failed the institution for social and policy st

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The Instituton for Social and Policy Studies at Yale University

The Yale Series Seeing

Like a StateHw h Ipv h Hu

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Jms C co

Y Uvt PN v d d



This is a boo the Yal Agaria Sdies Seies James C. Sco sees dto.

Copyrigh © 998 by Yale iversiy.Al righs reseedThis book may o be reprodced whoe or i pa cd g illstraios, i ay om(eyod ha cpyg permed by Secos 1 07 ad 10 8 of he . S. Copyigh Law adexcep by reviewers fo e pbc pres s) wiho wie pemssio om the pbishers.

Desiged by James J. Joso ad se i Aser ype by Rig Feet Books, Drham NC. rited i he ed Saes o America by ThomsoShore, Ic . Deer, Mic ga.

Libr of Conre Ctloing-in-Publition Dt

Sco, James CSeeig ke a sae how ceai scemes o mprove he hma coti have faile /

Jaes C. Sco.p cm.(Yae agraria ses) (Te Yale SPS series)

cldes lographical refereces a deSBN 000070 0 co ak. paper)

Cera plagSocia aspecs 2. Socia egierig. 3. Aoriaraism. Tile. I. Seies III . Series: The Yae SS sees.D87..S36 1 9 9 88.9c21 9726

A caaoge reor for s boo s avaabe fom he Briis Lbray.

The paper i is boo mes he geies for pemaec ad rably of he Commee o odio Gdeles o Boo ogevy of he Cocl o Lbrary Re

sorces1 0 9 8 7 6 4 3 2

For Louise, again always



OWN: What is happeningYOAND: 'm not sre. Bt 'm concerne abot my part i it t's aneiction of sorts.OWN We're making a siinch map of the contry. s there somethingsinister in thatYOAND: Not in . . OWN An we're taking place names that are rile with confsionan . . .YOAND Whos confse Are the people confseOWN An were stanarising those names as accrately an as sensiiely as we can.YOAND Something is being eroe

Brian Friel ranslaions 2

Contents- r

Acknowlegmens introction

Pat Sate Pojects o Legibility and Simpicaion 9Chapter . Natre an Space Chapter 2 . Cities Peope an angage

Pat 2 ansoming Visions Chapter . Athoritarian High Moernism Chaper The HighMoernis City: An Eperiment an

a Critiqe Chapte r . The Reoltionary Party A Plan an a Diagnosis Pat 3 he Socia Engineeing o Rual Settemen

and Poducion Chapter . Soiet Colectiiation Cpitais Dreams 193

Chapter . Complsory Villagization in Tanania:Aestetics an Miniatriation 22

Caper . Taming Natre An Agrictre o f egbiityan Simplicity 2 2

Pa 4 he Missing Link Capter 9. Thin Simplications an Practical owlege Mtis 9Capter Conclsion 2

Notes 9Soces for lstratons ne



Acknowledgments

This book has been longer in the making than wol care to amit. twol be nice to be able to claim that it jst took that long to think itthogh. Nice bt not trthfl. A nearly fatal combination of malinge-ing an aminisraie chores acconts fo part of the elay. Fo therest the scop e of he book smply epane n an a caemc eson ofPakinsons aw o ll all the space tha wol ge o it. nally hao call an abtray hat o ese start thinkng of i as a lfes wok

The scope of he book togeher wh the tme it ook to compee tepain the ong st of ntelecal ebs hae accmate aong theway A f acconing of them wol be inteminable ecept fo hefac tha ealie some of my creos wol js as soon not be asso

cae with the nal poct. Thogh shal not mpcae them here owe hem noneteess. nstea of trnng my agment in the iectionthey ge ook hei ccsms o heart by fotng my case so thai wol bete answe hei objecons My oter ntelleca cetorshang fale to isaow the nal proc in aance wi be namehee an is to be hope implicate

Some of my ebts ae o nstions spent he 1 99 9 1 ac aemicyea a e Wssenschafskolleg Bern as a ecpent of their ospiality an lagesse. The temptaion of liing for a tme n Bern jst ayear afer e Wall came own proe rresistbe. Afer physically laboring for si weeks on an ecollectie farm on the Mecklenbrg Plain

n eastern Germany an alternaie that reame p o aoi sittingfor si weeks in Goehe nste classes with pimply teenagers) hle mysef at the German langage Berlin an my German col

x



x Acknowledgents

leagues. My research hardly advanced in any formal sense, but I realize that many fruitful lines of inquiry opened up then. I want particularly to thank Wolf Lepenies, Reinhard Prasser, Joachim Nettlebeck,Barbara Sanders, Barbara Gol, Christine lohn, and Gerhard Riedelfor their many kindnesses. The intelectual boon companionship of

Georg Elwert, my local patron saint, as well as that of Shalini Randeria, Gabor lanicay, Christoph Harbsmeier, Barbara Lane, MitchelAsh, Juan Li, Jochen Blaschke, Arthur von Mehren, Akim von Oppen,Hans Luther, Carola Len, Gerd Spittler, Hans Medick, and Alf Ldkeopened my eyes to ines of inquiry that proved formative. Oy the greatefforts and unfailing friendship of Heinz Lechleiter and Ursula Hessbrought my German to a (barely) tolerable level.

At various stages in the laborious preparation of this book, I hadthe privilege of making extended visits to institutions ll ed with large-spirited but skeptical colleagues. My good luck was that they so oenmade a project of straightening me out. They might not be satised withthe nal result, but Ill bet that they can see their inuence at work. Atthe Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Marseille, I especially want to thank my patron, JeanPierre Olivier de Sardan, ThomasBierschenk, and their colleagues in the sta semina Living n Le VieuxPanier and working every day in the magnicent atmosphere of LaVielle Charit were unforgettable experiences. At the Humanities Re-search Centre at the Australian National University in Canberra, I hadthe benet of an unmatched crowd of humanists and Asian specialistslooking over my shoulder. Thanks go in particular to Graeme Clark, di-rector, and ain McCalman, associate director, who invited me, andto Tony Reid and David Kelly, who organized the conference, Ideasof Freedom in Asia," which was the premise of my visit. Tony Milnerand Claire Milner, Ranajit Guha (my guru) and Mechthild uha, Bob

Goodin and Diane Gibson, Ben Tria Kerkvliet and Melinda Tria BillJenner, Ian Wilson, and John Walker in various ways made m; stay

convivial and intellectually rewarding.This book would denitely have been much longer in the making

were it not for the fact that Dick Ohmann and Betsy Traube invited meto spend the academic year of 199495 as a felow of the Ceter for Hu-

manities at Wesleyan University. My colleagues there and our weeklyseminars together were intellectually bracing thanks in large part toBetsy Traubes capacity to frame each paper brilliantly. The center'sideal combination o f solitude and a staff that could not have been more

helpful allowed me to nish a rst draft of the entire manuscript. I am

enormously gratefl to Pat Camden and Jackie Rich for their inexhaustible fnd of kindnesses. The astute insights of Betsy Traube and hachig

Acknowledents xi

Tololyan mark this work in many ways Thanks also to Bill Cohen,

Peter Rutland, and Judith Goldstein.I would not have had the leisure for reection and writing in

199495 had it not been for generous grants from the Harry FrankGuggenheim Foundation (Research for Understanding and RedcingViolence, Aggression, and Dominance) and a John D. and Catherne T

MacArthur Foundation Peace and Security Program Fellowship. But for

their condence in my work and their assistance, which made possiblea respite from all administrative and teaching chores, I wouldnt have

had a prayer of nishing this study when I did.Finally, I want to thank my colleagues in the Netherlans and at

the Amsterdam School for Social Science Research for the opportu-

nity of visiting there in order to give the Sixth Annual W F WertheimLecture: Jan Breman, Bram de Swaan, Hans Sonneveld, Otto van denMuijzenberg, Anton Blok, Rod Aya, Roseanne Rutten, Johan Gouds-bom, JanWillem Duyvendak, Ido de Haan, Johan Heilbron, JoseKomen, Karin Peperkamp, Niels Mulder, Frans Hsken, Ben White,Jan Nederveen Pieterse, Franz von BedaBeckmann, and Keebet von

BendaBeckman. Having Wim Wertheim there to ofer advice andcriticism was a great privilege for me, for I have admired his manycontributions to social science theory and Southeast Asian studies. Ilearned at least as much from the thesiswriting graduate students inmy seminar there as they learned from me; Talja Potters and PeerSmets were kind enough to read my chapter on urban planning andprovide searching critiques.

There area good many scholars whose writings opened up newperspectives for me or provided outstanding analyses of issues that Icould not have hoped to study so comprehensively on my own Some ofthem have not seen this work, some of them I have never met, and some

of them would probably want to disown what I have written Neverthe-less, I will venture to acknowledge my heavy intellectual debts to themall: Edward Friedman, Ben Anderson, Michael Adas, Teodor Shanin,James Ferguson, and Zygmunt Bauman. I could not have written thechapter on the highmodernist city without taking shameless advantage of the insights of James Holston's ne book on Braslia. The chap

ter on Soviet collectiviation and ts connection with industrial agricul-

ture in the United States leans heavily on the work of SheilaFitpatrick and Deborah Fitzgerald. I thank Sheila Fitzpatrick for hersearching comments, only a few of which are adequately reected inthe nished chaper

The elaboration of the concept of mtis owe to Marcel Detienneand JeanPierre Vernant Although our terminology differs, Stephen



xv cknowledgmen

becaue a he ne wo on the Tenneee Vaey Authoity eute ina chapte that euctanty cut in oe to eep the boo within eaonabe boun. t w n anothe home tut.

Yae niveity Pe ha been goo to me in moe way than one. want to thank particuay ohn Ryen uy Meto my eitoChae Gench an the bet manucipt eito have eve wokewith Bena ob

Sevea vaiant of chapte each with ome mateia fom atechapte have appeae eewhee: State Simpication: NatueSpace an Peope" Occaiona Paper No. Department of HitoyUniverity of Saatchewan Canaa Novembe 99 State Simpication" Jo al of oliical h ilooph no. 99): StateSimpication: Natue Space an Peope" in an Shapio an Rue Hain e. oliical Order vo. of Noo New Yok NewYok Univeity Pe 99) Feeom onra Feeho: StateSimpication Space an Peope in Southeat Aia" i Davi Keyan Antony Rei e. reedo in Aia forthcoming) State Sim-picatio: Some Appication to Southeat Aia Sit Annua W

Wetheim Lectue Cente fo Aian Stuie Amteam une 99an State Simpication an Pactica owege" in S tephen Magin an Stephen Gueman e. eople ' cono, eople ' colo fothcoming) .

' ike to kick the habit of witing book at eat fo a whie fthee wee a eto unit o an anaog to the nicotine patch fo eia offener think wo ign up fo treatment. My habt ha aeaycot me moe peciou time than cae to amit. The pobem withbook witing an othe aiction i that the eove to quit i greateting withawa but a the painf ymptom ecee the caving iapt to etun Louie an our chien Mia Aaron an Noah wo

know be ony too happy to have me committe unti

wa cean."m tying Go know 'm tying.

Seeing Like a State



Introduction

Thi book gew out of an inteectua etou that became o gipping

that ecie to abanon my oigina itineay atogethe. Afe hamae what appeae to be a iconiee tun, the upiig newceney an the ene that wa heae fo a moe atiing etina-tion peuae me to change my pan. The new itineay, thin haa ogic of it own. t might een ae been a moe eegant tip ha poee the wt to conceive of it at the outet What oe ee ceato me i that the etou, athough aong oa that wee bumpie anmoe cicuito than ha foeeen, ha e to a moe ubtantiapace. t goe without aying that the eae might hae fon a moeepeience guie, but the itieay i o pecuiay off the beatentack that, i f yoe heae thi way, you hae t o ette fo wateeoca tacke you can n.

A wo abou the oa not t aken Oiginay, et out to unetanwy the tate ha away eeme to be the enemy o peope who moeaou," to put t cuey. n the contet of Soteat Aia, thi pom-ie to be a fuifu way of aeing te peennia tenion betweenmobie, ahanbun hi peope on one han an wetice aeykingom on the othe. The quetion, howee, tancene egionageogaphy Noma a n patoait ch a B ebe an Beoin),huntegathee, Gypie, agant, homee peope, itinean, unaway ae, an ef hae away been a thon in the ie of tate.Eot to pemanenty ette thee mobie peope eentaization)eeme to be a peennia tate pojectpeennia, in pat, beaue ito eom cceee



2 Introduction

The more I examined these eforts at sedentarization, the more I came to see them as a state's attempt to make a society legible, to arrange the population in ways that simplied the classic state functionsof taxatio, conscription, and prevention of rebellion. Having begun tothink in tese terms, I began to see legibility as a central problem instatecraft The remod s ate w as, in many crucial respects, par-tially blin; it knew precio s li e abut its subjects, their wealth, theirlandholdigs and yields, their location, their very identity. It lackedanyhing like a detail�d "ma' f its teain and is people It lacked,for the mst part, a measure, a metric, that would allow it to trans-la e" wha it knew into a common standard necessary for a synopticview. As a result, its interentions were ofen crude and selfdefeating.

It is at this point that the detour began. How did the state graduallyget a handle on its subjects and their environment? Suddenly, processesas disparate as the creation of permanent last names, the standardiza-tion of weghts and measures, the establishment of cadastral sureysand population registers, the invention of eehold tenure, te standardizaion of language and legal discourse, the design of cities, and the or-ganization of transportation seemed comprehensible as attempts at leg-

ibility and simplication In each case, ocials took exceptionallycomplex, illegible, and local social practices, such as land tenure cus-toms or naming customs, and created a standard grid whereby it could be centrally recorded and monitored.

The organization of the natural world was no exception Agriculure is, after all, a radical reorganization and simplication of ora tosuit mans goals Whatever their other purposes, the designs of sci-entic forestry and agriculture and the layouts of plantations, c ollec-tive farms ujamaa villages, and strategic hamlets all seemed calculated to make the terrain, its products, and its workforce more legibleand hence manipulablefrom above and from the center

A homely analogy from beekeeping may be helpful ere In premodern times the gathering of honey was a difcut afair Even if beeswere housed in straw hives, haresting the honey usuall y meant driv-ing of the bees and often destroying the colony. The arrangement ofbrood chambers and honey cells followed complex patterns that variedfrom hive to hivepatterns that did not allow for neat extractions. Themode beehive, in contrast, is designed to solve the beekeeper's prob-lem With a device called a queen excluder," it separates the broodchambers below from the honey supplies above, preventing the queenfrom laing eggs above a certain level. Furthermore, the wax cells arearranged neatly in vertical frames, nine or ten to a box, which enablethe easy etraction of honey, wax, and propolis. Extraction is made

Introducton 3

possible by observing bee space"the precise distance between theframes that the bees will leave open as passa ges rather than bridgingthe frames by building intervening honeycomb From the beekeeper'soint of view, the mode hive is an orderly, legible hive allowi�g thebeekeeper to inspect the condition of te colony and the queen, Judgeits honey production (by weight), enlarge or contract the size of thehive by standard units, move it to a new location, and, above all, ex-

tract ust enough honey (in temperate climates) to ensure that thecolony will overwinter successfully.I do not wish to push the analogy further than it will go, but much

o rly modern Euroean statecraft eemed similarly devoted to ra :ti�i�g and standardizing what was a social hieroglyph into a legible and administratively more convenient format Te social simplications thus introduced not only permitted a more nely tunedsystem of taxation and conscription but also greatly enhanced state capcity. They made possible quite discriminating interentions of everykind, such as publichealth measures, political sureillance, and relieffor the poor

These state simplications, the basic givens of mode statecraf,were, I began to realize, rather like abridged maps They did not suc cessfully represent the actual activity of the society they depicted, norwere they intended to; they represented only that slice of it that inter-ested the ocial obserer. They were, moreover, not just maps. Rather,they were maps hat, when allied with state power, would enable muchof he rea y hey depicted to be remade Thus a sae cadasral mapcreated to designate taxable propertyholders does not merely describea system of land tenure; it creates such a system through its ability togive its categores the force of law. Much of the rst chapter is in-tended to convey how thoroughly society and the environment have

been refashioned by state maps of legibilityThis view of early modern statecraft is not particularly original.Suiably modid, however, i can provde a distincive optic throughwhich a number of huge development ascoes in poorer Third Worldnations and Eastern Europe can be usefully viewed.

But asco" is too lighthearted a word for the disasters I have inmind. The Great Leap Forward in China, collectivization in Russia,and compulsory villagzation in Tanzania, Mozambique, and Ehiopiaare among the great human tragedies of the twentieth century, interms of both lves os and lves irretrievably dsruped At a less dramatic but far more common level, the history of Third World development s littered with the debris o f huge agricultural schemes and newctes (think of Brasla or Chandgarh) that have failed their residents.



ntoduction

i no o ifcut aa o unean why o may human ive havebeen etoye by mobiize vioence between ethnic goup eigiouec o inguitic communiie. Bu i i hae o gap why o manyweinene cheme to impove he human conition have gone oagicay awy. aim in wha foow o povie a convincing accountof he ogic behin he faiue of ome of the geat uopian ocia engi-neeing cheme of he twentieh cenuy

ha ague hat he mot tagic epioe of ateinitiate ociaengineeing oiginate in a peniciu comination f fou eemen.A fou e neceay fo a fege iae. The eement he

/ aminiaive oeing of natue an ocieyhe tnfomativeate impication ecibe above. By hemeve, hey ae the un-emakabe too of moen tatecaft they ae a via to the mainenance of ou wefae an feeom a they ae o he eign of awoube moen epot. They unegi the concept of citzenhpan the poviion of ocia wefae ut a hey migh unegi a po-icy of ouning up uneiabe minoiie.

