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Care for the natural environment consists of nothing else than maintenance activities with respect to a large number of material objects. The question is whether these activities can be compared with the maintenance of other things. Things are variously ‘embedded’ socially in terms of ownership and use and culturally in terms of value. Perhaps, because objects differ so much in their embeddedness and are so differently maintained, a sociology of maintenance does not exist, although the activities and even some of the institutions through which they have been carried out have existed for a long time. Maintenance consists of careful handling, preventive protection against any kind of damage, curative maintenance (the repair of malfunctions) and, finally, in most cases, replacement. Owners as well as users can be individuals, but also corporate groups, publics or authorities. The maintenance of things is not a matter of course, but in many cases has to be organized. It is argued that a comparative s...

Paper prepared for the 34th Annual Meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology, Amsterdam, 19–23 March 1975.

M.A. van Bakel, H. Esen-Baur, Untersuchungen über den vogelmann-kult auf der Osterinsel, 1983, Franz Steiner Verlag GmbH, 399 pp. - Leen Boer, Bronislaw Malinowski, Malinowski in Mexico. The economics of a Mexican market system, edited and with an introduction by Susan Drucker-Brown, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1982 (International Library of Anthropology)., Julio de la Fuente (eds.) - A.P. Borsboom, Betty Meehan, Shell bed to shell midden, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, 1982. - H.J.M. Claessen, Peter Geschiere, Village communities and the state. Changing relations among the Maka of Southeastern Cameroon since the colonial conquest. Monographs of the African Studies Centre, Leiden. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd. 1982. 512 pp. Appendices, index, bibliography, etc. - H.J.M. Claessen, Jukka Siikala, Cult and conflict in tropical Polynesia; A study of traditional religion, Christianity and Nativistic movements, Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 1982, 308 pp. Maps, figs., bibliography. - H.J.M. Claessen, Alain Testart, Les Chasseurs-Cueilleurs ou l’Origine des Inégalités, Mémoires de la Sociéte d’Ethnographie 26, Paris 1982. 254 pp., maps, bibliography and figures. - Walter Dostal, Frederik Barth, Sohar - Culture and society in an Omani town. Baltimore - London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983, 264 pp., ill. - Benno Galjart, G.J. Kruyer, Bevrijdingswetenschap. Een partijdige visie op de Derde Wereld [Emancipatory Science. A partisan view of the Third World], Meppel: Boom, 1983. - Sjaak van der Geest, Christine Okali, Cocoa and kinship in Ghana: The matrilineal Akan of Ghana. London: Kegan Paul International (in association with the International African Institute), 1983. 179 pp., tables, index. - Serge Genest, Claude Tardits, Contribution de la recherche ethnologique à l’histoire des civilisations du Cameroun / The contribution of enthnological research to the history of Cameroun cultures. Paris, CNRS, 1981, two tomes, 597 pp. - Silvia W. de Groot, Sally Price, Co-wives and calabashes, Ann Arbor, The University of Michigan Press, 1984, 224 p., ill. - N.O. Kielstra, Gene R. Garthwaite, Khans and Shahs. A documentary analysis of the Bakhtiary in Iran, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1983. 213 pp. - G.L. Koster, Jeff Opland, Xhosa oral poetry. Aspects of a black South African tradition, Cambridge Studies in oral and literate culture 7, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge , London, New York, New Rochelle, Melbourne, Sydney, 1983, XII + 303 pp. - Adam Kuper, Hans Medick, Interest and emotion: Essays on the study of family and kinship, Cambridge University Press, 1984., David Warren Sabean (eds.) - C.A. van Peursen, Peter Kloos, Antropologie als wetenschap. Coutinho, Muidenberg 1984 (204 p.). - Jerome Rousseau, Jeannine Koubi, Rambu solo’: “la fumée descend”. Le culte des morts chez les Toradja du Sud. Paris: Editions du CNRS, 1982. 530 pages, 3 maps, 73 pictures. - H.C.G. Schoenaker, Miklós Szalay, Ethnologie und Geschichte: zur Grundlegung einer ethnologischen geschichtsschreibung; mit beispielen aus der Geschichte der Khoi-San in Südafrika. Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin 1983, 292 S. - F.J.M. Selier, Ghaus Ansari, Town-talk, the dynamics of urban anthropology, 170 pp., Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1983., Peter J.M. Nas (eds.) - A.A. Trouwborst, Serge Tcherkézoff, Le Roi Nyamwezi, la droite et la gauche. Revision comparative des classifications dualistes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Paris:Éditions de la Maison des sciences de l’homme, 1983, 154 pp. - Pieter van der Velde, H. Boekraad, Te Elfder Ure 32: Verwantschap en produktiewijze, Jaargang 26 nummer 3 (maart 1983)., G. van den Brink, R. Raatgever (eds.) - E.Ch.L. van der Vliet, Sally Humphreys, The family, women and death. Comparative studies. London, Boston etc.: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1983 (International Library of Anthropology). xiv + 210 pp. - W.F. Wertheim, T. Svensson, Indonesia and Malaysia. Scandinavian Studies in Contemporary Society. Scandinavian Institute of Asian Studies: Studies on Asian Topics no. 5. London and Malmö: Curzon Press, 1983, 282 pp., P. Sørensen (eds.) - H.O. Willems, Detlef Franke, Altägyptische verwandtschaftsbezeichnungen im Mittleren Reich, Hamburg, Verlag Born GmbH, 1983.

