, it is not unusual for an African visitor to bring a small gift, such as tea, sugar, fruit, some delicacy, or a highly valued artifact. In return, the host will quite often send the visitor back with a gift, such as a hen, or even the leftover roast meat.66
66 Personal communication, May 8, 2014.
Diffuse roles
Wisdom is like a baobab tree; no one person can encompass it.
Ghanaian proverb67
67 www.afritorial.com
In the West the exercise of an occupation is usually restricted to one function: a buyer buys, an employer employs, a teacher teaches, with little professional involvement outside their field of specialization. In much of Africa, both traditional and modern, occupations are not so concentrated in separate roles or specializations. Sellers enter into personalized relationships with buyers (for example, charging loyal customers a higher price, so that business overlaps with charity), employers are expected to provide for employees’ personal needs, and teachers often expect personal services from pupils and students. “In schools all over English-speaking Africa, primary and secondary school pupils are pressed into service by the teachers as domestic servants in their houses and seasonal laborers in their fields and gardens.”68
68 Tembo 1990:297.
An egregious example is the following: “When Nigeria’s education minister faced an audience of 1,000 schoolchildren, she expected to hear complaints of crowded classrooms and lack of equipment. Instead, girl after girl spoke up about being pressured for sex by teachers in exchange for better grades. One girl was just 11 years old” (personal communication, 2013).
Another example involves a teacher who made demands of his pupils that are far beyond anything related to the classroom and learning. A South African reports on the demands of one of his teachers with a surprising outcome. He had a teacher who required his senior students to wash his car every Friday during break.
In the process we had to remove the wheels to clean the inside of the mudguards and the backs of the wheels. One Friday we left his car with bricks under the rear axle just high enough that they almost touched the ground. We ran for the gates and hid in a nearby ditch to observe the fun. He started his car, engaged a gear…and nothing happened!…He tried again and again…69
69 Personal communication, May 31, 2013.
The above examples may seem to single out teachers, but only because they were the ones at hand. However, in other dyadic relationships laden with power, such as employer-employee, and religious leader–follower, actors have diffuse roles, so that the employees and followers become much more than nine-to-five workers or purely religious disciples. This ties in with patron-client relationships, discussed in chapter 2. An employer may be held responsible for the moral conduct of his employees. One missionary in northern Uganda hired a man to serve as a night guard, and as part of his pay, helped send his wife to school. The missionary observed a woman leaving the compound early in the morning, but when he asked the guard, was told that she was a relative who was bringing him breakfast, so he did not investigate it further. But church elders alerted him the guard was sleeping with a woman he was not married to, and that his own reputation was being sullied because he was ostensibly allowing it. When the wife came back from school and heard the gossip, she confronted the missionary, accused him of being an immoral person, and demanded to know why he would have allowed her husband to sleep around while working for him (personal communication, 2014).
Blame
One who blows on