The econ eement i what ca a highmoenit ieoogy i

bet conceive a a tong one migh even ay muceboun veionof he efconence abou cientic an technica poge the epan-ion of poucion the gowing aifaction of human nee he maey of natue incuing human natue) an above a he ationaeign of ocia oe commenuae with the cientic uneaningof naua aw. t oiginae of coue in he We a a bypouc ofunpeceente poge in cience an inuy

High moenim mu not be confue with cienic pacice twa funamentay a the tem ieoogy" impie a faih ha boowe a i wee he egitimacy of cience an echnoogy. wa ac-coingy unciica un keptica an hu uncienticay opiitic

about he poibiiie fo the compehenive panning of human etement an poucion. The caie of high moenim ene o eeaiona oe in emakaby viua aetheic em Fo hem an ef-cien aionay oganize city viage o fam wa a city hat looked

egiene an oey in a geomeica ene. The caie of highmoenim once thei pan micaie o wee hwate tene toeteat o wha ca miniatuizaion he ceation of a moe eaiycontoe micooe in moe citie moe viage an moefam

High moenim wa about nee" a we a faih. t caieeen when they wee capiat entepeneu eque tate acton to

eaize he pan n mot cae hey wee powefu ofca anhea of tate. They tene o pefe cetan fom of pannng an o

noduction

cia oganization uch a huge am centaize communication ananpotaion hu age facoie an fam an gi citie) be-cae hee fom t nugy into a highmoenit view an ao anwee hei poitica inee a ae ofcia. Thee wa o put imiy an eecive afniy between high moenim an he inteeof many ae o ca.

Like any ieoogy high moenim ha a paticua empoa an

ocia cone. The fea of naiona economic mobiizaion of the bei-geent epeciay Gemany) in Wo Wa eem o makit high ie.No upiingy i mo fetie ocia oi wa o be foun among panne enginee achiect cienit an echnician whoe ki antatu it ceebate a he eign e of the new oe. Highmoenifaih wa no epecte of aitiona poitica bounaie it cou befoun aco he poiica pectum fom eft o ight but paticuayamong hoe who wane o ue tae powe o bing about hugeutopian change in peope' wok habi iving paen moa con-uct an woview No wa hi uopian viion angeou in an ofief. Whee i animate pan in ibea paiamenay ocietie an

whee the panne theefoe ha o negoiae wih oganize citizenit cou pu efo.Ony when thee two eemen ae joine o a hi oe he

combination become poeniay etha. The hi eemen i an au hoiaian ate that i wiing an abe o ue the fu weight of i co

ecive powe o bing thee highmoenit eign into being Themo fetie oi fo thi eemen ha ypicay been ime of wa evouion epeion an tugge fo naiona ibeaion n uch ituaion emegency conition fote he eizue of emegency powean fequeny eegiimize the peviou egime. They ao ten to giveie o eie who epuiate the pa an who have evoutionay eign fo hei peope.

A fouth eement i coey inke o he hi a potate civi ociety hat ack he capac ity o eit hee pan . Wa evoution an econom ic coape often aicay weaken civi ociey a we a makethe popace moe eceptie to a new ipenation. Late coonia uewih it ocia engineeing apiaion an abiiy o un oughhooe popua oppoiion occaionay me thi a coniion.

n um the egibiity of a ociey povie the capaciy fo age-cae ocia engineeing highmoenit ieoogy povie the eie he authoiaan tate povie the etemination o ac on that eie an an incapacitae civi ocety povie the evee ocia teain on which o u

have no yet epaine the eae wi have note why uch high



troductio

have aically cube hei ambiion. An ye, a mae clea in e-amining cienic faming, inuial agiculue, an capiali mae in geneal, lagecale capialim i ju a much an agency of ho-mogenizaion, unifomiy, gi, an eoic implicaion a he aei, wih he iffeence being ha, fo capiali, implicaion mupay. A mae neceaily euce qualiy o quaniy via he picemechanim an pomoe anaizaion in mae, money al

no people. Toay, global capialim i pehap he mo powefl focefo homogenizaion wheea he ae may in ome inance be heefene of local ifeence an vaiey. n nli htnent Wakeohn Gay mae a imila cae fo libealim, which he ega aelflimiing becaue i e on culual an iniuional capial hai i boun o unemine.) The ineupion," foce by wiepeaie, of Fance' ucual ajumen o accommoae a commonEuopean cuency i pehap a aw in he win. Pu blunly, my billof paicula again a ceain in of ae i by no mean a cae fopoliically unfeee mae cooinaion a uge by Fieich Hayean Milon Fieman. A we hall ee, he concluion ha can be

awn fom he failue of moen pojec of ocial engineeing aea applicable o maeiven anaizaion a hey ae o bueaucaic homogeneiy.

Part 1

State Projects of

Legibility and Simplication



1 Nature and Space

Woud it no be a geat satsacon to the ing o now at a desgnated moment evey yea the numbe of hs subjects n total and by egion wth al theesouces weath & povety of each pace the numbe] o hs nobty and ecclesiastcs of a nds of men of the obe of Cathoics and of those o theothe eligion al sepaaed accoding to th place of the esidence? . .Would t not be] a useful and necessay peasue fo hm to be abe hsown oce to evew in an hous time the pesent and past condton of ageat eam of whch he is the head and be able h mself to know with ceti

tude n what consists hs gandeu his weath and hs stengths?

Maquis de Vauban ppog a aual cu to Loui X 1686

eain fom of knowege an conto equie a naowing of viionThe geat avanage of uch tunne viion i tha i bing into hap

focu cetain imie apect of an ohewie fa moe compe an un-wiey eaity. Thi vey impication in un make he phenomenon a he cene of he e of viion moe egibe an hence moeucepibe to caefu meauement an cacuaion Combine wihimia obevaion an ovea aggegate ynopic view of a eeciveeaity i achieve maing poibe a high egee of chemaic nowege conto an manipuation.

The invention of cienic foey in ae eighteenhcenuy Puia an Saony eve a omething of a moe of hi poce. Athough he hioy of cientic foey i impotant in it own ight ii ue hee a a metapho fo the fom of nowege an manipa-tion chaacteiic of powef inution wih hapy ene e-

et of which ae bueaucace an age commeca m ae pehap the outaning eampe. Once we have ee how impicaonegibiy an maipuation opeate in foe management we canhen epoe how he moen tate appie a imia en to uban panning ua etemen an amniation an agicutue.

The State and Scentc Festy: A Paable

I Glgamesh] would conqe n the Ceda Foest. I wl set my hand to tand w chop down the CedaEpic oGilgamh

The eay moen Euopean tate even befoe the eveopmen of cenc foety viewe t foet pimay hough the ca en of

11



1 2 LEGBY AND SMPFCAON

evenue nee. To be ue othe cncenuch a imbe fo hipbuing ae conucon an fe fo he economc ecuiy of itubjecwee no eniey aben fom oca managemen. Theeconcen ao ha heavy mpicaon fo tate evene an ecity Eaggeaing ony ghty one migh ay ha he cown inee infoet wa eove though i ca en nto a nge numbe theevenue ye of he be ha mgh be eace annay.

The be way o appeciae how heoc wa hi conicon of vi-ion o oce what fe outie t e of von Luing behin thenumbe nicang evene ye wee no o mch foet a comme-ca woo epeenng o many hoan of boa fee of aeabembe an o many co of ewoo feching a cean pce. Miingof coe wee a thoe ee bh e an pan hong e o nopotenta fo ae evene. Mng a we wee a hoe pa of eeeven evenuebeang tee which mgh have been ef o he popaton bt whoe vae co no be convee no ca eceip. Hee have in min foiage an ue a foe an hach fu a foofo peope an omec anma; wig an banche a beng fencing hop poe an inng ba an oot fo maing meicine an

fo annng; ap fo maing en; an o foh Each pece of teeinee each pa o gowth age of each peceha it nqepopeie an ue. A fagmen of he eny ne em" n a popaeveneenhcen encycopea on aboice convey omehingof he va ange of pactica e o whch he ee co be p.

m i a ime of mt ingua ue epecia whee i ma e cniua d we in eeme theefoe pope f wate wmi te de ad e f the whee pump aquec, hip panew he wate ine, . . ao f wheewight, hande fo he igehandaw ai ad gae. m i ot o apt o ive pit . ad i uedf cpping oc c f the hat make tnk ad oe o ecveed wih eathe cn and dee and hovead ae f

gea ength a fo the cae and he cuiu we of fuitagef age ied ae and mt f he oament appeainingto tee f aciecue . . . . Ad a . the e f e ve eave fthi ee epecia he femae i nt t e depie . . . f the wipoe f gea eef ate in te wie and chig mmewhen ha and fdde i dea . he geen eaf f the em tedhea a geen wud ct and ied with the a noidaene fae.3n ae ca foe" howeve, h aca ee wh t vat num

be of pobe ue wa epace y an abact ee epeentng avome of mbe o ewoo. f he pincey concep tion of he foewa t tiaan i wa ey a tiaianim conne o the iecnee f he ae.

F om a naua pepecve neay eveyhng wa ming fom

d pa 1 3

the tate naow fame of efeence Gne w a the va majoiy ofoa: gae owe ichen fen moe hb an vine Goneoo wee epte b amphibian an innmeabe pecie of inec. Gone wee mo pecie of fana ecep hoe that inteeethe cown gameeepe.

Fom ananthooogit pepecve neay eveyhing tochngon hman tctn th the foet wa ao miing fo the

tat tunne v . The ae i pay aenon o poaching whichmpge on cam to evene n woo o t cam o oya ameb.ohewe it ypicay gnoe the va compe an negoiaeda e of he foet fo huning an gaheng paage hngchacoa ag tapng an coecting foo an vaabe mne-a a we a the foet igncance fo magic wohp efge ano on4

f the ttaian tate cou not ee the ea etng foet fo thecommea) ee if t vew of t foe wa abac an pata itwa hay nique n th epec. Some eve of abacon i ec-a fo vay a fom of anayi a n i i no a a ping hathe atacton of ate ocia hou have eece he paamont

ca ee of the empoye. The enty ne foe" n Di eotncclopdie amo ecivey concene wh he util t pu liqueof foe p.oct an the tae evene an po hat they can bemae t o e Th e foe a a habitat appea an eace by heoet a an ecoomc eouce o be manage ecieny an pof-taby.5 Hee ca an commeca ogc coince hey ae boh e-oey e on he botom ine

. .The.vocabuay e to oganize nau typicay beay he ove-g eet of i human ue n fact iiaian coue e-pace the em nate" with he em naa eouce" focuingon thoe apect. of nae tha can be appopiae fo hman e. Acompaabe g etact fom a moe geneaize natua wohoe o

o fan

ha ae of itaian vae ay maetabe

cmmote) an n u cae hoe pece tha compe wihpey on o othewe mnh he yie of he vae ec e Thupan tha ae vae become cop" the pecie hat compe wihh.em ae igmize a wee" an the inec tha inge hem aemaze a pet." Thu ee tha ae vae become mbe "whe pee hat compee wh hem become ah" tee o ne-buh" The ame ogc appe o fauna. Hghy vaue anma bcomegame" o veoc" whie hoe anima tha compete wth o peypon hem become eato" o vamn"

Te n o aacting uttaan ogc tha he tae thogh ioa appe o he foet i thu not entey tncve. What cte aot th ogc howeve i he naowne of it e f vi-n he egee of eaboation to whch i can e ubjece an above

LEGIBILITY AND SIMPLIFICATION d 5



LEGIBILITY AND SIMPLIFICATION

all, as we sha see, the egee to which it allowe the state to imosethat ogic on the ey ealiy that was obseve.6

Scientic foesty was oiginaly eeloe om about 1765 to 1800,lagey in Pussia an Saxony Eentuay, it woul become the basis offoest management techniques in ance, Englan, an the niteStates an thoughout the Thi Wol. Its emegence cannot be une-stoo outsie the age contet of the centaize statemaking initia-ties of he eio In fact, the new foesty science was a subisciline

of what was cale cameal scie nce, an efot to euce the scal man-agement of a kingom to scientic inciles that woul aow sys-tematic lanning Taitiona omaina foesty ha hitheto simlyiie the foest into oughy equal lots, with the numbe of lots co inciing with the numbe of yeas in the assume gowth cycle.8 Onelot was cut each yea on the assumtion of equal yiels an alue)fom lots of equal size . Because of oo mas, the uneen istibutionof the most auable lage tees (ochwald), an ey aoximatecowoo (russaerke) measues, the esults wee unsatisfactoy foscal lanning

Cael exloitation of omainal foests was a the moe imea-tie in the ate eighteenth centuy, when sca ocials be came awae

of a gowing shotage of woo. Many of the ogowth foests of oak,beech, honbeam, an linen ha been seeely egae by annean unplanne felling, while the egowh was no as obus as hoe.The osect of eclining yies was alaming, not meely because ittheatene eenue lows but also because it might ooke massieoachig by a easanty in seach of ewoo. One sign of this con-cen wee the numeous statesonsoe cometiions fo esigns ofmoe ecient woostoes

The s atemt at moe ecise measuements of foess wasmae by Johann otieb Beckmann on a caefully suveye samlelot. Walking abeast, seeal assisans caie comatmentaizeboxes with coocoe nais coesoning to e caegoies of tee

sizes, which they ha been aine to ienti. Each tee was taggewih he aoiae nail until the samle o ha been coee. Be-cause each assisant ha begun with a cetain numbe of nails, it was asimpe matte to subact the emaining nais fom he initial tota anaie at an inentoy of tees by class fo the entie lo. The samlelot ha been caefully chosen fo its eesenaieness, aowing thefoeses o hen calculae he imbe an, gien cea ice assum-tions, the eenue yiel of the whole foest. o he foes scientiss(orswssenschafler) the goal was always to elie the geaest os-sibe cosan olume of woo'

The effot at ecision was ushe futhe as mathematicianswoke om the coneolume incil o seci the olume o f sale-able woo containe by a sanaize tee (Noralbau) of a gien

ture nd ce 5

sizeclass. Thei calculations wee checke emiically against the actua olume of woo in samle tees . The nal esult of such calcula-tions was the eeloment of elaboate tabes with ata oganize bytee size an age une secie conitions of nomal gowth anmatuation. By aicaly naowing his ision to commecial woo,the state foeste ha, with his tables, aaoxically achiee a syno-tic iew of the entie foest. This estiction of focus electe in thetabes was in fact the only way in which the whole foest cou betaken in by a singe o tic. Refeence to these tables coue with eltess allowe the foeste to estimate closey the inentoy, gowth, anyiel of a gien foest In the egulate, abstact foest of the fostwissenschafte calculation an measuement eaile, an thethee watchwos, in moen aance, wee minimum iesiy," thebalance sheet," an sustaine yiel" The ogic of the statemanagefoest science was itually ientical with the logic of commecialexloitation.

The achieement of eman foesty science in stanaizing ech-niques fo calculating the sustainabe yiel of commeci al timbe anhence eenue was imessie enough. What is ecisie fo ou u-oses, howee, was the next logical ste in foest management Thatste was to attemt to ceate, though caefu seeing, lanting, ancutting, a foest that was easie fo state foestes to count, maniu-ate, measu e, an assess The fact is that foest science an geomety,backe by state owe, ha the caaciy to tansfom the eal, iese,an chaotic ogowth foest into a new, moe unifom foest hatclosely esemble the aminisatie gi of its echniques. To tis en,the unebush was cleae, the numbe of secies was euce ofento monoculue), an lantings wee one simultaneousy a instaigh ows on age tacts These management actices, as HenyLowoo obseves, ouce the monocultual, eenage foests hateenually ansfome he Nomalbaum fom abstaction to ealityThe eman foes became he achetye fo imosing on isoelynatue he neatly aange constucts of science. Pactical goals haencouage mathematical utilitaianism, which seeme, in tun, o o-mote geometic efection as he outwa sign of the welmanagefoest; in tun the ationally oee aangemens of ees ofeenew possibilities fo contolling natue"

The tenency was towa egimentation, in he stic sense o thewo. The foes ees wee awn u no seie unifom ans, asit wee, to be measue, counte off, felle, an elace by a newank an le of lookalike conscits. As an amy, it was also e signehieachically fom aboe to fulll a unique uose an to be at theisosition of a single commane. At the limit, the foest itself woulnot een hae to be seen it coul be a " accuatey fom the tabesan mas in the foeste's ofce



2. One asle of a managed popa foest n Tuscany1 . Mixed temperate forest pat managed, pat natual egeneation



20 LEGBILITY AND SMPLIFICATON ature and pace 2 1



chine" was precisely the step that allowed German forestry science tobecome a rigorous technical and commercial discipline that could becodied and taught. A condition of its rigor was that it severely brack-eted, or assumed to be constant, all variables except those bearing di-rectly on the yield of the selected species and on the cost of growingand extracting them. As we sha see with urban plannin g, revoution-ary theory, colectivization, and rura resettement, a whole world lying outside the brackets" returned to haunt this technica vision .

