Globalization and Restructuring of African Commodity Flows

Several present and past DIIS researchers contribute chapters to a new NAI book

Nordiska Afrikainstittutet (NAI) just published a new book entitled ‘Globalization and Restructuring of African Commodity Flows’, edited by Niels Fold and Marianne Nylandsted Larsen (both at the Department of Geography and Geology, University of Copenhagen)

The collection is the second book coming out of a research programme entitled ‘Globalization and Economic Restructuring in Africa’ (GLAF). The programme was funded by SSF and was based at one of the institutes (CDR) that were later merged into DIIS. Several present and past DIIS researchers and PhD students contributed to the book.

Abstract:

African countries have been incorporated into present processes of economic globalization in a more nuanced way than is usually claimed. Obviously, structural changes and economic growth have not been on the scale seen in other developing country regions, Southeast Asia in particular. However, the increasing global interaction between functionally integrated foci of production and services has also affected Africa in ways that are changing the material foundations of economic and social life on the continent. These processes are not uniform throughout Africa, but affect local, national and regional actors and institutions in diverse and complex ways. In short, globalization in Africa is an uneven process, integrating or re-integrating some localities and communities in global flows of goods, finance and information, while marginalizing or excluding others.

The aim of this book is to grasp the diversity of these globalization processes in a systematic way by adopting a common analytical framework, the Global Value Chain approach. Commodity-specific data in two or more countries are taken as a point of departure and the variations and similarities in linkages between local, national, regional and global chain segments are examined. The book is based on original quantitative and qualitative data, collected during fieldwork by the authors.

Table of Contents:

·    Marianne Nylandsted Larsen and Niels Fold:
Globalization as a Marginalization of African Economies?
·    Niels Fold and Marianne Nylandsted Larsen:
Key Concepts and Core Issues in Global Value Chain Analysis
·    Benoit Daviron:
The Historical Integration of Africa in the International Food Trade
·    Charles Mather:
The Structural and Spatial Implications of Changes in the Regulation of South Africa’s Citrus Export Chain
·    Michael Friis Jensen:
Changing Food Safety Requirements and the Export of Fresh Horticultural Products by Kenyan Smallholders
·    Niels Fold and Stefano Ponte:
Are (Market) Stimulants Injurious to Quality? Liberalization, Quality Changes and the Reputation of African Coffee and Cocoa Exports
·    Marianne Nylandsted Larsen:
The Global Cotton Market and Cotton Sector Reforms in sub-Saharan Africa
·    Peter Gibbon:
Segmentation, Governance and Upgrading in Global Clothing Chains: A Mauritian Case Study
·    Poul Ove Pedersen:
The Logistical Revolution and the Changing Structure of Agriculturally based Commodity Chains in Africa
·    Tuulikki Pietilä:
Singing in the dark? World Music and Issues of Power and Agency

The book can be ordered from the NAI publications site:
http://www.nai.uu.se/publications/books/book.xml?id=25263

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