Summary Levelling mechanisms have been frequently found by anthropologists in rural communities. Such mechanisms had the function of helping to maintain the coherence of relatively small territorial social units by preventing the exploitation of one member or group by another and guaranteeing all full members access to common resources. Vestiges of such mechanisms may still be found in areas which have been opened up to national or international market forces only recently. It is argued that, because peasant motivation to produce for the market is tied to the desire for goods, the possession of which has differentiating effects, agricultural development requires in the first instance a debilitation of remaining levelling mechanisms. It is not possible to initiate modern forms of cooperation on the basis of traditional levelling mechanisms. Resume Des mCcanismes de compensation furent frtquemment trouvCs par des anthropologues dans les communes rurales. Ces mCcanismes avaient pour fonction, Ic maintien ensemble dunitts sociales tcrritoriales rdativements petites, d'empkher l'exploitation d'un membre ou d'un group sur d'autrcs, et de garantir l'accts des membres A part entitxe aux ressources communes. Des restes de tels manismes peuvent toujours Ctres trouvds dans des rdgions qui, il y a peu dc temps ont CtC ouverte˜ pour dcs march& nationaux et intcmationaux. II n'est pas possible d'introduire de formcs modcmes de cooptration sur la base des mkcanismes de compensation traditionnels. Zusammenfassung Ausgleichsmechanismen wurden haufig von Anthropologen in landlichen Gemeinden gefunden. Solche Mechanismen hatten die Funktion, den Zusammenhalt von relativ kleinen territorialen sozialen Einheiten dadurch aufrechtzuerhalten, das die Ausbeutung eines Mitglieds oder einer Gruppe durch andere verhindert und allen Vollmitgliedern Zugang zu den gemeinsamen Ressourcen garantiert wurde. Uberreste solcher Mechanismen konnen in Gegenden, die erst kurzlich fur nationale und internationale Markte geoffnet wurden, immer noch gefunden werden. Es wird argumentiert, das der Besitz von Gutern, weil die Motivation der Bauern fur den Markt zu produzieren von der Nachfrage nach den Gutern abhangt, differenzierende Effekte zeigt. Danach erfordert eine Entwicklung der Landwirtschaft zuerst einmal eine Schwachung dieser bestehenden Ausgleichsmechanismen. Es ist nicht moglich, moderne Formen der Kooperation auf der Grundlage der traditionellen Ausgleichsmechanismen einzufuhren.