In the German case, the negative biologica and utimately com-mercia consequences of the strippeddown forest became painfulyobvious only aer the second rotation of conifers had been panted. Ittook about one century for them [the negative co nsequences to showup ceary. Many of the pure stands grew exceenty in the rst gener-ation but aready showed an amazing retrogression in the second generation. The reason for this is a very compex one and ony a simpliedexpanation can be given . . . Then the whole nutrient cyce got out oforder and eventualy was nearly stopped . . . Anyway, the drop of oneor two site casses [used for grading the quaity of timber] during twoor three generations of pure spruce is a we known and frequenty ob-served fact. This represents a production loss of 20 to 30 percent"22

A new term, Waldsterben (forest death), entered the German vocab-ulary to describe the worst cases. An exceptionaly compex process in-volving soi building, nutrient uptake, and symbiotic reations amongungi, insects, mammas, and orawhich were, and still are, not entirey understoodwas apparenty disrupted, with serious consequences. Most of these consequences can b e traced to the radica simpicity of the scientic forest.

Ony an eaborate treatise in eco ogy coud do justice to the subjectof what went wrong, but mentioning a few of the major efects o f sim-plication wil iustrate how vital many of the factors bracketed byscientic forestry turned out to be. German forestry's attention to formal order and ease of access for management and extraction ed to the

clearing of underbrush, deadfas, and snags (standing dead trees),greatly reducing the diversity of insect, mamma, an d bird populationsso essentia to soilbuiding processes.23 The absence o itter and woodybiomass on the new forest loor is now seen as a major actor eading tothinner and less nutritious sois24 Sameage, samespecies forests notonly created a far ess diverse habitat but we� also more vunerabe tomassive stormfeing The very uniformity of species and age among,say, Norway spruce also provided a favorabe habitat to a the pests"which were specialized to that species. Populations o these pests builtup to epidemic proportions, inlicting losses in yelds and large outaysfor fertiizers, insecticides, fungicides, or rodenticides.25 Apparentlythe rst rotation of Nrway spruce had grown exceptionally wel in

large part because it was iving off (or mining) the ongaccumulated

ature and pace 2 1

soil capital f the diverse o ldgrowth forest that it had replaced. Oncethat capital was depleted, the steep decline in growth rates began.

As pioneers in scientic forestry, the Germans also became pioneers in recognizing and attempting to remedy many o f its undesirabe consequences. To this end, they invented the science of what theycaed forest hygiene." In place of hoow trees that had been home towoodpeckers, ows, and other tree-nesting birds, the foresters provided specialy de signed boxes. Ant coonies were articiay raised

and impanted in the forest, their nests tended by loca schoochiren.Severa species of spiders, which had disappeared from the mono-cropped forest, were reintroduced .2 6 What is striking about these en-deavors is that they are attempts to work around an impoverished habitat sti planted with a singe species of conifers for production pur-poses.27 In this cas e, restoration forestry" attempted with mixed re-suts to create a virtual ecoogy, while denying its chief sustaining con-dition: diversity.

The metaphorica value of this brief account of scientic productionforestry is that it iustrates the dangers of dismembering an exceptionaly compex and poorly understood set of relations and processes inorder to isoate a single eement of instrumenta vaue. The instrument,

the knife, that carved out the new, rudimentary forest was the razor-sharp interest in the production of a singe commodity. Everything thatinterfered with the ecient production of the key commodity was im-pacaby eiminated. Everything that seemed unreated to ecient pro-duction was ignored. Having come to see the forest as a commodity, sci-entic forestry set about refashioning it as a commodity machine.28Utiitarian simpication in the forest was an efective way of maximizing wood production in the short and intermediate term. Ultimatey,however, its emphasis on yied and paper prots, its relatively shorttime horizon, and, above al, the vast array of consequences it had resolutey bracketed came back to haunt it.29

Even in the ream of greatest interest namey, the producton of

wood berthe consequences of not seeing the forest for the treessooner or ater became glaring. Many were directy traceabe to thebasic simpication imposed in the interest of ease o management andeconomic return monocuture. Monocutures are, as a rue, moreagie and hence more vunerabe to the stress of disease and weatherthan polycutures are. As Richard Pochmann expresses it, One frtherdrawback, which is typical of al pure plantations, is that the ecoogy ofthe natural pant assocations became unbaanced. Outside of the natura habitat, and when panted in pure stands, the physical condition ofthe single tree weakens and resistance against enemies decreases."3Any unmanaged forest may experience stress from storms, disease,drought, fragile soi, or severe cold. A diverse, complex forest, however,

wth its many species of trees, its ul complement of birds, insects, and



24 LEGIBILITY AND SIMPLIFICATION atre ad pace 25



he premodern sae was, o se Charles Lindbloms felicios phrase,all hmbs and no ngers"; i was incapable of ne ning.

Here is where he rogh analogy beween fores managemen andaxaion begins o break down. In he absence of reliable informaionabo ssainable imber yield, he sae migh eiher inadverenlyoverexploit its resorces and hreaen fre spply or else fail o realize he level of proceeds he fores migh sstain.36 The rees themselves, however, were no poliical acors, whereas he taxable sbjecs

of he cown mos certainly were. They signaled their dissaisfacionby ligh, by varios forms of qie resisance and evas on, and, i extremis, by origh revol. A reliable forma for axat� of scshs depended not js on discovering wha heir econom condtnswere bt also on rying to jdge wha exactions hey wold vigoroslyresis.

How were the agens of he sae to begin measuring and codiing,

throughout each region of an enire kingdom, is populaion, their land-

holdings, their havests, heir wealh, the volume of commerce, and so on? The obstacles in he path of even he mos rudimentary knowledge of hese maers were enormous. The suggle to esablish uniform weighs and measures and o carry out a cadasral mapping of land

holdings can sere as diagnostc examples. Each requred a large, cosly,long-term campaign agains deermined esistance Resisance camenot only from he general populaion bu also om loca.pwer�hol?ers; they were frequently able to take advanage of �h adml Is ratlV coherence produced by differing ineress and mISSIOns wth

.th ranks

of ocaldom. Bu in spie of he ebbs and lows of the vaous campaigns and heir naional peculiariies, a patern of adoping uniformmeasuemens and chating cadasral maps ulImaely prevaled.

Each nderaking also exemplied a patern of reations beweenlocal knowledge and practices on one hand and sae administratierotines on he othe, a patern that will nd echoes hrogho hbook. In each case, local pracices of measrement and landholding

were llegible" to the stae in her raw form. They exhibied a diversity and inricacy tha relected a grea variey f rely local, nosae, iterests. That is to say, hey cold no be amlaed to an administaive grid wiho being eiher ransformed or redced o a convenien, if parly ctional, shorhand. The logic behind he .reqiredshorthand was provided, as in scientic forestry, by he pressg maerial interests of rlers: scal receipts, mliary manpower, and stae secriy. n trn, this shorthand fnctioned, as did Beckmanns Normalbme, as not js a description, however inadeqae. Backed by staepower hrogh records, corts, and ltmaely coercion, hese statecons tansformed he realiy hey presmed o obseve, alhoghnever so thooghly as to precisely he grd.

Forging the Tools of Legibility: Popular Measures,State Measures

Nonsae forms of measremen grew from he logic of local pracice.As sch, hey shared some generic feares despie heir bewilderingvarieyfeares ha made hem an impediment o adminisativenifomity. Thanks o he synthesis of he medievalist Witold Kla, thereasoning that animaed local practices of measrement may be seto fairly sccincly.3

Most early meases were hman in scale. One sees this logic atwork in sch sviving expressions as a stones throw" o within earshot" for disances and a cartload," a basketfl," or a handfl" forvolme. Given tha the size of a cat o basket might vary from place oplace and that a stones throw might no be precisely niform frompeson o person, these nis of measrement varied geographicallyand emporally. Even meases hat were apparenly xed migh bedeceptive Thepinte in eighteenthcentry Pais, for example, was eqivalen to .93 liters, whereas in SeineenMontagne it was 9 9 lites andin PrecysosThl, an astonding 3 .33 lies. The aune, a mease oflength sed for cloth, varied depending on the mateial (the nt forslk, for insance, was smaller han that for linen), and across Fancethere were a leas seventeen different anes.38

Local measres were also relaional or commensrable."3 Vrtally any reqes for a dgmen of measre allows a range of responsesdepending on the context of the reqes. In the part of Malaysia witwhich am most familiar, if one were to ask How far is it to th nextvillage?" a lkely response wold be Three ricecookings." The aswerassmes ha he qestioner is ineested in how mch time it will takeo ge there, not how many miles away it is. In varied terrain, of corse,distance in miles is an erly neliable gide o travel time, especiallywhen he ravele is on foot or riding a bicycle. The answer also expresses ime not in mintesntil recently, wriswaches were rarebt in nis that are locally meaningfl. Everyone knows how long ittakes to cook he local rice. Ths an Ethiopian response to a qeryabot how mch salt is reqired for a dis migh be Half as mch as tocook a chicken." The reply refers back o a sandard ha everyon is expected o know. Sch measremen practices are irredcibly local,inasmch as regional differences in, say, the ype of rice eaten or thepreferred way of cooking chicken will give different reslts.

Many local nits of measemen are tied practically to particlaractivities. Marathi peas ans, as Arn Appadrai notes, expess the desired disance between the onion sets they plant in terms of handbreadths. When one is moving along a eld row, the hand is, well, hemos handy gage. In similar fashion, a common measre for twine orrope is the distance between the thmb and elbow becase this corresponds with how it is wrapped and stored. As wih seting onions, he

26 LEGIBILITY AND SIMPL IFICATION ue nd ce 27



procss of masring is mbddd in h aciviy islf and rqirs nospara opration. Sch masrmnts, morovr, ar on approx-imat thy ar ony as xact as th task at hand rqirs4 Rainfallmay b said to b abndant or inadqat if th contxt of th qryimplis an intrst in a paricar crop. And a rpy in trms of inchsof rainall, howvr accrat, wold also fail to convy th dsird information it ignors sch vital mattrs as th timing of th rain. Formany prposs, a n apparntly vag masrmnt may commnicat

mor valabl information than a statistically xact gr. Th clivator who rports that his ric yild from a plot is anywhr btwnfor and svn baskts is convyng mor accrat information, whnth focs of attntion is on th variabiliy of th yild, than if h r-pord a tnyar statistical avrag of 5 6 baskts.

Thr is, thn, no sing, allprpos, corrct answr to a qstionimplying masrmnt nss w spci th rlvant local concrnsthat giv ris to th qsion Particlar cstoms of masrmnt arths sitationally, tmporally, and gographically bond.

Nowhr is th pariclariy of cstomary masrmnt mor vidnt than with cltivatd land. Modrn abstrat masrs of land bysrfac araso many hctars or acrsar singarly ninforma

tiv grs to a family that proposs to mak its lvng from thsacrs. Ting a farmr only that h is lasing twnty acrs of land isabot as hlpl as tlling a scholar that h has bo ght sx kilograms ofbooks Cstomary masrs of and hav thrfor takn a varity offorms corrsponding to thos aspcts of th land that ar of gratstpractical intrst. Whr land was abndant and manpowr or draft-powr scarc, th most maningfl gag of and was on th nmbr of days rqird to plow or to wd it . A plot of land in nintnthcntry Franc, for xampl, wold b dscribd as rprsntng somany oren or joual (days of work) and as rqiring a spcickind o work (hoe, beche, fauche). How many mogn wr rprsntd by a ld of, say, tn acrs co ld vary graty if th land wr

rocky and stpy pitchd, it might rqir twic as mch labor towork han if it wr rich botomland. Th morgn wold also dffrfrom plac to plac dpnding on th strngth of loca drapowr andth crops sown, and it wold diffr from tim to tim as tchnology(plow tips, yoks, harnsss) affctd th work a man cold accom-plish in a day

Land might also b valatd according to th amont of sd rqird to sow t. If th soil wr vry good, a ld wold b dnslysown, whras poor land wold b mor lightly sdd . Th amont ofsd sown to a ld is in fact a rlativly good proxy for avag yld,as th sowing is don in anticipation of avrag growing conditions,whil th actal sasonal yld wold b mor variabl Givn a par-

ticlar crop rgimn, th amont of sd sown wod indicat roghly

how prodciv a ld had bn, alhogh i wold rval lil abohow ardos h land was o cliva or how variabl th havstswr. Bt th avrag yild from a pot of and is tsf a rathr ab-stract gr. What most farmrs nar th sbsistnc margin want toknow abov a is whthr a paricar farm wi mt thir basic ndsrliably. Ths small farms in Irland wr dsribd as a farm o f oncow" or a farm of two cows" to indcat thr grazing capac tothos who livd argly by milk prodcts and potatos. Th physical

ara a farm might compris was of littl intrst compard to whthrt wold fd a pariclar famiy.4To grasp th prodigios varity of cstomary ways of masring

land, w wold hav to imagin itrally scors of maps" constrctdalong vry diffrnt lins than mr srfac ara. hav in mind thsors of maps dvisd to captr or attntion with a kind of fnhosffct in which, say, th siz of a contry is mad proportional to itspoplation rathr than its gographical siz, with China and ndialooming mnacingly ovr Rssia, Brazil, and th Unitd Stats, whlLibya, Astralia, and Grnand virtally disappar Ths typs ofcstomary map (for thr wold b a grat many) wold constrctth landscap accor ding to nits of work and yld, yp of soil, accs-

sbility, and ability to provd sbsistnc, non of which wold ncs-sarily accord with srfac ara Th masrmnts ar dciddly local, inereed, coneual, and hioricall pecic. What ms thsbsistnc nds of on family may not mt th sbsistnc nds ofanothr. Factors sch as local crop rgimns, labor spply, agricltraltchnology, an d wathr nsr that th standards of valaton varyom plac to plac and ovr tim. Dircty apprhndd by th stat,so many maps wold rprsnt a hoplssly bwildring wlr oflocal standards. Thy dnitly wold not lnd thmslvs to aggrga-tion nto a sing statistical sris that wold allow stat ocials tomak maningfl comparisons.

The ols oeasuree

Ths far, this accont of local masrmnt practics risks givingth imprssion that, althogh local concptions of distanc, ara, vom, and so on wr diffrnt from and mor varid than th nitaryabstract standards a stat might favor, thy wr nvrthlss aimingat obctiv accracy. That imprssion wold b fals. Evry act of ma -srmnt was an act markd by th play of powr rlations. To ndr-stand masrmnt practics n arly modrn Erop, as Kla dmon-strats, on mst ra t thm to th connding intrsts of th maorstats: aristocras, clrgy, mrchants, arisans, and srfs.

A good p ar of th politics o f masrmnt sprang fom what a con-tmporary conomist mght call th stickinss" of fdal rnts. Nobl

28 LEGIBILIY AND SIMPLIFICAON , ue d pce 29



and clerica claimans ofen fond i dicl o i ncrease fedal des direcly he levels se for varios charges were he resl of long srggle,and even a sma ncrease above he csomary eve was viewed as ahreaenng breach of radiion.4 Adjsng he mease, however, represened a ondabo way of achievng he same end. The loca lordmigh, fo example, lend grain o peasans in smaller baskes and insson epaymen in larger baskes. He mgh srepiiosly o even boldlyenlarge he size of he gran sacks acceped for mlng (a monopoly of

he domain lord) and edce he sze of he sacks sed for measringo lor he migh also colec fedal des n large baskes and paywages in kind in smaller baskes. While he fomal csom governingfedal des and wages wold hs emain nac (reqirng, for exam-ple, he same nmbe of sacks of whea fom he harves of a givenholdng), he acal ransacon migh inceasingly favo he lord.4 Theress of sch ddling were far from val. Kla esimaes ha hesize of he bshel (boieau) sed o collec he main fedal ren (aille)increased by onehird beween 1674 ad 1716 as par of wha wascalled the raction odae. 44

Even when he ni of measremen say, he bshel was appaenly agreed pon by al, he n had js beg n. Virally everywhere

in early modern Erope were endless mcrop oliics abo how baskesmgh be adjsed hrogh wear, blging, cks of weaving, moisre,he thckness of he rm, and so on. In some aeas he local sandardsfor he bshel and oher ns of measement wee kep in meallicform and placed n he care of a sed ocial or else leally carvedino he sone of a chrch or he own hall. Nor d d end here. Howhe gran was o be pored (from shode heigh, whch packed somewha, or fom was hegh?), how damp i cold be, wheher theconaner cod be shaken down, and, nally, if and how i was o beleveed o when fll were sbjecs of long and ber conoversySome arangemens called for he gran o be heaped, some for a half-heap," and sll ohers for i o be leveled or sked" ). These were

no rvial matters. A fedal lord cold increase his es by 25 pecenby nssng on receving whea and rye n heaped bshels .46 If, by csom, he bshel o f gain was o be sriked, hen a rher micropoliticseped ove he srckle. Was to be ond, thereby packing n grainas i was rolled across he rm, or was i o be sharpedged? Who woldappy he srckle? Who cold be rsed o keep i?

