Policy and Practice in Rural Tanzania

Rural peoples in Africa and the Global South have historically been the target of development narratives and counter narratives, which have contributed to shape development categories and policies. Through development efforts and policies over time rural people(s) have often been conceived of in terms of how to efficiently integrate them into international markets and global value chains. This book approaches the question of ‘development’ from the perspective of people’s rights and strategies for self-determination; it analyses the question of integration of rural people in Tanzania by delving into how they deal with local-global connections and engage with policy objectives on their own terms, between local forms of associational life and global markets. In doing so, it explores local socio-economic dynamics that find little space in the national and global policy vision of a rural sector geared towards growth – a vision that is peculiar to African states, including Tanzania.