1. As a development sociologist, one is neither fully involved in the sociological tradition, nor a full-fledged anthropologist. Normally this is an uncomfortable position, like that of any m?tis, but it also enables one, from time to time, to suggest links. This paper is about three such suggestions. One is that pooling, or redistribution, is a contemporary form of exchange that is rather widespread in industrialized as well as developing societies. The second suggestion is that four ideal-types of pooling system can be distinguished which differ mutually with regard to the rules that the participants appear to follow. The construction of the typology is based on both anthropological and sociological authors. The types are figurations, to borrow a term from Elias (1971), that is to say, patterns of relations between interdependent people whose actions are deter mined by certain rules. As models the types can be used cross culturally, I believe. The third suggestion is that a considerable number of patterns of interdependent relationships, from peasant households to socialist nation-states, can be profitably analyzed with the help of the pooling typology. Perhaps one can even go further and maintain that all forms of cooperation are also forms of pooling, and that accordingly problems relating to cooperation may be comprehended by means of the latter concept. This is important, since processes of modernization in developing countries are marked not only by an extension of direct exchange in markets, but also by the introduction of new, and the modification of existing forms of cooperation.

M.A. van Bakel, H. Esen-Baur, Untersuchungen über den vogelmann-kult auf der Osterinsel, 1983, Franz Steiner Verlag GmbH, 399 pp. - Leen Boer, Bronislaw Malinowski, Malinowski in Mexico. The economics of a Mexican market system, edited and with an introduction by Susan Drucker-Brown, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1982 (International Library of Anthropology)., Julio de la Fuente (eds.) - A.P. Borsboom, Betty Meehan, Shell bed to shell midden, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, 1982. - H.J.M. Claessen, Peter Geschiere, Village communities and the state. Changing relations among the Maka of Southeastern Cameroon since the colonial conquest. Monographs of the African Studies Centre, Leiden. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd. 1982. 512 pp. Appendices, index, bibliography, etc. - H.J.M. Claessen, Jukka Siikala, Cult and conflict in tropical Polynesia; A study of traditional religion, Christianity and Nativistic movements, Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 1982, 308 pp. Maps, figs., bibliography. - H.J.M. Claessen, Alain Testart, Les Chasseurs-Cueilleurs ou l’Origine des Inégalités, Mémoires de la Sociéte d’Ethnographie 26, Paris 1982. 254 pp., maps, bibliography and figures. - Walter Dostal, Frederik Barth, Sohar - Culture and society in an Omani town. Baltimore - London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983, 264 pp., ill. - Benno Galjart, G.J. Kruyer, Bevrijdingswetenschap. Een partijdige visie op de Derde Wereld [Emancipatory Science. A partisan view of the Third World], Meppel: Boom, 1983. - Sjaak van der Geest, Christine Okali, Cocoa and kinship in Ghana: The matrilineal Akan of Ghana. London: Kegan Paul International (in association with the International African Institute), 1983. 179 pp., tables, index. - Serge Genest, Claude Tardits, Contribution de la recherche ethnologique à l’histoire des civilisations du Cameroun / The contribution of enthnological research to the history of Cameroun cultures. Paris, CNRS, 1981, two tomes, 597 pp. - Silvia W. de Groot, Sally Price, Co-wives and calabashes, Ann Arbor, The University of Michigan Press, 1984, 224 p., ill. - N.O. Kielstra, Gene R. Garthwaite, Khans and Shahs. A documentary analysis of the Bakhtiary in Iran, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1983. 213 pp. - G.L. Koster, Jeff Opland, Xhosa oral poetry. Aspects of a black South African tradition, Cambridge Studies in oral and literate culture 7, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge , London, New York, New Rochelle, Melbourne, Sydney, 1983, XII + 303 pp. - Adam Kuper, Hans Medick, Interest and emotion: Essays on the study of family and kinship, Cambridge University Press, 1984., David Warren Sabean (eds.) - C.A. van Peursen, Peter Kloos, Antropologie als wetenschap. Coutinho, Muidenberg 1984 (204 p.). - Jerome Rousseau, Jeannine Koubi, Rambu solo’: “la fumée descend”. Le culte des morts chez les Toradja du Sud. Paris: Editions du CNRS, 1982. 530 pages, 3 maps, 73 pictures. - H.C.G. Schoenaker, Miklós Szalay, Ethnologie und Geschichte: zur Grundlegung einer ethnologischen geschichtsschreibung; mit beispielen aus der Geschichte der Khoi-San in Südafrika. Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin 1983, 292 S. - F.J.M. Selier, Ghaus Ansari, Town-talk, the dynamics of urban anthropology, 170 pp., Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1983., Peter J.M. Nas (eds.) - A.A. Trouwborst, Serge Tcherkézoff, Le Roi Nyamwezi, la droite et la gauche. Revision comparative des classifications dualistes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Paris:Éditions de la Maison des sciences de l’homme, 1983, 154 pp. - Pieter van der Velde, H. Boekraad, Te Elfder Ure 32: Verwantschap en produktiewijze, Jaargang 26 nummer 3 (maart 1983)., G. van den Brink, R. Raatgever (eds.) - E.Ch.L. van der Vliet, Sally Humphreys, The family, women and death. Comparative studies. London, Boston etc.: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1983 (International Library of Anthropology). xiv + 210 pp. - W.F. Wertheim, T. Svensson, Indonesia and Malaysia. Scandinavian Studies in Contemporary Society. Scandinavian Institute of Asian Studies: Studies on Asian Topics no. 5. London and Malmö: Curzon Press, 1983, 282 pp., P. Sørensen (eds.) - H.O. Willems, Detlef Franke, Altägyptische verwandtschaftsbezeichnungen im Mittleren Reich, Hamburg, Verlag Born GmbH, 1983.