A comparable mcropolics, as one mgh expec swled arondhe nt of land measremen. A common mease of lengh, the ell,was sed o mark o he area o be plowed o weeded as a par of fedal labor des. Once again, he lenghs and wdhs n ells wee stic"having been esablished hogh long sggle. I was emptng for aod o overseer to try rasing labor des indrecly by ncreasing the

lengh of he ell If he aemp were sccessfl, he formal rles of

,cove labor wod no be vioaed, b he amon of work exraedod increase. Perhaps he sickies of all measres before he nneeenh cenry was he price of bread. As he mos val sbsisencegood of premoden mes, i served as a knd of cosoflivng index,and is cos was he sbjec of deeply held poplar csoms abo isrelaionshp o he typical rban wage. Kla shows n emarkabe deail how bakers, aaid o provoke a rio by diecly volaing he jsprice," managed everheless o manipae he sz e and weigh of he

loaf o compensae o some degree fo changes he price ofwheaand rye lor.

Staterat and the iergphi oeaureent

Becase local sandards of measremen wee ed o pacicalneeds, becase hey eleced parclar cropping paerns and agri-cral echnology, becase hey vaied wh clmae and ecology,becase hey wee an arbe of powe and an nsmen of asserng cass prvlege," and becase hey were a he cener of bierclass srggle," hey epresened a mndboggng problem for sae-craf.48 Effors o simp o sandardize measres recr like a le

mof hrogho French hisoryher eappearance a sre sign ofprevos fare. More modes aemps o simply cod local pracicesand creae convesion ables wee qickly oveaken and rendered ob-solee by changes on he grond. The king's minisers wee confroned,in eect, wth a pachwork of local measremen codes , each of whichhad o be cacked It was as if each disric spoke is own dialect, oneha was nntellgible o osides and a he same me liable ochange wiho noce. Eiher he sae risked making large and poenally damaging mscalclatons abot local condiions, o i eliedheavy on he advce of local trackershe nobles and clergy in theCrown's condencewho, n rn, were no slow o take ll advan-age of he pow er.

The illegblity of local measremen pracces was moe han an ad-minisave headache for he monarchy. I compromised he mos vialand sensive aspecs of sae seci. Food spply was he Achilles heelof he eay moden sae shor of religos war, nohng so men acedthe sae as food shorages an d he resling socia pheavals . Withocomparable nits of measremen, was diclt if no mpossible omonor makets, o comp are regional prces for basc commodiies, orto eglae food spplies eecively.4 Obliged o grope s way on hebasis o f skechy nfomaion, rmor, and sel fineesed local repors,he sae ofen esp onded belaedly and inappropaey. Eqity i taxaon, anohe sensiive polical isse, was beyond the each of a saethat fond i dcl o know he basc comparative facs abo har

vess and prices. A vgoros eor o colec axes, to reqision fo mil



32 LEGBILIY AND SIMPLIFIAION t d p 33



langage of commerce and ndstry," serng to n and transformFrench soce ty. 55 A ratonal nt of meas rement wold promote a ratonal ctzenry.

The smplcaton of measres, however, depended on that otherrevoltonary poltcal smplcaton of the modern era the concept ofa nform, homogeneos ctzenshp. As long as each estate operatedwthn a separate legal sphere, as long as dferent categores of peoplewere neqa n law, t followed that they mght also have neqal

rghts wth respect to measres.5 6 The dea of eqa ctzenshp, theabstracton of the nmared" cten, ca n be traced to the Enghtenment and s evdent n the wrtngs of the Encyclo pedsts For the En-cyclopedsts, the cacophony among measrements, nstttons, nher-tance aws, taxaton, and maret reglatons was the great obstacle tothe French becomng a sngle people. They envsoned a seres of centrang and ratonang reforms that wold transform France nto anatonal commnty where the same coded laws, measres, cstoms,and belefs wold everywhere preval. t s worth notng that ths pro-ject promotes the concept of atioa ctenshp a natonal Frenchcten peramblatng the ngdom and e nconterng exactly the samefar, eqal condtons as the rest of hs compatrots. In place of a weter

of ncommensrable small commntes, famlar to ther nhabtantsbt mystng to otsders, there wold rse a sngle natonal socetyperfectly legbe from the center. The proponents of ths vson well n-derstood that what was at stae was not merely admnstratve conve-nence bt also the transformaton of a peopl e The nformty of cs-toms, vewponts, and prncples of acton wll, nevtably, lead to agreater commnty of habts and preds postons "8 The abstract grdof eqal ctzenshp wold create a new realty the French ctze n.

The homogenzaton of measres, then, was part of a larger, em an-cpatory smplcaton. At one stroe the eqaty of all French peoplebefore the law was garanteed by the state they were n o longer meresbjects of ther lords and soveregn bt bearers of naenable rghts

as ctzens. All the prevos natral" dstnctons were now denatralzed" and nlled, at least n law6 In an nprecedented revoltonary context where an entrey new poltcal system was beng created from rst prncples, t was srey no great matter to legslatenform weghts and measres As the revoltonary decree readThe centres old dream of the masses of onl one jst measre hascome tre The Revolton has gven the people the meter."6

Prolamng the nversal meter was far smpler than ensrng thatt became the dal practce of French ctzens. The state cold nsston the exclsve se of ts nts n the corts, n the state school system,and n sch docments as propert deeds, legal contracts, and taxcodes. Otsde these ocal spheres, the metrc system made ts way

only very slowly In spte of a decree for conscatngtoie

stcs n

shops and replacng them wth meter stcs, the popl ace contned tose the older system, often marng ther meter stcs wth the oldmeasres. Even as late as 828 the new measres were more a par t ofe ay ga than of e ay re. As Chateabrand remared, When-ever yo meet a fellow who, nstead of talng aet toie andied, refers to hectares, meters, and centmeters, rest assred, theman s a prefect."6

Land Tenue: Local Pactce and Fscal ShothandThe revene of the early modern state came manly from eves oncommerce and and, the major sorces of weath For commerce, thsmped an array of excse taxes, tols and maret dtes, lcensngfees, and tarfs. For landed weath, ths meant somehow attahngevery parce of taxabe property to an ndvdal or an nsttton re-sponsbe for payng the tax on t. As straghtforward as ths proce-dre seems n the context of the modern state, ts achevement wasenormosy dclt for at least two reasons. Frst, the actal prac-tces of cstomary land tenre were freqenty so vared and ntrcateas to de any onetoone eqaton of taxpayer and taxable property.

And second, as was the case wth standardng measrement, therewere socal forces whose nterests cold only be damaged by thened and transparent set of property relatons desred by the statesscal agents. In the end, the centralzng state scceeded n mposnga novel and (from the center) legble property system, whch, as hadthe wor of the scentc foresters, not only radcaly abrdged thepractces that the system descrbed bt at the same tme transformedthose practces to algn more closely wth ther shorthand, schematcreadng.

urto

Ngara maw tata, a maw cara (The capta has ts orde the viage

fcustoms).ava pvrb

A hypothetcal case of cstomary land tenre practces ma helpdemonstrate how dclt t s to assmlate sch practces to the barebones schema of a modern cadastral map. The patterns wll descrbeare an amalgam of practces I have encontered n the lteratre of orn the corse of eldwor n Sotheast Asa, and althogh the case shypothetcal, t s not nrealstc.

Let s magne a commnty n whch famles have sfrct ghtsto parcels of cropland drng the man growng season. Only certan

crops, however, may be planted, and every seven years the sfrct



36 LEGIBILIY AND SIMPLIFCAION re nd pce 37



as the relative clarity of customay tenure is lost on those who liveouside he vilage.

The scal or adminisrative goal toward which a modern statesaspire is o measure, codi, and simpli and tenure in much he sameway as scenic foresy reconceived he forest. Accommodaing theluxuant vaety of cusomay land tenue was smpy nconceivabe.The hstoica soution, a eas for the ibea sate, has ypicaly beenthe heoc smpcaion of indvdual feehod enure Land s owned

by a lega ndvidal who possesses wde powers of use, nheiance, osae and whose ownership is repesened by a niform deed of ile enforced hogh he dical and poce nsittons of the stae Jus ashe loa of the fes wee redced o Normabme, so he compexenre arrangements of cusomay pacce ae edced o feehold,ransferabe e. In an agaan setting, he admnsrave andscapes blanketed wth a nifom gd of homogeneo s land, each pacel ofwhich has a legal peson as owner and hence axpayer. How mucheasie hen becomes to assess sch popety and its owne on hebass of s acreage, s so class, he cops t nomaly beas, and sassmed yed than to ntangle the hcke of commo propey andmxed foms of enue.

The cownng afac of ths mighy simpicaion s the cadastalmap Created by aned suveyors and mapped o a gven scae, thecadasral map is a moe o less complete and accuae suey of alandholdngs Snce he dvng ogc behnd the map s to ceate a manageabe and reliable fomat for axaon, he map s assocaed wh apropey egise n whch each speced (saly numbered) lo onhe map s nked o an owner who s esponsbe fo paying is axes.The cadastal map and propey egster are o he axaon o land ashe maps and tables of he scentc forester wee o he scal exploiation of the foest.

The ode Rural Th

The uers of postevouionay France confoted a ua soceytha was a neary mpeneable web of fedal nd revouonay prac-tces. It was nconcevable that hey could caaoge s compexes,e aone effecively elimnate hem, in he shor run Ideoogcaly, forexampe, their commment to eqaliy and libey was contadiced bycsomay rua contracs le those used by ca gids, which silemployed he ems master" re and sean" ervieur. As rul-es of a new natonnot a kngdom they wee kewise oended byhe absence of an overall legal framework fo socal eatons. Forsome, a new cv code coverng all Frenchmen seemed as f wouldbe suc ien.4 But for bourgeos owners of rura propery who, along

wth ther noble neghbos, had been heaened by the loca uprisings

of he Revolution and La rand Peur and, more generay, by te aggressiveness of an e mbodened and autonomous peasanty, an expicitcode rurl seemed necessay o underwrie heir securiy.

In the end, no postrevoutionay rra code atraced a winningcoaiion, even amid a lury o Napoleonic codes n neary all oheeams. Fo ou puposes, the hsoy of the salemate s nstucive.The st poposa for a code, wich was daed beween 80 and1807, woud have swept away most tradonal ights (such as common

pasrage and fee passage thogh ohers' popery) and esseniallyrecas rual popey elations n he ght of bourgeois popey ightsand freedom of contac. Althogh he proposed code pregued ce-tain moden French pacces, many evotonaes blocked becase he y feared tha is handsoff beralsm wold allow age andhoders to ecreae he subordnaon of feudalism n a new guise .6

A eexamnaton of he isse wasthen odeed by Napoeon andpresided over by Joseph Veneh Pyrasseau Concuenty, DptLaoete proposed to d o precsey wha I spposed, n the hypothetcalexampe, was mpossbe. That s, he underook o systematcally gatheinformaton abou all ocal pactces, to cass and cod them, andthen to sancon hem by decee. The decee n qeson woud become

the code ra. Two poblems ndid his charmng scheme to pesentthe rua poplace with a rural code hat smpy releced ts own practices Th e rst dfcty was in deci dng whch aspects of he literallynnie dversy of rua prodcton relaons wee o be epresenedand codied.6 Even n a parica ocaly, practces vaed geatlyom fam o farm and ove time; any codcaon wod be parly abiay and aricaly sac. To cod oca pacces was ths a pofoundly poltcal ac. Loca noables would be able to sancton heprefeences wh the mante of aw, wheeas othes woud lose cusom-ay ghts tha hey depended on. The second dfcty was hat Laou-ete's plan was a motal threa o al he sate cenrazes and eco-nomic modenzes fo whom a egible, nationa popety regme was

the precondon of pogress. As Serge Abedam noes, The Laoetepoect woud have bough abou exactly wha Meln de Douai andthe bogeois, evoluonay uss always s ogh to avod."68 NetheLaouette's no Veneh's poposed code was eve passed, becase hey,ike thei pedecessor n 1807, seemed to be designed to stengthen thehand of the andowners.

The ei Cu Teure

The pemoden and eary modern sae, as we have noted, deatmoe wth communies han wh indivduals when t came o axes.Some apparently ndvidual taxes, such as he notorious Russan sou

ax," whch was collected from al subecs, we re acuay paid decly

38 LEGIBILITY AND SIMPLIFICATION ue d pce 39



by the commnities or inirectly throgh the nobles whose sbjectsthey were. Failre to eliver the reqire sm sally le to colle ctivepnishment. The only agents of taxation who reglarly reache to thelevel of the hosehol an its cltivate els were the local nobilityan clergy in the corse of collecting feal es an the reigiostithe. For its pat, the state ha neither the am inistrative tools nor theinformation to penetrate to this level

The lmitations on state knowlege were patly e to the complex

ity an variability of local proction. This was not the most impotantreason, however. The collective form of taxation meant that it was generally in the interest of local ocals to misre present their sitaton inorer to minimze the local tax an conscription bren To this en,they might minimize the local poplation, systematcally nerstatethe acreage ner cltivation, hie new commercia pots, exagger-ate crop losses aer storms an oghts, an so on. The point of thecaastra map an lan register was precisely to eliminate this scalfealism an rationaze he scal take of the state Jst as the sci-entic forester neee an inventory of trees t o realiz e the commercialpotential of the forest, so the scal reformer neee a etaile inven-tory of lanownership to realize the maxmm, sstainable revene

yiel.!Assming that the state ha the wi to challenge the resistance ofthe local nobles an elites an the nancial resorces o netake al caastral srey which was both tmeconsming an expe nsive),it face other obstacles as well. In patclar, some commnal forms oftenre simpy col not be aeqatey represente in caastral formRral living in seventeenth an early eighteenthc entry Denmark,for example, was organize by ejerlav, whose members ha certainrights for sing local arable, waste, an forest lan. It wo have beenimpossibe in sch a commnity to associate a ho sehol or nivialwith a paticlar holing on a caastra map. The Norwegian largefarm gar) pose similar problems. Each hosehol hel rights to a

given proportion of the valekyl)

of the farm, not to the plot oflan none of the joint owners col call a specc pat of the farm hisown. Althogh it was possible to estimate the arable lan of eachcommnity an, maing some assmptions abot crop yiels an sbsistence nee s, arrive at a plasibe tax bren, these vilagers erivea sbstantial part of their livelihoo from the commons by shing,forestry, collecting resin, hnting, an maing charcoal. Monitoringthis kin of income was amost impossible. No r wol cre estimatesof the vale of the commons solve the problem, for the inhabitants ofnearby villages oen share one anothers commons even thogh thepractice was otlawe). The moe of procton in sch commnitieswas simply incompatible wth the assmption of inivial freehol

tenre implicit in a caastral map. It was clame, althogh the evi

ence is not convincing, that common propety was less proctivethan freehol property. The states case against commnal forms oflan tenre, however, was base o n the correct obseration that it wasscally illegble an hence scally less proctive. Rather than tying,like the hapless Laloette, to bring the map into line with reality, thehistorical resoltion has generally been for the state to mpose a prop-ety system in lne with its scal gr.

As ong as common propety was abnant an ha essentially no

sca vale, the legibty of its tenre was no problem. Bt the moment t became scarce when natre" became natral resorce"), itbecame the sbjec t of propety rghts in law, whether of the state or ofthe citizens. The histoy of property in this sense has meant the nex-orable incorpora ton of what were once thoght of as free gis of na-tre forests, game, waste an, prairie, sbsrface mnerals, wate anwatecorses, air rights rights to the air above blings or srfacearea), breathable ar, an even genetic seqences, nto a propery regime. In the case of commonpropety farmlan, the mposition of freehol propety wa claring not so mch for the ocal inhabitantsthe cstomary strctre of rights ha always been cear enogh to themas it was for the tax ocial an the an specator. The caastral

map ae oc mentay intelligence to state power an ths proviethe basis for the synoptic view of the state an a spraloca maret inlan.4

An example may help to clari the process of installng a new,more egibe property regime. The case of two prerevoltionary Rs-sian villages proves a nearly textboo example of state attempts tocreate invial enre in keeping with its convictions abot agricl-tral growth an aministrative orer. Most of rral Rssia, even ae rthe emancipation of was a moel of scal ilegibliy. Commnalforms of tenre prevaile, an the state ha little or no knowlege ofwho cltivate which strips of lan or what ther yels an incomewere.

Novoselok village ha a varie economy of ctivation, grazing,an forestry, whereas Khotynitsa village was limite to cltvation ansome grazing gres 3 an 4) The complex welter of strips was e-signe to ensre that each village hosehol receive a strip of lan inevery ecological z one. A n inivial hosehol might have as many asten to een iferent p lots constitting something of a representativesample of the villages ecological zones an microclimates. The istri-btion sprea a familys risks prently, an from time to time the lanwas reshle as familes grew or shrnk.

I t was enogh to make the hea of a caastral sreyor swim. Atrst glance it seems as if the village itself wol nee a staf of profes-sional sreyors to get things right Bt n practice the system, calle

interstripping, wa qite simple to those who live it. The strips of an

0 EGI BII AND IMP IFIATION e d ce 1



oo

Strip belonging o n husd

Vig w_. Cuived k:�· 1 an� Foest�. Swamp .

