On this subject, Dana Farnham, wrote:
>The works with which I am familiar (e.g.,Swindell) speculate that
>communal labor arranngements are of relatively recent vintage, as
>opposed to the view that they have been an integral part of
>"traditional" society.
Allow me to differ on Swindell's speculative generalisation. It is
unfortunate that not much has been documented about the Mende (of
Sierra Leone). Labour patterns in that culture are intricately
interlaced with the hierarchical social organisation of the ethnic
group. I would delineate, amongst others, three traditional communal
labour arrangements: the "ndooyeingei" (pronounced /ndor-yea-ngay/),
the "mbembei" (pronounced /mbeh-mbay/) and the "tewei" (pronounced
/tay-weigh/). The first is mandatory labour enlisted by the Chief
for a communal project. All able-bodied men and women are expected
to fully cooperate. Traditional sanctions for failure to cooperate
include prosecution although just a century ago the unpleasant
punishment of enslavement or banishment could be enforced at the
chief's or the elders' whims. The "mbembei" is another form of
communal service in which the owner of the farm, usually a rich
patron, provides "kondei" (food) and "tawei" (tobacco) for a number
of workers who may well have either familial or social ties with the
owner of the farm or project. The last one, the "tewei", is a social
arrngement between co-operating farmers. The "teweyeingei" or "turn-
taking" involves all families of a number of farms or projects
pressing all their labour forces into service for one individual and
then moving on to the next individual. Apart from the first form of
cooperative labour which is declining largely because of the
diminishing powers of chiefs in Mende society, the last two are still
extensively used.
Get in touch later if you are interested in an extensive chat about
labour patterns in Mende society. In case you are wondering who the
Mende are: it is an ethinc group that resides in most of Southern and
eastern Sierra Leone and in Western Liberian. The people are of
Mande stock and they migrated into present day Sierra Leone from the
Upper Guinea forest belt in the 16th and 17th centuries.