Summary Based on an analysis of cases culled from the literature and collected in the field, a model of small-scale participatory development projects is constructed. The article begins with an attempt to anchor participation within development theory. Then critera for what, on this basis, should be considered a successful project are spelled out. Selected problems, connected with the economic, the organizational and the educational aspects of participatory projects are dealt with in turn. Zusammenfassung Gestutzt auf eine Analyse von Fallbeispielcn aus der Literatur und aus Felduntersuchungen wird ein Modell kleinerer, partizipatorischer Projekte aufgestellt. Der Artikel beginnt mit einem Versuch, Partizipation entwicklungstheoretisch zu verankern. Dann werden ausfuhrlich Kriterien erlautert, denen ein Projekt genugen muste, wenn es danach als erfolgreich angesehen werden soll. Nacheinander werden einzelne ausgewahlte Probleme behandelt, die mit den okonomischen, organisatorischen und Bildungsaspekten partizipatorischer Projekte verbunden sind.

SUMMARY Based on an analysis of cases culled from the literature and collected in the field, a model of small-scale participatory development projects is constructed. The article begins with an attempt to anchor participation within development theory. Then critera for what, on this basis, should be considered a successful project are spelled out. Selected problems, connected with the economic, the organizational and the educational aspects of participatory projects arc dealt with in turn. RESUME Cet article propose la construction d'un modele de projets de developpement participatif de petite dimension, a partir de l'analyse d'un certain nombre de cas tires de la litterature ou observes sur le terrain. Il commence par tenter d'articuler la participation a une theorie du deVeloppement. Il insiste ensuite sur les criteres a partir desquels on peut evaluer la reussite d'un projet. Enfin l'article aborde quelques problemes lies aux aspects economiques, organisationnels ou educatifs des projets participatifs. ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Gestutzt auf eine Analyse von Fallbeispielen aus der Literatur und aus Felduntersuchungen wird ein Modell kleinerer, partizipatorischer Projekte aufgestellt. Der Artikel beginnt mit einem Versuch, Partizipation entwicklungstheoretisch zu verankern. Dann werden ausfuhrlich Kriterien erlautert, denen ein Projekt genugen muste, wenn es danach als erfolgreich angeschen werden soll. Nacheinander werden einzelne ausgewahlte Probleme behandelt, die mit den okonomischen, organisatorischen und Bildungsaspekten partizipatorischer Projekte verbunden sind.