R

10 f

0 0'r 9 0

3. Novoeo vage beore he Solypn Reorm

were generally sraigh and parallel so tha a readstmen cold bemade by moving small stakes along st one side of a eld, wihohaving to hink of areal dimensions. Where he oher end of the eldwas no parallel, he sakes cold b e shife d to compensate for he facha he strip lay oward the narrower or wider end of the eld. rreglar eds were divided, no acording o area, b according to yieldTo he e ye and cerainly to those involved in cadasra mapping thepatern seemed convoled and irraional. B o hose amiliar wih iti was smple eog and orked admirably for her rposes .

E Viage dwens1 Arabl � uva meaow Sa_ Cay Qua .R

fet 0

3 me[s 6

. Khoynitsa viage before he Stoypin Reorm

Stp husld

The dream of sate ocials and agrarian reformers, a least sinceemancipation, was to transform the openeld system ino a series ofconsolidaed, independent farmseads on what they took to be thewesern Eropean model. They were driven by the desire to break thehold of the commnity over he individal hosehold and o movefrom collecive axation o f the whole commniy to a ax on individallandholders. As in France, scal goals were very mch connected oreigning ideas of agriclral progress Under Cont Serg ei Wie andPetr Solypin, as George Yaney noes plans for reform shared a common vision of how hings were and how they needed to be Firsttablea poor peasants crowded together in villages, sffering romhnger r nning into each oher wih their plows on their tiny srips.Second ablea: agriclre specialis agent leads a few progressiv

42 LEGBILITY AND SIMPLIFICATION, ture nd pce 43



o

--- Khutor bondaries

_ Cnsidate plo b� in

e ld

I Cutva a

I :; Mew n

Fe

Swmp

Rad

10leet

20

3 6mtrs0

S. Novoseok vilage afte the Stoypin Refom

peasats ff to new lands leaving those emaining moe oom. Thidtableau depating peasants feed fom estaints of stips set uputo [integal famsteads with dwellings] on new elds and adapt lat-est methods. Those who emain feed of village and family estaintsplunge into a demand economyall ae iche moe poductive thecities get fed and the peasants ae not poletaianized."76 It was abun-dantly clea that the pejudicial attitude towad intestipping wasbased as much on the autonomy of the Russian village its illegibility to

outsides and pevailing dogma about scietic agicultue as it was

_ Khor oudi-_Otb Ionaesf.Villg wellig! Al l llvl Mew

1 o� Ssa Clyr Q_Road

1 fel 2

300 6 9

. 6 Khotynitsa village ae the Stolypin Reform

_ onolied plologg o oeoel Fg. 4

on had evidence.77 The state ocials and agaian efomes easonedthat once given a consolidated pivate plot the peasant would suddenly want to get ich and would oganize his husehold into an

efcient wokfoce and t ake up scientic agicultue The Stolypin Re-fom theefoe went forwad and cadastal ode was bo ught to bothvillages in the wake of the efom (gues 5 and 6).

In Novoselok village seventeen independent famsteads (khutor)wee ceated in a way that aimed to give each household a share ofmeadow aable a d foest. In Khtynitsa village ten khuto wee c eated as well as seventyeight fams (otrub), whose ownes continued todwell in the village cente As a cadastal matte the new fams weemappable easily legible fom above and outside and since each wasowned by an identiable peson assessable

Take� alone the maps shown in gues 5 and 6 ae misleading. Suchmodel Vllages suggest ecient cadastal teams wong thei way dili

gently though the countyside and tuig openeld haos into tidy lit

EGIB ITY AND SIMP II CATION

l f lit thi I f t th d f d

r e d ce

h



le farms. eality was something ese. In fact, the dream of ordery, recangular elds was approximated only on newly setled and, wherethe surveyor faced lile geographical or social resisance. 8 Elsewhere,the reformers were generally hwared, despite remendous pressureo produce integra farms. There were unauthorized consol idations, alhough hey were forbidden there were a lso paper consolidations," inwhich he new farmers coninued o farm heir srips as before. Thebes evidence ha he agriculural property system had in fact no be

come legible o cenral ax ofcials was he immensely damaging procremen poicies pursued by he czaris governmen during WordWar I No one knew wha a reasonable evy on grain or draf animalsmight be as a reslt, some farmers were ruined, while ohers managedo hoard grain and livestock.8 The same experience of forced procrement whou adequae knowledge of landhodings and wealh was repeaed again after the Ocober evolon dring the period of WarCommnism.8

The Cr M Oee r r Ouer

The vale of he cadasral map o the sate lies in is abstracion and

niversality. In principle, a leas, he same objecive sandard can beapplied througho the naion, regardless of local context to producea complete and nambiguous map of al landed property. The completeness of the cadastral map depends, in a crios way, on its abstractsketchiness, its lack of detailits thinness. Taken alone, it is essentiallya geometric representation of the borders o r frontiers between parcelsof land What lies inside the parcel is left banknspec ied since itis not germane to the map plotting itself.

Surely many things about a parcel of land are far more importantthan its srface area and the location of ts bondaries. What kind ofsoil it has, what crops can be grown on it, how hard it is to work, andhow close it is to a market are the rst qestons a potential byer

might ask. These are qestions a tax assessor wold also want to ask.From a capitalist perspective, the physical dimensions of land are beside the point. Bt these other qalities can become relevant (especially to the state) only after the terran to which they apply has beenlocated and measured. And unlike identiing location and dimension,identiing these qualities involves judgments that are complex, susceptible to frad, and easily overtaken by events. Crop rotations andyields may change, new tools or machines may transform cltivation,and markets may shift. The cadastral survey, by conrast, is precise,schematic, general, and uniform Whatever its other defects, it is thepreconditi on of a tax regimen that comprehensively lnks every patchof land with its ownerthe taxpayer.8 In this sprit, the srvey for a

107 Duch land ax (inspred by Napoleonic France) stressed tha all

sureyors were to use the same measurements, surveyors instrumentsere o be periodically inspected o ensure conformity, and al mapswere o be drawn up n a uniform scae of 1 :2 , 0.8 3

Land maps in general and cadastral maps in particular are designed to make the ocal situation legible o an ousider. For purelylocal purposes, a cadasra map was redundant. Everyone knew whoheld, say, he meadow by the river, the value of he fodder it yielded,and he fedal dues it carried here was no need to know its precise

dimensions. A sbstantial domain mgh have he kind of prose map,or terrie hat one nds in od deeds (from he large oak tree, north120 feet o the river bank, thence . . ."), with a noation abo thehoders obligations to the domain. One magines sch a docmenproving valable to a young heir, new to the managemen of a domain.Bu a proper map seems to have come into use especially when a briskmarke in and developed. The Neherlands was ths a eader in landmapping becase of is early commercialization and because eachspeclator who invested in the draining of land by windmill waned oknow in advance precisely what plot of he newly opened land hewould be enied o. The map was espec iay crucial t he new bourgeois owners of landed estates, for i allowed them to srvey a large

errtory a a glance. Is miniarzaion helped it o serve as an aidemmoire when the property consisted of many smal parcels or theowner was not intmately familiar with the terrain

As early as 107, an English surveyor, John Norden, sold hs services to the arstocra on the premise that the map was a substitute forthe tor of inspection A plot rightly drawne by true nformation discrbeth so the lvely image of a manor, and every branch and member ofthe same, as the ord sitting in his chayre, may see what he hath, andwhere and how he lye th, and in whole se and occupation of every partcular is pon sddaine view."8 A national tax administration requiresthe same ogic : a legible, bureaucratic formula which a new ocia canqickly grasp and adminster om the documents in his o ce.

h Mg Th ure

Admnstative ma ecogzes that the wod he p ecevs is a dasticaysmped model of the buzzg, boomg cofusio that costtutes th eawod. He s cotnt with the goss simpicaton because he beeves that the ea wod s mostly empty-that most of the facts of the real world have o great eevance to any particuar stuaton he is facg and that most sign-cat chans of causes and cosequeces are shot and simpe.Hebet Simon

Isaiah B erlin, in his study of Tolstoy compare d the hedgehog, whoknew one b ig thing," to the fox, who knew many things. The scientic

46 LEGIB ILITY AND SIMPLFICATION

forester and the cadastral ofcal are lke the hedgehog The sharply

Nature and Space 47

f h l h l f h l



forester and the cadastral ofcal are lke the hedgehog. The sharplyfocused nterest of the scentc foresters n commeral lumber andthat of the cadastral ocals n land revenue constran them to ndngclearcut answers to one queston. The naturalst and the farmer, onthe other hand, are lke the fox. They know a great many thngs aboutforests and cltvable land. Although the foresters and cadastral ofcal's range of knowledge s far narrower, we should not forget thather knowledge s sysemac and synoptc, allowng hem to see andunderstand hngs a fox would no grasp. 85 Wha I wan o emphasze

here, however, s how ths knowledge s ganed at the expense of arather statc and myopc vew of land tenure.

The cadastral map s very much lke a stll photograph of the current n a rver. It represents the parcels of land as they were arrangedand owned at the moment the surey was condu cted But the currents always movng, and n perods of major soca l upheaval and growth,a cadastral surey may freeze a scene of great turbulence.86 Changesare takng place on eld boundares land s beng subdvded or consoldated by nhertance or purchase new canals, roads, and ralwaysare beng cut land use s changng; and so forth. Inasmuch as thesepartcular changes drectly affect tax assessments, there are provsnsfor recordng them on the map or n a ttle regster. The accumulatn

of annotatons and margnala at some pont render the map llegble,whereupon a more uptodate but stll statc map must be drawn andthe process repeated.

.

No operatng landrevenue system can stop at the mere dentcaton of parcel and ownershp. Other schematc facts, themselves statc, must be created to arrve at some judgment of a sustanable taxburden. Land may be graded by sol class, how well t s watered, whatcrops are grown on t, and ts presumed average yeld, whch s o tenchecked by sample cropcuttngs. These facts are themselves changg,or they are averages that may mask great varaton. Lke the stll photoof the cadastral map, they grow more unrealstc wth tme and mustbe reexamned.

These state smplcatons, lke al l state smplcatons, are awaysfar more statc and schematc than the actual socal phenomena theypresue to typ. The farmer rarely experences an average crop, �naverage ranfall, or an average prce for hs crops. Much of the long h-tory of rural tax revolts n early modern Europe and elsewhere can bellumnated by the ack of t between an unyeldng scal clam, on onehand, and an ofen wldly luctuatng capacty of the rural popuaton tomeet that clam, on the other.87 And yet, even the most equtable, wellntentoned cadastral system cannot be unformly admnstered excepton the bass of stable unts of measurement and calculaton. It can nomore relect the actual complexty of a farmers experence than the

scentc foresters schemes can relect the omplexty of the natural-

sts forest.88Governed by a practcal, concrete objectve, the cadastral lens also

gnored anythng lyng outsde ts sharply dened eld of vson. Thswas relected n a loss of detal n the surey tself. Sureyors, one recent Swedsh study found, made the elds more geometrcally regularthan they n fact were. Ignorng small jogs and squggles made her

job easer and dd no materally affec the outcome. 89 Just as the comercal forester found t convenent o overlook mnor fores rod-

ucts, so he cadastral ocal tended to gnore all but the man com-ercal use of a eld. Th e fact that a eld desgnated as growng wheator hay mght also be a sgncant source of beddng straw, gleanngs,rabbts, brds, frogs, and mushrooms was not so muc h unknown as g-nored lest t needessly complcate a straghtforward admnstratveforula.90 The most sgncant nstance of myopa, of course, was thatthe cadastral map and assessment system consdered only the dmensons of the land and ts value as a productve asset or as a commodtyfor sale. Any value that the land mght have for subsstence purosesor for the local ecology was bracketed as aesthetc, rtual, or sentental values.

Tansformation and Resistance

The cadastra map is an instrment of contro whch both reects and conso-

dates the power of those who commssion t . . The cadastra map is parti-

san: where knowedge s power, t provdes comprehensve nformation to be

sed to the advantage of some and the detriment of others, as rulers and ed

were we aware n the tax struggles of the 1 8th and 1 9th centuries. Fnal ly,

the cadastra map s actve n portraying one reaty, as n the settement of

the new world or in India t heps obterate the od.Roger J P Kan and Ezabeth Baigent The Cadastral Map

The shorthand formulas through whch tax ocals must appre-

hend realty are not mere tools of obseraton. By a knd of scal He-senberg prncple, they frequently have the power to transform thefacts they take note of.

The doorandwndow tax establshed n France under the Drec-tory and abolshed only n 1917 s a strkng case in pont. 91 It s orgnator must have reasoned that the number of wndows and doors n adwellng was proportonal to the dwellng's sze. Thus a tax assessorneed not enter the house o r measure t but merely count the doors andwndows. As a smple, workable formula, t was a brllant stroke, butt was not wthout consequences Peasant dwellngs were subsequentlydesgned or renovated wth the formula n mnd so as to have as fewopenngs as possb le. Whle the scal lo sses coud be recouped by rais

48 LEGIBILITY AND SIMPLIFICATION

i h i h l f h h h h lr Nture nd Space 49

hwared in 679 by he combined opposiion of he arisocracy and



ing he ax per opening, he longerm efects on he heah o he ruralpopuaion ased for more han a cenury.

The novel saeimposed form of and tenure was far more revoluionary han a doorandwindow ax. esablished a whoe new insi-uional nexus. However simpe and uniform he new enure sysemwas o an adminisrator, i lung viagers willynilly ino a world oftie deeds, land oces, fees, assessmens, and applicaions. They facedpowerfu new specialiss in he form of and cerks, surveyors, judges,

and lawyers whose rues of procedure a nd decis ions were unfamiiarWhere the new enure sysem was a coonia imposiionhat is,where i was otay unfamiiar, where i was imposed by aien con-querors using an unineligibe anguage and insiuional contex, andwhere ocal pracices bore no resembance o freehod enureheconsequences were farreaching. The pemanent settlement in India,for example, creaed a new cass who, beause hey paid he axes onhe and, be came ful owners wih righs of inheriance and saewherenone had exised earier.92 A he same time, ierally miions of cuti-vaors, enants, and aborers ost heir customary rghs o access tohe land and is producs. Those in he coonie s who rs pumbed hemysteries of the new tenure adminisraion enjoyed unique opportuni-

ties. Thus the Vetnamesesecrta ires

andintertes

who served as in-ermediaries beween the French ocias in e Mekong Dea andheir Vienamese subjecs were in a posiion o make great fortunes. Byconcenrating on he egal papework, such as ile deeds, and he appropriae fees, they occasionally became andlords whoe vilages ofcutivators who had imagined they had op ened common an d free forhe taking. The new intermediaries, of course, migh occasionally usetheir knowledge to see their compario s safely hrough he new egathicket. Whatever heir conduct, their luency in a anguage of enurespecicaly designed o be legible and ransparen o adminisraors,couped with he illieracy of the rural populaion o whom he newenure was indecipherabe, brought abou a momentous shif in power

relaions3 Wha was simpliing to an o cial was mysiing to mostcutivaors.Freehold itle and standard land measurement were o central tax

aion and he realestate marke wha cenral bank currency was to themarketplace.94 By the same oken, they hreaened o desroy a greatdeal of local power and auonomy. is no wonder, hen, hat theyshould have been so vigorousy resisted. n the eighteenhcentury Eu-ropean conex, any general cadastra survey was by deniion a gambit of centralizaion; the local clergy and nobili were bound to seeboh their own taxing powers and he exemptions hey enoyed menaced. Commoners were likely to see i as a preex for an addiionalloca tax. JeanBapiste Cober, the grea cenraizer" of absoluism,

proposed o conduc a national cadasra survey of France, bu he was

hwared in 679 by he combined opposiion of he arisocracy andcergy. Afer he Revouion more han a cenury laer, he radicaFranoisNol Babeuf, in his Proje de cadasre perpeue," dreamedof a perfey egaiarian land reform in which everyone woul d ge anequa parce. 95 He oo was hwarted.

We mus keep i n mind no only he capaciy of sae simpicationso ransform he word b aso he capacity of the s ociety to m di,subver, bock, and even overturn the caegories imposed upon i. Herei is usefu to distinguish wha might be caed facs on paper romfacts. on the ground. As Saly Falk Moore and many ohers have em-phazed, he andoce records may serve as he basis for taxaionbu hey may have litle to do wih the actua rights o the land. Pape;owners may no be he eective owners96 Russian peasans, as we sawmigh .regiser a pape�" consoidaion while continung o nerstrip:Land .vasOns, squatg, and poaching, if successfu, represen theexerse of de faco property righs which are not represented onpaper. Cerain lan d axes and tihes have been evaded or dee d to thepoint where they have become dead eers.7 The gulf between landtenure fas on paper and facts on the ground is probably greaest amomens of social urmoil and revolt. But even i n more ranquil imes,there wl always be a shadow landenure system luking beside andbeneath he ocial account in he landrecords ofce. We must neverassume tha local pracice conforms wih sate heory.

Al cenralizing staes recognized the value of a uniform, compre-henve cadasta map Carrying ou he mapmaking, however, wasanoher maer As a rule of humb, cadastral mapping was earlie an dmore compre?ensive where a powerfu central sate could impose itsef on a relavly weak civil society. Where, by conras, civil soc ietywas we orgazed and the stae relatively weak, cadastral mappingwas lae, ofen volunary, and fragmentary. Thus Napoleonic Francewas mapped much earier than England, where he egal professionmanaged fo a og time o symie his threa o s ocal incmeearning funcion. It followed from the same logic ha c�nqueredcolonies ruled by a would ofen be cadasrally mapped before themeropolitan nation hat ordered i. Ireland may have been the rs.er Cromwel's conquest, as an Hacking notes, Ireland was compleely surveyed for land, bUildings, people, and catle under he directorship of William Petty, in order to facilitate he rape of hat nation bythe English in 1679."8

Where he coony was a hinly popuated settlercolony, as in NorthAmerica or Ausralia, the obstacles to a thorough, uniform cadastragrid were minima. There it was a question less of mapping preexisingpaes of and use han of surveying parces of land that would begiven or sod to new arrivals from Europe and of ignoring indigeouspeoples and heir comonproperty regimes. Thomas Jeferson, with

EB Y AND SMPI AONue d ce 1

been ganted by deed Not only did the eglaity of the gid ceate



7. The sey anscape Casteton Noth Daota

an eye tained by Enlightenment ationalism imagined dividing theUnited States west of the Ohio Rive into hndeds"sqaes mea-sing ten miles by ten milesand eqiing settles to take thepacels of land as so designated.

Te geometcal c a of Jeffesons poposal was not meely an aes-thetic choice he claimed that iegla lots facilitated fad. To ein-foce his case he cited the expeience of Massachsetts whee acal

landhodings ee 0 pecent to 00 pecent geate than what ad

been ganted by deed. Not only did the eglaity of the gid ceatelgibility fo the taxing athoity bt it was a convenient and cheapay to package land and maket it in homogeneos nits. The gid facil-itated the commoditization of land as mch as the calclation of taxesad bondaies. Administatively it was also disamingly simple. Landcld be egisteed and titled fom a distance by someone who possssed vitally no local knowledge. Once it was in place the schemehd some of the impesonal mechanical logic of the foestes tables.

Bt in pactice land titling in Jeffesons plan (which was modied byCongess to povide fo ectangla lots and townships that wee thitysix sqae miles) did not always follow the pescibed patte

The Toens system of land titling developed in Astalia and ewZealand in the 0s, povided a lithogaphed peseyed gid epesenting allotments that wee egisteed to settles on a stcomestseed basis. It was the qickest and most economical means yetdevised to sell land and it was late adopted in many Bitish colonies.The moe homogeneos and igid the geometic gid howeve themoe likely it was to n afol of the natal feates of the noncon-foming landscape The possibilities fo spses was nicely captedin this satiical vese fom ew Zeala nd.

ow he ad hgh ihas sinthgh i lkd wll n he a

F he s i wa innddwan aly wh a a

And at nigh was n niklyt cain sha

a nil lannd n aand a ld ih se

v lis and s and gliwih a staigh and vn

h ldd in

n a an h.

The cadastal sey was bt one techniqe in the gowing amoy ofthe tilitaian moden state. Whee the pemoden state was contentwith a level of intelligence scient to allow it to keep ode exacttaxes and aise amies the mde state inceasingly aspied to tae inchage" the physical and hman esoces of the nation and make themmoe podctive. These moe positive ends of staecaft eqied amch geate knowledge of the socety. And an inventoy of land peo-ple incomes occpations esoces and deviance was the logicalplace to beg in. The need fo the inceasingly beacatic state to o-ganize itself and contol its esoces gave an implse to the colletion

2 EGIBIIY AND SIMPIFIAION

of via and oher saisics o foresry and raiona agricre o sr



of via and oher saisics o foresry and raiona agricre o srveying and exac arography and o pbic hygiene and cimaoogy." 4

Alhogh he prposes of he sae were broadening wha hestae waned o know was sil direc y reaed o hose pr pses Thenineeenhenry Prssian sae for exampe was very mch ineresed n he ages and sexes of immigrans and emigrans b no inheir reigions or races wha maered o he sae was keep ng racko poss ibe draf dodgers and mainainng a sppy o men of miiary

age. The saes ncreasing concern wih prodctivy heah san-aion edcaon ransporaon mneral resorces gran prodc-ion and invesmen was less an abandonmen of he older objecvesof satecraf han a broadenng and deepening of wha hose objec-ves enaed n he modern word.

2 Cities, People, andLanguage

And the Coeges of the Crtogphes set up Mp of the Empie whih hdthe size of the Empie itsef nd coincided with it point b point . . . . Sueed

ing genertions nderstood tht this Widesped Mp ws Useess d notwithout Impiet the bndoned t to the nemncs of th Sun d thWints.Surz Mirn Vae de vae p te 1658

An aera view of a own b drng he Mdde Ages or he oldesqarters (edina of a Mdde Easern cy ha has no been grealyampered wh has a parcar ook I is he look of disorder. Or op more precsely he own conforms o no overall absrac form.Srees lanes and passages nersec a varyng angles wih a densyha resembes he nricae complexiy of some organc processes. Inhe case of a medeva own where deense needs reqred walls andperhaps moas here may be races of nner walls sperseded byoer walls mch ke he growh rngs of a ree. A represenaon ofBrges in abo 00 llsraes he paern (gre 8. Wha deionhere s o he cy is provded by he casle green he markeplaceand he rver and canals ha were (nil hey sled p he lifeloodof hs texilerading ciy.

The fac ha he layo of he c havng developed whot anyoverall design lacks a conssen geomeric logic does no mean ha iwas a al consing o s nhabans. One imagines ha many of scobbled srees were nohing more han srfaced footpahs raced byrepeaed se For hose who grew p in s varos qarters Brgeswold have been perfecly famliar perfecly legible. Is very alleys andlanes wold have clo sely approxmaed he mos common daily movemens For a sranger or rader arrving for he rs me however heown was almos cerainly consng smply becase lacked a repe-iive absract logic ha wold allow a newcomer o orien herself. Thecyscape of Brges n 00 cold be sad o prvilege ocal knowedgeover osde knowledge incding ha of exernal poliical ahori

3

5 EGIBIIY AN SIMPFIAION rties eope d guage 55

ored to map complex o ld cities in a way that wold facilitate policing



8 Buges cic 1 00 fom ping n the own H, Brug es

ties.! t nctioned spatially in mch the same way a diclt or nin-telligible dialect wold nction lingistically. As a semipermeablemembrane, it facilitated commnication within the city while remainingstbbornly nfamiliar to those who had not grown p speaking thisspecial geographic dialect

Historically, the relative illegibility to otsiders of some rban neigh-borhoods (or of their rral analoges, sch as hils, marshes, andforests) has provided a vital margin of political safety from control byotsid elites. A simple way of determining whether this margin exists is

to ask if an otsider wold have needed a local gide (a native tracker)in ordr to nd her way sccesslly. f the answer is ys, then the com-mnity or terrain in qestion enjoys at least a smal measre of insa-tion from otside intrsion. Copled with patterns of ocal soidarity,this inslation has proven politically valabe in sch disparate contexts as eighteenth and early nineteenthcentry rban riots over breadprices in Erope, the Front de Libration ationae's tenacios resistance to the French in the Casbah of Algiers, and the poitics of thebazaar that heped to bring down the Shah of Iran. lle gibili, then, hasbeen and remains a reliable resorce for poitical atonomy. 3

Stopping short o redesigning cities in order to make them more

legibe (a sbect that we shall soon explore), state athorities endeav

ored to map complex, o ld cities in a way that wold facilitate policingand control. Most o the major cities o Frane were ths the sbjec tof carefl military mapping (reconnaissances ilitaires) particlarlyafter the Revoltion. When rban revolts occrred, the athoritieswanted to be able to move qickly to the precise locations that woldenable them to contain or sppress the rebellions eectively. 4

States and ci planners have striven, as one might expect, to over

come this spatial nintelligibility and to make rban geography trans-parently legible om withot. Their attitde toward what they regardedas the higgledypigg ledy profsion of nplanne cities was not nlikethe attitde of foresters to the natral prosion of the nplanned orest.The origin of grids or geometrically reglar settlements may lie in astraightforward military logic. A sqare, ordered, ormaic miitarycamp on the order of the Roman castra has many advantage Soldiers can easily learn the techniqes of bilding it the commander ofthe troops know exacty in which disposition his sbalterns and vari-os troops lie and any Roman messenger or ocer who arrives at thecamp wil know where to nd the ofcer he seeks. On a more pec-

lative note, a farng, po lyglot empire may nd it smbolicaly selto have its camps and towns laid ot according to formla as a stampof its order and athority. Other things being eqal, the c i laid ot according to a simple, repetitive logic will be easiest to administer nd topolice.

Whatever the poitical and administrative conveniences of geo-metric cityscape the Enlightenment fostered a strong aesthetic thatlooked with enthsiasm on straight lines and visible order. o one expressed the prejdice more clearly than Descartes: These ancientcities that were once mere strggling villages and have become in thecorse of time great cities are commonly qite poorly laid out com-

pared to thoseellordered tons that an engineer lays out on a acant

plane as it sits his fancy. And althogh, pon considering onebyonethe bildings in the former class of towns, one nds as mch art ormore than one nds in the latter cass of towns, st ill, pon seeing howthe bidings are arranged here a large one there a sall one andhow they ake the streets coked and uneven one wi say that it is

chance ore than the ill of soe en using their reason tht hasarrnged the thus."5

Descartes's vision conjres p the rban eqivalent of the scienticforest: streets laid ot in straight lines intersecting at right angles,bildings of niform design and size, the whole bilt according to a

single, overarching plan.The elective anity between a strong state and a niformly laid ot

6 EGI BI I AND SM FAON

ciy is ob vious. Lewis Mumord, he hisorian urban orm, locaes he

ies eople d guge



ciy is ob vious. Lewis Mumord, he hisorian urban orm, locaes hemodern European origin o his symbiosis in he open, legible baroquesyle o he Ialian ciysae He claims, in erms ha Descares wouldhave ound congenial, I was one o he riumphs o he baroque mindo organize space, o make i coninuous, reduce i o measure andorder."6 More o he poin, he baroque redesigning o medieval ciieswih is grand edices, visas, squares, and aenion o uniormiy,proporion, and perspecivewas inended o reec he grandeurand awesome power o he prince . Aesheic consideraons requenlywon ou over he exising social srucure and he mundane funcioningo he ciy. Long before he nvenion o bulldozers" Mumord addshe Ialian miliary engineer developed, hrough his professional spe-cializaion in desrucion, a bulldozing habi of mind one ha sougho clear he ground of encumbrances, so as o make a clear beginnngon is own inexible mahemacal lines"

The visal power o he baroque c iy was underwrien by scrpu-lous aenion o he miliary securiy of he prince from inernal aswell as exernal enemies Thus boh Alberi and Palladio hough of

main horoughfares as miliary roads(viae ilitaires).

Such roads hado be sraigh, and, in Palladios view, he ways will be more convenien hey are made everywhere equal ha is o say ha here willbe no part in the here aries ay not easi ly arch ."8

There are, o f course, many cies approxmaing Descaress model .For obvious reasons, mos have been planned from he ground up asnew, oen uopian ciies. Where hey have no been buil by imperialdecrees, hey have been designed by heir founding fahers o accom-modae more repeiive and uniform squares for fuure selemen Abirdseye view o f cenral Chicago in he lae nineeenh cenury (Wil-liam Penns Philadelphia or New Haven would do equally well) serves

as an example of he grid ciy (gure9).

From an adminisraors vanage poin, he ground lan o f Chicagois nearly uopian. I ofers a quick apprecaion of he ensemble, sincehe enirey is made up of sragh lines, righ angles, and repeiions. 1

Even he rivers seem scarcey o inerrup he ciys relenless symmery. For an ousieror a policemannding an address is a comparavly simp maer; no ocal guides are required . The knowledgeof local ciizens is no especially privileged visvis ha of ousiders.If, as s he case n upper Manhaan, he cross srees are consecu-ively numbered and are inerseced by longer avenues, also consecu-ively numbered, he plan acquires even greaer ransparency! The

abovegound orde of a grid ciy faciiaes s underground order inhe layou of waer pipes, sorm drains, sewes, elecic cables, naural

9 Mp f wntw Chicg cic 189 3

gas lin es, an d subways an order no less imporan o he adminisraors o a ciy. Delvering mail, collecing axes, conducing a census,moving supplies and people in and ou o f he ciy, puing down a rioor insurrecion, digging for pipes and sewer lnes, nding a felon orconscrip (providing he is a he address given), and planning publicransporaion, waer supply, and rash removal are all made vaslysmpler by he logic of he grid.

Three aspecs of his geomeric order in human selemen bear em-phasis The rs is ha he order in quesion is mos eviden, no asree level, bu raher from above and from ouside Like a marcher in

a parade or like a sngle riveer in a long assembly line, a pedesrian inhe middle of his grid canno insanly perceive he larger design ofhe ciy. The symmery s eiher grasped from a represenaioni isin fac wha one would expec if one gave a schoolchld a ruler and ablank piece of paper or from he vanage poin of a helicoper hov-ering far above he ground in shor, a Godseye view, or he vew of anabsolue ruler This spaal fac is perhaps inheren in he process ofurban or archiecural planning isef, a process ha involves minia-urizaion and scale models upon which paron and lanner gazedown, exacly as f hey were in a helicoper.! There is, afer all, nooher way of visually imagining wha a largescale consrucion projec

will look lke when i s compleed excep by a miniaurizaion o his

58 EGIBIITY AND SIMPLIF ICATION

kind. t follows believe, th at sch plans, whic h have the scale of toys, r,Cities, People and Language 59

sale of land: even a lawyer's clerk cold write a description of thed d f l l b ll h h d



are jdged for their scptra properties a nd visa order often froma perspective that no or very few hman observers will ever repicate.

The miniatrization imaginativey acheved by scae models of citiesor andscapes was practically achieved with the airplan e. The mappngtradition of the brd'seye view evident n the map of Chicago was nolonger a mere convention. By virte of ts great disance an aeravew resoved what might have seemed grondleve confsion into an

apparenty vaster order and symmetry. t wod be hard to exaggeratthe importance of the airpane for modernst thoght and planning Byofering a perspective that attened the topography as if t were a canvas, ight encoraged new asprations to synoptic vision, rationalcontrol planning, and spatia order." 4

A second point abot an rban order easiy egibe from otsde isthat the grand plan of the ensembe has no necessary reationship tothe order of life as it is experienced by its resdents. Althogh certainstate services may be more easily provided and distant addresses moreeasly located, these apparent advantages may be negated by sch perceived disadvantages as the absence of a dense street lfe, the intrsion

of hostle athorities the los s of the spatial rregarities that foster co-ziness, gathering places for informal recreation, and neighborhoodfeeling. The forma order of a geometrically regar rban space is jstthat: formal order. ts visa regimentation has a ceremonial or ideo-ogica qality mch like the order of a para de or a b arracks. The factthat sch order works for mnicipal and state athorties in administering the city is no garantee that t works for citizens. Provisionally,then, we mst remain agnostic abot the relation between formal spatial order and socia experience.

The third notabe aspect of homogeneos geometrical niformproperty is its convenience as a standardized commodity for the mar

ket. Lie Jeferson's sheme for srveying or the Torrens system for ti-tling open and, the grid creates reglar ots and blocks that are deafor bying and sellng. Precisey becase they are abstract nits de-tached from any ecological or topogrphical reality, they resemble akind of crrency which s endlessy amenabe to aggregation and fragmentation. This featre of the grd pan sits eqay the srveyor, theplanner and the realestate speclator. Breacratc and commerciallogic, in this instance, go hand in hand . As Mmford notes, The beatyof this mechanical pattern from the commercial standpoint shold beplain. Th is pan ofers the engineer none of those speca problems thatirreglar parcels and crved bondary lines present. An oce boy cold

gre ot the nmber of sqare feet invoved in a street opening or in

r, necessary deed of sale merely by lling in with the proper dimensionsthe standard docment. With a Tsqare and a triangle naly, th e m-ncipal engineer cold, withot the slightest training as either an architect or a sociologist p lan' a metropolis with its standard lots its stan-dard blocks ts standard width streets . . . . The very absence of morespecic adaptation to landscape or to hman prpose only increased

by its very indeniteness is general usefulness for exchange." 15

The vast majority of Old World cities are in fact, some historicalamalgam of a Brges and a Chicago. Athogh more than one politi-can dictator and c ity planner have devised plans for the total recast-ing of an existing city these dreams came at sch cost both nancial

and poitical, that they have rarely left the drawing boards. Piecemealplanning, by contrast is far more common. The central older core ofmany cities remains somewhat like Brges, whereas the newer ot-skirts are more ikely to exhibit the marks of one or more pla ns. Some-times, as in the sharp contrast between old Delhi and the imperial capital of New Delhi the divergence is formalized.