Summary In the firm belief that rural sociology is currently in a state of malaise, this paper attempts to diagnose the sickness. Some of the main aspects of what is called ‘conventional rural sociology’ are outlined and their limitations discussed. It is argued strongly that rural sociology must become more theoretically-oriented in the problems it sets itself and that more attention be given to conceptual and theoretical issues. It is hoped that the paper will provide a focus which will stimulate debate around the questions raised. Zusammenfassung Ausgehend von der festen Uberzeugung, das sich die lanliche Soziologie in einem trostlosen Zustand befindet, wird in dieser Arbeit versucht, diese Krankheit zu diagnostizieren. Es werden einige der Grundzuge der sogenannten “konventionellen landlichen Soziologie” dargestellt und deren Grenzen diskutiert. Dabei wird die Auffassung vertreten, das die landliche Soziologie auf eine viel starkere theoretische Orientierung bei der Bearbeitung ihrer Problem-stellungen achten mus, und das sie sich verstarkt fur konzeptionelle und theoretische Fragen interessieren sollte. Die Autoren hoffen mit ihrem Beitrag eine Diskussion der dargelegten Probleme auszulosen.

Rita Bolland, Alfred Bühler, The patola of Gujarat. Double ikat in India. Krebs AG Basel, 1979. Vol. 1, 360 p. tekst, ill. Vol. 2, afb. in kleur en zwart/wit, krt. tab. noten, verkl. woorden. litl., Eberhard Fischer (eds.) - Raymond Buve, Hugo G. Nutini, Ritual kinship. The structure and historical development of the Compadrazgo system in rural Tlaxcala, Vol. I. Princeton University Press, N.J., 1980, XVI plus 494 pp., maps, tables, glossary and index., Betty Bell (eds.) - Benno Galjart, G.A. Banck, Jagen met een kat... Schaarse middelen en sociale relaties in de Braziliaanse staat Espirito Santo, CEDLA Incidentele publicaties no. 8, CEDLA, Amsterdam 1977. - R.A.L.H. Gunawardana, J. van Goor, Jan Kompanie as schoolmaster: Dutch education in Ceylon, 1690-1795, Historische Studies, Instituut voor Geschiedenis der Rijksuniversiteit te Utrecht, XXIV, Wolters-Noordhoff Groningen, 1978, 205 pp., 3 maps. - Ria Kloppenborg, R.A.L.H. Gunawardana, Robe and plough. Monasticism and economic interest in early medieval Sri Lanka. Association for Asian Studies, Monographs and Papers No. XXXV, University of Arixona Press, Tucson, Arizona, 1979; 377 pages, including bibliography and index. - Els Postel-Coster, Jan van Bremen, Romantropologie - Essays over antropologie en literatuur, Antropologisch-Sociologisch Centrum Universiteit van Amsterdam, 1979., Sjaak van der Geest, Jojada Verrips (eds.) - Arie de Ruijter, T. Lemaire, Over de waarde van kulturen. Een inleiding in de kultuurfilosofie. Ambo, Baarn 1976, herdruk 1980. 509 blz. - P. van de Velde, W. Arens, The man-eating myth. Oxford University Press, New York, 1979. XIV + 206 pp., 12 illustrations. - E.Ch.L. van der Vliet, Klaus E. Müller, Geschichte der antiken ethnographie und ethnologischen theoriebildung von den anfängen bis auf die byzantinischen historiographen, Teil II (Studien zur Kulturkunde 52), Wiesbaden: Franza Steiner Verlag, 1980. 563 pp. 11 figs. - J.J. de Wolf, P.T.W. Baxter, Age, generation and time: Some features of East African age organisations. C. Hurst and Co., London 1978., Uri Almagor (eds.) - J.J. de Wolf, Myrtle S. Langley, The Nandi of Kenya: Life crisis rituals in a period of change. C. Hurst and Co., London 1979.

Summary THE FUTURE OF RURAL SOCIOLOGY Rural sociology is stagnating because it has been focusing too uncritically on the adaptation of rural sub-systems to the main society and because it seems unable to relate its subject anew to the global society. An outline of a new, comprehensive, theoretical model is suggested, and in terms of this model the discipline is given new tasks. Emphasis is laid on the provision of feedback information, not in the first place to national governments, but to the agricultural population and the small rural territorial sub-systems. Resume L'avenir de la sociologie rurale La Sociologie Rurale stagne parce qu'elle s'est concentree - sans la contester suffisamment - sur l'adaptation des soussystemes ruraux a la societe dominante et parce qu'elle semble incapable de definir de nouvelles relations entre son objet et la societe globale. Un essai de nouveau modele theorique globale est propose, en fonction duquel la sociologie rurale se voit attribuer de nouvelles tâches. L'accent est mis sur l'information fournie en retour (feedback), pas d'abord aux gouvernements nationaux, mais a la population agricole et aux soussystemes ruraux de dimensions territoriales restreintes.

Rita Bolland, Alfred Bühler, The patola of Gujarat. Double ikat in India. Krebs AG Basel, 1979. Vol. 1, 360 p. tekst, ill. Vol. 2, afb. in kleur en zwart/wit, krt. tab. noten, verkl. woorden. litl., Eberhard Fischer (eds.) - Raymond Buve, Hugo G. Nutini, Ritual kinship. The structure and historical development of the Compadrazgo system in rural Tlaxcala, Vol. I. Princeton University Press, N.J., 1980, XVI plus 494 pp., maps, tables, glossary and index., Betty Bell (eds.) - Benno Galjart, G.A. Banck, Jagen met een kat... Schaarse middelen en sociale relaties in de Braziliaanse staat Espirito Santo, CEDLA Incidentele publicaties no. 8, CEDLA, Amsterdam 1977. - R.A.L.H. Gunawardana, J. van Goor, Jan Kompanie as schoolmaster: Dutch education in Ceylon, 1690-1795, Historische Studies, Instituut voor Geschiedenis der Rijksuniversiteit te Utrecht, XXIV, Wolters-Noordhoff Groningen, 1978, 205 pp., 3 maps. - Ria Kloppenborg, R.A.L.H. Gunawardana, Robe and plough. Monasticism and economic interest in early medieval Sri Lanka. Association for Asian Studies, Monographs and Papers No. XXXV, University of Arixona Press, Tucson, Arizona, 1979; 377 pages, including bibliography and index. - Els Postel-Coster, Jan van Bremen, Romantropologie - Essays over antropologie en literatuur, Antropologisch-Sociologisch Centrum Universiteit van Amsterdam, 1979., Sjaak van der Geest, Jojada Verrips (eds.) - Arie de Ruijter, T. Lemaire, Over de waarde van kulturen. Een inleiding in de kultuurfilosofie. Ambo, Baarn 1976, herdruk 1980. 509 blz. - P. van de Velde, W. Arens, The man-eating myth. Oxford University Press, New York, 1979. XIV + 206 pp., 12 illustrations. - E.Ch.L. van der Vliet, Klaus E. Müller, Geschichte der antiken ethnographie und ethnologischen theoriebildung von den anfängen bis auf die byzantinischen historiographen, Teil II (Studien zur Kulturkunde 52), Wiesbaden: Franza Steiner Verlag, 1980. 563 pp. 11 figs. - J.J. de Wolf, P.T.W. Baxter, Age, generation and time: Some features of East African age organisations. C. Hurst and Co., London 1978., Uri Almagor (eds.) - J.J. de Wolf, Myrtle S. Langley, The Nandi of Kenya: Life crisis rituals in a period of change. C. Hurst and Co., London 1979.

Summary Old Patrons and New In societies where patronage occurs it is found in all social strata; it does not disappear with the suppression of rural poverty. This article deals with the various ways in which patronage may manifest itself during and after the execution of local development projects. It is argued that the agency which executes the project will itself often be assigned the role of patron; that the disruption of traditional local power relationships may lead to new political alliances at the regional and national level; and that, even if patronage is suppressed locally, the institution will continue to exist in the wider society. Recourse to it will therefore remain unavoidable if the community wants to obtain new facilities which it cannot pay for itself. For this reason it is held that the agency which executes the project should not withdraw after the completion of the work but should remain and continue to play the role of patron to the community. In this way, two goals may be accomplished: 1) a local relapse into the old social structure (i.e. the emergence of a new local boss) can be prevented, and 2) allowance is made for the fact that at the regional and national level patronage still discharges important functions.