Occas ionally athorities have taken dracon ian steps to retrot an

existing city The redevelopment of Paris by the prefect of the Seine,Baron Hassmann, nder Lois Napoleon was a grandiose pblic worksprogram stretching from 1853 to 1869. Hassmann's vast scheme ab-sorbed nprecedented amonts of pblic debt prooted tens of tho-sands of people and c old have been accomplished ony by a single ex-ective athority not directly accontabe to the eectora te.

The logic behind the reconstrction of Paris bears a resembanceto the logc behind the transformation of oldgrowth forests into sci-entic forests designed for nitary scal management. There was thesame emphass on s implication, legibiity, straight lines central management, and a synoptic grasp of the ensemble. As in the case of the

forest mch of the plan was ach ieved. One chief diference howeverwas that Hassmann's plan was devised less for scal r easons than forits impact on the condct and sensibilities of Parisians. While the plandid create a far more egible scal space in the capital this was a by-prodct of the desire to make the city more governable prosperos,healthy and architectrally imposing.6 The second dierence was ofcorse, that those prooted by the rban plannng of the Second Empire cod and did str ike back. As we shal see, the retrottng of Parisforeshadows many of the paradoxes of athoritarian highmodernistpanning that we wil soon examine in greater deta

The pan reprodced in gre 10 shows the new bolevards con-

strcted to Hassmann's measre as wel as the prerevoltionary inner

60 EGIBIIY AND IMPIF IAION

ities eope d e 6 1

al to be made safe aganst popar nsrrectons. As Hassannt Th d f th Q t f th i dti



_ E TEET= OTHER MR SREES

I

\

-

/"

,

IIII{

\\I

)

10. Mp Pis 1870, shwng the pincp new steets buit between 1850nd 1870

bolevards which were widened and sraightened Bt the retrotseen merely as a new street map greatly nderestimates the transormation For all the demolition and constrction reqred for all thenew legibility added to the street pan the new pattern bore strongtraces of an accommodation with oldgrowth" Paris. The oter bolevards for example follow the line of the older cstoms (oroi wall of787 Bt Hassmanns scheme was far more than a trafc reform.The new legibiiy o the bolevards as acompanied by changes thatrevolionized daily life new aqedcts a mch more eective sewagesystem new rail lines and terminals centralized markets (Les Hales)gas lines and lighting and new parks and pblic sqares. The newParis created by Lois Napoleon became by the trn of the cntry awdely admired pblic works miracle and shrine for woldbe plan-ners from abroad.

At the center of Lois Napoleons and Hassmanns plans for Parislay the military secrity o the state. The redesigned city was above

rote The order of ths Qeencty s one of the main precondtionsof genera [pblc] secrty." Barricades had gone p nine times inthe twenyve years before 1851. Lois Napoleon and Hassmann hadsee the revoltions of 1830 and 1848; more recenty the Jne Daysand resstance to Lois Napoleons cop represented the largest insrrecton of the centry. Lois Napoleon as a retrned exile waswell aware of how tenos his hold on power might prove

The geography of insrrecton however was not evenly dstribtedacross Pars Resistance was concentrated n densey packed workingclass quarier which like Brges had complex illegible street plans.The 1860 annexation of the nner sbrbs" (located between he cs-toms wall and the oter fortications and containing 240,000 rsi-dents) was explicitly designed to gain mastery over a einure auvagethat had ths far escaped police control. Hassmann describe thisarea as a dense belt o f sbrbs given over to tweny dierent administrations bilt at random covered by an inextrcable network o nar-row and tortos pblic ways alleys and deadends where a nomadicpoplation withot any real tes to the and [propery] and wthot any

eective srveillance grows at a prodigios speed' Within aris it-self there were sch revoltionary foyer as the Marais and especiallythe aborg SaintAntoine both o f which had been determined centers of resistance o Lois Napoleons cop dtat.

The military contro of these insrrectonary spacesspaces thathad not yet been well mapped was integra to Hassmanns pan. Aseries o f new avenes between the inner bolevards and the csomswal was designed to facilitate movement between the barracks onthe otskirts of the cy and the sbversive dsrcts. As Hassannsaw it hs new roads wold ensre mlple direct rail and road linksbeween each distrct o the ciy and the military nits responsibe for

order there3 Ths or example new bolevards in northeastern Parisaowed roops to rsh from the Corbevoe barracks to the Bastilland then to sbde the trblent Faborg SaintAntoine4 May ofthe new rail lines a nd stations were located with similar strategic goalsin mind. Where possible insrrectionary qartiers were demoishedor broken p by new roads pblic spaces and commercial develop-ment. Expaining the need for a oan of 50 mion francs to beg thework Lon Facher emphasized state secrity needs: The interests ofpblc order no less than those of salbriy demand that a wide swathbe ct as soon as possible across this district of barricades."5

The reconstrcon of Paris was also a necessary pblichealth mea

62 LEGIB ILITY AND SIMPL FICATION

sure. And here the steps that the hygienists said would make arish lthf l ld t th ti k it f i t

ities, eople, nd nguge 63

segregation of the popuation by class and function Eac h fragment of



more healthful would at the same time make it more efcient econom-ically and more secure militarily. Antiquated sewers and cesspools, thedroppings of an estimated thiryseven thousand horses (in 1 0), andthe unreliable water supply made aris literally pestlential. he cityhad the highest death rate in France and was most susceptible to virulent epidemics of cholera in 1 1 , the disease killed 1 ,00 people, including the prime minister. And it was in those districts of revolution

ary resistance where, because of crowding and lack of sanitation, therates of morality were highest.26 Haussmanns aris was, for those whowere not expelled, a far healthier city the greater circulation of airand water and the exposure to sunlight reduced the risk of epidemicsjust as the improved circulation of goods and la bor (healthier labor, atthat) contributed to the citys economic wellbeing A utilitarian logicof labor productivity and commercial su ccess went hand in hand withstrategic and publichealth concerns.

he politicoaesthetic tastes of the driving force behind the transformation of aris, Louis apoleon himself, were also decisive. WhenHaussmann was appointed prefect of the Seine, Louis apoleon handed

him a map that provided for the central market, the Bois de Bologne,and many of the streets eventually built here is no doubt that Louisapoeon's plans drew heavily from the ideas of the Saint Simonists intheir visionay journa Le globe and from the model urban communities sketched by Fourier and Cabet .2 heir grandiose designs appealedto his own determination to have the new grandeur of the capital ciysee as testimony to the grandeur of the regime.

As happens in many authoritarian modernizing schemes, the political tastes of the ruler occasionally trmped purely military and functional conces Rectilinear streets may have admiraby assisted the mo-bilization of troops against insurgents, but they were also to be lanked

by elegant facades and to terminate in imposing buildings that wouldimpress visitors28 Uniform modern buildings along the new boulevardsmay ave represented healthier dwellings, but they were oen no morethan facades. he oning regulations were almost exclusively concernedwith he visible surfaces of buildings, but behind the facades, builderscould build crowded, arless tenements, ad many of them did.2

e new aris, as J Clark has observed, was intensely visualizedart of Haussmanns purpose was o give modernity a shape, and heseemed at the time to have a measure of success in doi ng so he built aset of forms in which the ci appeared to be vis ible even intelligible:

b · "aris, to repeat the formula, was ecom g a spectac e.

Legibility, in this case, was achieved b y a much more pronounced

aris increasingly took on a distinctive character of dress, activity, andwealthbourgeois shopping district, prosperous residential quarteindustrial suburb, artisan quarter, bohemian quarter. It was a moreeasily managed and administered city and a more readable" city because of Haussmanns heroic simplications.

As in most ambitious s chemes of modern order, there was a kind ofevil twin to Haussmanns spacious and imposing new capital. he hierarchy of urban space in which the rebuilt center of aris occupiedpride of place presupposed the displacement of the urban poor to-ward the periphey. owhere was this more true than in Belleville apopular workingclass quarter to the northeast which grew into atown of sixty thousand people by 1 . Many of its residents had beendisinherited by Haussmanns demolitions some called it a communityof outcasts. By the 10s, it had become a suburban equivalent ofwhat the Faubourg SaintAntoine had been earlier an illegible, insurrectionary foyer. he probem was not that Bellevile was not acommunity, but that it became the sor of community which the bour -geoisie feared, which the police could not penetrate, which the government coud not regulate, where the popular classes, with all theirunruy passions and political resentments, held the upper hand.2 Ifas many claim, the Commune of aris in 1 7 1 was partly an attemptto reconquer the city a reconqete de la Ville par l a Ville") by thoseexiled to the periphery by Haussmann, then Belleville was the geo-graphical locus of that sentiment. h e Communards, mili tarily o thedefensive in late May 1 7 1 , retreated toward the northeast and Belle-ville, where, at the Belleville town hall, they made their last standreated as a den of revolutionaries, Bellevile was subjected to a brutal military occupation.

wo diagnostic ironies marked the suppression of the Commune.he rst was that the strategic design of Haussmann was triumphant.he boulevards and rail lines that the Second Empire had hopedwould fol a popar insurrection had proved their value. Thanks toHaussmann, the Versailles army could move in one fell swoop from thelace du Chateau d eau to Belleville."4 The second irony was that justas the Faubourg SaintAntoine had been effaced by aussmanns em-olition s, so too was mu ch of the newly ofending quarter obliterated bythe bilding of the Egise Sacr Coeur, built in the guilty town . . . asrestitution made on the site of the crime."5

64 EGIII TY AND SIMI FIAION

The Creation of Sunames

ities, People d Lanag 65

ternal authority the camouage alue of such naming practices is



Some of the categories that we most take for grantedand

w

.it which

we now routinely apprehend the social world had theIr og state

projects of standardization and legibili Consider for example some-

thing as ndamental as permanent surnamesA ignette from the popular lm Witness illustrates how when

among strangers we do rely on surnames as key naigational aids.36

The detective in the lm is attempting to lo cate a young AmIsh boy whomay have witnessed a murder Although the detetive ha sur�ame

to

h s thwarted by several aspects of AmIsh tradtonasm go on e I.

h

f

clud ing the antique German dial ect spoken by the Am HI rst stinct is of course to reach for the telephone booka list of propernames and addressesbut the Amish dont have telephones. Further-more he learns the Amish have a very small number of last na�esHis qandary reminds us that the great vari y of surnmes and gIvennames in the United States allows us to iden tf unambguously a

large

number of individuals whom we may never have met A ,orld "thoutsuch names is bewildering indeed the detective nds AmIsh Ie soopaque

that he needs a native tracker to nd his way.Customa naming practices throughout mch of the w.rld

reenormously rich. Among some peoples it is not uncommo� for ndvId-

uals to have different names during different stages of fe (ancychildhood adulthood) and in some cases ater death; added to these renames used for joking rituals and mourning and names usd for

-

teractions with samesex friends or with inlaws Each nameI sp�c

to a certain phase of life social setting or interloctor. A sgle Ididual will frequently be call ed by several diferent names dependgon the stage of life and the person addressing him or

.her To the que

t· What is your name? which has a more unambIguous answer Ion

" d d37the contemporary West the only plausible answer i t epe s.For the insider who grows up using these nam g practce they

are both legible and clariing. Each name and the contexts of It u e

convey important social knowledge. Like the network of alles IBruges the assortment of local weights and measures and the t-cacies f customary land tenure the complexity of namig has somedirect d oen quite practical relations to loca puoses. Fr an out-sider however this byzantine complexity of names I a formIdable b

stae to understanding local society Finding someone let alone Ituating him or her in a kinship netwrk or racin?

the inheritance

.o !

proper becomes a major undertakg f add:tIn he

.populato

in question has reason to conceal its identity and It actIVItes from ex

considerable.The invention of permanent inherited patronyms was aer the ad-

ministrative simplication of nature (for example the forest) and space

(for example land tenure) the last step in establishing the necessary

preconditions of mode statecra. n almost every case it was a stateproject designed to allow ocials to identi unambiguously the ma-

jori of its citizens When successl it went far to create a legi ble peo-

ple8 Tax and tithe rolls property rolls co nscription lists cen suses andproperty deeds recognized in law were inconceiable without somemeans of xing an individuals identity and linking him or her to a kingroup Campaigns to assign peanent patronyms have typically takenplace as one might expect in the co ntext of a stte's exertions to put itsscal system on a sounder and more lucrative footing Fearing withgood reason that an effort to enumerate and register them could be aprelde to some new tax burden or conscription local o cials and thepopulation at large oen resisted such campaigns.

f permanent surnames were largely a project f ofcial legi bili

then they should hae appeared earliest in those societies with pre-

cocious states China provides a striking example.39 By roughly thefourth century B.C. (although the exact timing and comprehensienessare in dispute) the in dynasty had apparently begun imposing sur-names on much of its population and enumerating them for the pur-poses of taxes forced labor and conscription40 This initiative may wellhave been the origin of the term "laobaixing meaning literally "theold one hundred suames which in mode China has come to meanthe common people Before this the fabled Chinese patrilineagewhile established among rling houses and related lines was absentamong commoners They did not have surnames nor did they even im-itate elite practices in this respect. The assigning of patronyms by fam-

ily was integral to state policy promoting the status of (male) familyheads giving them legal j urisdiction over their wives children ad ju-niors and not incidentally, holding them accountable for the scalobligatios of the entire family.41 This (in ) poli cy required registeringthe entire population aer which the hodgepodge of terms by whichpeople were called were all classied ashsng [surname] to be passeddown to their patrilineal descendants indenitely 42 On this accountboth the establishment of permanent patronyms and the creation of thepatrilineal family itself can be attributed to el y state simplication.

Until at least the fourteenth centry the great majority of Euro-peans did not have permanent patronymics43 An indiiduals ame

was pically his given name which might well suce for local identi



68 LEGIBI LY AN SMPLIFIAION

of names that they geneated wee to the egibiity of the popaionwhat nifom measement and the cadastal map wee to the legibil-

es eope nd ne 69

hat in he Wes migh have aken sevea geneations Many f theae state obectives animae both the Eopean and the coonia ex-



p gity of eal popety. While the sbect might nomay pefe the safetyof anonymity once he was foced to pay the tax it was then in his in-teest to be acatey identied in ode to avoid paying the same taxtwice Many of these foteenthcenty snames wee cealy noth-ing moe than administative ctions desgned to make a poplationscaly legible. Many o the sbects whose snames" appea in the

docments wee pobaby nawae of what had been witten downand fo the geat maoity the snames had no socia existence what-eve otside the docment4 Ony on vey ae occasions does one en-conte an enty sch as William Cate taio" that implies that wemay be dealing with a pemanent patonym

The inceasing intensity of inteaction with the sate and statelikestctes (lage manos the chch) exactly paallels the devel-opment of pemanent heitabe patonyms. Ths when Edwad claied the system of landholding establishing pimogenite andheeditay copyhold tene fo manoia land he povided a powelincentive fo the adoption of pemanent patonyms. Taking ones fa-

hes sname became fo the eldest son at least pat of a claim to thepopety on the fathes death.5 Now that popety claims wee sb-ject to state vaidation snames that had once been mee beacatic fanasies took on a socia eality of the own. One imagines thatfo a ong time English sbects had in effect two namesthei localname and an ocial" xed patonym. As the feqency of inteactionwith impesonal administative stctes inceased the ocial namecame to pevail in all bt a mans intimate cicle Those sbects lvingat a geate distance both socaly and geogaphcaly om the ogansof state powe as did the Tscans acqied pemanent patonymsmch ate. The ppe classes and those living in he soth of Engand

ths acqied pemanent snames befoe the owe classes and thoseliving in the noth did. The Scottish and Welsh acied them evenlate.5

State naming pactces like state mappng pacices wee inevitably associated wih taxes (labo, miltay sevice, gain evene)and hence aosed popla esistance. The geat English peasant s-ng o 1381 (oen called the Wat Tyle Rebelion) is atibted to an npecedented decade of egistations and assessments of poll taxesFo English as wel as fo Tscan peasans a censs of all adlt malescold not bt appea ominos if not inos.

The imposition of pemanent snames on colonial poplations o-

fes s a chance to obseve a pocess telescoped into a decade o less

ae state obectives animae both the Eopean and the coon a excies bt in the coonia case the state is at once moe beacaized and ess toleant of popa esistance The vey bsqeness ofcolona namng asts the pposes and paadoxes of the pocess insharp relief.

Nowhee is this bette illstated than in the Phiippines nde theSpanish. 53 Fipinos wee instcted by the decee of Novembe 1,

189, to take on pemanent Hispanic snames. The atho of the decee was Goven (and Lietenant Genea) Naciso Caveia y Zada a meticlos administato as detemined to atonaize names ashe had been detemined to ationalize existing law povncial bond-aies and the caenda.54 He had obseved as his decee saes thaFlipinos genealy lacked individal snames which might dstingish them by amilies" and that thei pactice o f adopting baptismalnames dawn fom a small gop of saints names eslted in geatconsion" The e medy was the catalogo a compendim not oly ofpesonal names bt also o nons and adectives dawn fom loafana mineals geogaphy and the ats and intended to be sed by the

ahoities in assigning pemanent inheited snames. Each ocalocial was to be given a spply of snames scient fo his jisdic-tion taking cae that the distibton be made by lettes o the alphabe."55 n pactice each town was given a nmbe of pages omthe alphabetized caalogo podcing whole towns with snames begnnng with the same lette n sitations whee hee has been littleinmgation in the past 150 yeas the taces of this administative ex-ecise ae stil peectly visible acoss the landscape Fo exampe inthe Bkol egion the entie alphabet is laid ot lke a galand ove thepovnces of Albay Sosogon and Catandanes which in 189 belonged to the single jisdiction of Albay. Begnning with A a the

povincial capital the lettes and mak the towns along the coastbeyond Tabaco to Twi. We etn and tace along the coast of Ssogon the lettes to L then statng down the aya Valley at Daagawith , we stop with to Polangi and Libon and nish the alphabetwth a qick to aond the sland of Catandanes"56

The consion o which the decee is the antidote is agely that ofthe administato and the tax collecto Univesal last names the be-leve will faciltate the administaton of stice nance an pblicode as well as make it smple fo pospective maiage patnes tocalclate thei degee of consangnity Fo a tiltaian state bldeof Claveias tempe howeve the ltmate goal was a complete and

legible list of sbjects and taxpayes. This is abndantly clea fom the



72 EGIB IITY AND SIM IFIATON

The Directve for a Standard, Ocal Language

Cites People, and Language 73

tion the purpose of imposing it was not merely to have provinials



The great ultural barrier imposed by a separate language is perhapsthe most eetive guarantee that a soial world, easily aessible to insiders, will remain opaque to outsiders62 Just as the stranger or stateofial might need a loal guide to nd his way around sixteenth-entury Bruges, he would need a loal interpreter in order to under

stand and be understood in an unfamiliar linguisti environment A

distint language, however is a far more powerl basis for autonomythan a omplex residential pattern It is also the bearer of a distintive

histo a ultural sensibili a literature, a mythology, a musal past63In this respet a unique language represents a formidable obstale tostate knowledge, let alone olonization, ontrol, manipulation, instru-

tion, or propagandaOf all state simpliations, then, the imposition of a single, oial

language may be the most powerful and it is t he preondition of manyother simpliations. This proess should probably be viewed, asEugen Weber suggests in the ase of Frane, as one of domesti olo-

nization in whih various foreign provines (suh as Brittany and O-

itanie) are l inguistially subdued and ulturally inorporated.64 In therst eorts made to insist on the use of Frenh it is lear that thestate's objetve was the legibili of loal pratie Ofials insistedthat every legal doumentwhether a will, doument of sale, loan in

strument, ontrat, annuity, or propey deedbe drawn up n FrenhAs long as these douments remained in loal vernaulars, they weredaunting to an oial sent from Paris and virtually impossible tobring into onformity with entral shemes of legal and administrative standardization The ampaign of linguisti entralizaton was as-sured of some suess sine it went hand in hand with an expansion ofstate power. By the late nineteenth entur dea ling with the state was

unavoidable for all but a small minority of the population. Petitions,ourt ases, shool douments, appliations, and orrespondene withofials were all of neessity written in Frenh One an hardly imagine a more effetive formula for immediately devaluing loal knowl-edge and privileging all those who had mastered the oial linguistiode It was a giganti shift in power Those at the periphery wholaked ompetene in Frenh were rendered mute and marginalThey were now in need of a loal guide to the new state ulture, whihappeared in the form of lawyers, noaires, shoolteahers, lerks, and

soldiers65A ultural projet, as one might suspet, lurked behind the linguis-

ti entralization Frenh was seen as the bearer of a national iviliza

p p p g y p

digest the Code Napoleon but also to bring them Vltaire, Raine

Parisian newspapers, and a national eduation As Weber provoa-tively puts it, There an be no learer expression of imperialist senti-ment, a white man's burden of Franophony, whose rst onquests

were to be right at home66 Where the ommand of Latin had onedened partiipation in a wider ulture for a small elit e, the ommand

of standard Frenh now dened full partiipation in Frenh ultureThe impliit logi of the move was to dene a hierarhy of ultures,relegating loal languages and their regional ultures to, at best, aquaint provinialism At the apex of this impliit pyramid was Paris andits institutions: ministries, shools, aademies (inluding the guardian of the language, l'Aadmie Fraaise) The relative suess of thisultural projet hinged o n both oerion and induements It wa s en-tralization," says Alexandre Sanguinetti, whh permitted the makingof Frane despite the Frenh, or in the midst of their indierene . . Frane is a deliberate politial onstrution for whose reation the

entral power has never eased to ght'67 Standard (Parisian) French

and Paris were no t only foal points of power; they were also magnetsThe growth of markets, physial mobili new areers, politial pa-onage, publi servie, and a national eduational system all meantthat faili in Frenh and onnetions to Paris were the paths of soialadvanement and material suess It was a state simpliation thatpromised to reward those who omplied with its logi and to penalizethose who ignored it.

The Centralization of Trac Patterns

The linguisti entralization impelled by the imposition of Parisian

Frenh as the oial standard was repliated in a entralization oftra. Just as the new dispensation i language made Paris the hub ofommunation, so the new road and rail systems inreasingly favored

movement to and from Pars over interregional or loal tra Statepoliy resembled in omputer parlane, a hardwiring pattern that

made the provines far more aessibe far more legible, to entralauthorities than even the absolutist kings had imagined

Let us ontrast, in an overly shemati way, a relatively unentral

ized network of ommuniation, on one hand, with a reatively entralized network, on the other If mapped, the unentralized patternwould be the physial image of the atual movements of goods and

people along routes not reated by administrative at. Suh move-ments would not be rando m they would reet both the e ase of trael



7 EGIBIIY ND SIPIFICION

sonal income taxes) . The interventions it does experience wil typicallybe medated by local trackers who know the society om nside andwho are like y to interpose their own particlar nterests Withot this

r

iies eope d guge 7



who are like y to interpose their own particlar nterests. Withot thismediation and often with itstate action is likely to be inept, greatlyovershooting or ndershooting its objective.

An illegibe society, then, is a hindrance to any eective interven-tion by the state, whether the prpose of that intervention is plnder orpblic welfare. As long as the state's interest is largely conned to grab

bing a few tons of gain and ronding p a few conscripts, the state'signorance may not be fatal When, however, the stat's objective re-qires changing the daily habits (hygiene or health practices) or workperformance (qality labor or machine maintenance) of its citizens,sch ignorance can wel l be disabling. A thoroghly legible society elim-inates local monopolies of information and creates a kind of nationaltransparency throgh the niformity of codes, identities, statistics, reglations, and measres. At the same time it is likely to creae new po-sitional advantages for those at the apex who have the knowledge andaccess to easily decipher the new statecreated format.

The discriminating inteventions that a legible society makes pos

sible can, of corse, be deadly as well. A sobering instance is wordlessly recalled by a map prodced by the City Oce of Statisics of Amsterdam, then nder Nazi occpation, in May 1 91 (gre 1 ). 6 Alongwith lists of residents, the map was the synoptic representation thatgided the ronding p of the city's Jewish poplation, sixtyve tho-sand of whom were eventally deporte.

The map is titled The Distribtion of Jews in the Mnicipality Eachdot represets ten Jews, a scheme that makes the heavily ewish dis-tricts readily apparent. The map was compiled from information ob-tained not only throgh the order for people of Jewish exraction toregister theselves bt also throgh the poplation registry (excep

tionally comprehensive in the Netherlands") and the bsiness registry. If one relects briely on the kind of detailed information on name s,addresses, and ethnic backgronds (determined perhaps by names inthe poplation registry or by declaration) and the cartographic exacti-tde reqired to prodce this statistical representation, the contrib-tion of legibility to state capacity is evident. The Nazi athorities, ofcorse, spplied the mrderos prpose behind the exercse, bt thelegibility provided by the Dtch athorities spplied the means to itsecient implementaton.8 That legibility, I should emphasze, merelyamplies the capac ity of the state fo discriminating interventions acapacity that in principle cold as easily have been deployed to feed

the ews as to deport them.

�l�I

�

13 . Mp podced b he C ce of Sscs of Amsedm d etedhe Dsribto of ews i the Micipt (M 19 41

Legibility imples a viewer whose place is central and whose vi-sion is synoptic. State simplications of the kind we have examined aredesigned to provide athorities with a schematic view of their society, aview not aorded to those withot athority. Rather like U .S . highwaypatrolmen wearing mirrored snglasses, the athorities enjoya qasionopolistic picture of selected aspects of the whole society. Thisprivileged vantage point is typical of all instittional settings wherecommand and conrol of complex hman activities is param ont. Themonastery, the baracks the factory loo, and the administrative breacracy (private or pblic) exercise many state like fnctions an doften mimic its information strctre as well.



Part 2



Tsfomg Vsions

Authoritarian High Modernism



The, s this morig o the dock gi I sw, s f for the rst tme mife the mpeccb stright streets the gisteg gss of the pvemet thedive preeppeds of the trspret dweigs, the sure hrmo of thegrish bue row of Numbers. Ad it seemed to me tht ot pt geertiosbut I msef hd wo victor over the od god d the od ife.

Eugee Zmiti We

Moder sciece, whch dispced d repced God removed tht obstce m-it o freedom] It so creted vcc the oce of the upreme egitor-cummger, of the desiger d dmistrtor of he word order, ws owhorriig empt It hd to be ed or ese The emptiess of the throews throughout the moder er stdig d temptig vittio to isories d dveturers The drem of embrcig order d hrmo re-mied s viid s ever, d t seemed ow coser th ever more th everwithi hum rech. It ws ow up to mort erthigs to brig it bout dto secure its scedcZgmut Bum, Modety ad the Holocaut

All he sae simplicaions ha we have examined have he characerof maps. Tha is hey are designed o smmarize precisely hose aspecs of a complex world ha are of immediae ineres o he mapmaker and to ignore the rest. To complain that a map lacks nance anddetail makes no sens e nless it omits information necessary to its fnction. A ciy map that aspired to represent every trafc light every pothole every bilding and every bsh and tree in every park woldthreaten to become as large and as complex as the ciy that it depicted.And it cerainly wold defeat the prpose of mapping which is to abstract and smmarize. A map is a instrment designed for a prpose.

We may jdge that prpose noble or morally offensive bt the m ap it-self either serves or fails to serve its intended s e.n case after case however we have remarked on the apparent

power of maps to transform as well as merely to smmarize the factsthat they porray This transformative power resides not in the map ofcorse bt rather in the power possessed by those who deploy theperspective of that particlar map. A private corporation aiming tomaximize sstainable timber yields prot or prodction will map itsworld according to this logic and will se what power it has to ensrethat the logic of its map prevails. The state has no monopoly on tili-tarian simplications. What the state does at least aspire to thogh is

8



94 TRNSFORING VISIONS

stition and religious pejudice. It followed that scientically designedschemes for poduction and social life would be supeior to receivedtradition.

The souces of this view are deeply authoritarian I f a planned so

uthoitrn Hgh odensm 95

as man's destiny to tame natue to suit his inteests and peserve his

safety is pehaps he keystone of high modernism partly because the

success of so many grand ventures was aleady manifest.26Once agai n the authoritarian and statist implications of this vision



The souces of this view are deeply authoritarian. I f a planned social ode is better than the accidental iational deposit of historicalpactice two conclusions follow. Only those who have the scienticknowledge to discen and create this supeio social oder ae t toule in the new age. Furthe those who through etrogade ignorancerefuse to yield to the scientic plan need to be educated to its benets

or else swept aside Stong versions of high modernism such as thosehed by Lenin and Le Corbusier cultivated an Olympian ruthlessnesstoward the subjects of their interventions. At its most radical highmodenism imagined wiping the slate uttely clean and beginningfrom zeo.4

Highmodernist ideology thus tends to devalue o banish politics.

Political inteests can only frustrate the social solutions devised by specialists with scientic tools adequate to their analsis. As individualshigh modenists might well hold democratic views about popular sov-eeignty o classical liberal views about he inviolability of a privatesphere that estained them but such convictions ae extenal to and

oen at war with thei highmodernist convictions.Although high modernists came to imagine the refashioning of so

cial habis and of human nature itself they began with a nearly limit-less ambiion to tansfom natue to suit mans purposes an ambition

that remained central to their faith. How completely the utopian possibilities gipped intellectuals of almost every political persuasion iscaptued in the paean to technical progress of the Communit Mani-

feto, where Marx and Engels write of the subjection of naturesfoces to man machinery and the application of chemistry to agi-cultue and industry steam navigation ailways electic telegraphscleaing of whole continents for cultivation canalizaion of ivers

whole populations conjured out of the ground"2 In fact this promisemade plausible by capitalist developmen was fo Max the point ofdepartue for socialism which would place he fruits of capialism atthe service of the working class for the rst time. The intellectual air inthe late nineteenth century was lled with poposals fo such vast engi-neeing pojects as the Suez Cana which was completed in 1869 withenomous consequences for trade between Asia and Europe. The pagesof Le globe, the ogan of utopian socialists of SaintSimon's pesuasion

featued an endless stream of discussions about massive proects: theconstucion of Panama Canal the development of the United Statesfaeaching schemes for energy and transportation. This belief that it

Once agai n the authoritarian and statist implications of this visionare clea. The very scale of such poects meant that with few exceptions (such as the early canals) hey demanded large infusions ofmonies aised through taxes o credit. Even if one could imagine them

being nanced pivately in a capitalist eco nomy they typically re-

quired a vast public authoriy empoweed to condemn pivate proper

relocate people against their will guaantee the loans o bonds e-quied and coordinate the wok of the many state agencies involved. Ina statist sociey be it Louis Napoleon's France or Lenins Soviet Unionsuch powe was aleady built into the political system. In a nonstatistsociety such tasks have requied new public authoities or super-agencies having quasigovenmental powes for sending men to themoon o for constucting dams irigation works highways and public

tansportation systems.The tempoal emphasis of high modernism is almost exclusively on

the ture. Although any ideology with a lage altar dedicated to pro-gress is bound to privilege the ture high modenism caries this to

great lengths. The past is an impediment a history that must be tran-scended the pesent is the platform for launching plans for a better futue. A key characteristic of discouses of high modenism and of thepublic pronouncements of those states that have embaced it is a heavyreliance on visual images of heroic pogess towad a totally tansfomed future.2 The strategic choice of the ture is feighted withconsequences To he degree that the future is known and achievablea belief that the faith in progress encourages the less future benetsae discounted fo uncetainty. The practical effect is to convince mosthigh modenists that the certainty of a better ftue usties the manyshortterm sacrices required to get there.28 The ubiquity of veyear

plans in socialist states is an example of that conviction. Pogress isobjectied by a series of preconceived goalslagely materia andquantiablewhch ae to be achieved through savngs abor and in-vestments in the inteim Thee may of course be no altenative toplanning especially when the ugency of a single goa such as winninga war seems to require the subodination of every othe goal. The immanent logic of such an execise however implies a degree of ce-tainy about the tue about meansends calculations and about themeaning of human welfare that is truly heroic. That such plans haveoen had to be adjusted or abandoned is an indication of just howheroic ae the assumptions behind them.



1 RNSFORING VISIONS

nernaonalis avor He characerzed he mode era as a new ma-chne order . . and] a consoldaon of he wrld no an unconscosassociaon of consran no an nnerruped commniy of prodc-on and armny."44

uthoiti High odeis 11

he aylor system the last word of capitalism in this respect like allcaptalist progess is a combination of the subtle brutaliy of bourgeois exploation and a number of is gea scienic achievements inthe elds of anaysing mechancal motions during work he lminaion of superuous and awkward moions he working ou of correc



on and armny.The wrld war was he hghwaer mark for he polcal nluence

of enginers and planners. Havng seen wha cold be accomplshedin exrems hey imagned wha hey cold acheve f he idenical en-ergy and plannng were devoed o pop lar wefare raher han mass

desrucin Togeher wh many poical leaders ndsrialss laboreaders and prominen nelecas (sch as Php Gbbs n EngandErns Jnger in Germany and Gsave Le Bo n n rance) hey conclded ha only a renewed and comprehensve dedicaion o echncainnovaion and he panning i made pos sible cod rebid he Ero-pean economies and bring soia peace.4

Lenin himself was deepy impressed by he achievemens of Ger-man indria mobizaion and believed ha i had shown how pro-dcion migh be sociaized. Js as enn beieved ha Marx had ds-covered immable social laws akin o Darwin's aws of evolion sohe believed ha he new echnologies of mass producion were scienic

laws and no socia consrucions Barely a monh before he Ocober 191 revolion he wroe ha he war had accelraed he de-velopmen of capialism o sch a remendos degree converingmonopoy capialsm ino statemonopoly capialism ha neither heproletaria nor the revolionary petyborgeois democras can keepwithin the limis of capitalism."6 He and his economic advisers drewdirecly on the work of Rahena and Mollendorf in heir plans for heSoviet economy. The German war economy was for enin the lti-mae in modern argescale capialis echniqes plannng and orga-nizaion" he ook i o be the prootype of a sociali ed ec onomy4 Pre-smably f the state in qesion were in he hands of repres enaives ofthe working class he basis of a socialis sysem wold exs. enin's vi-son of he fture looked much ike Rathenas providing of coursewe ignore the not so small matter of a revolutionary seizure of power.

enin was not slow o appreciate how Taylorism on he factoryoor offered advantages for he socialis conrol of producion Al-though he had earlier denounced such techniques caling hem hescienic exortion of sweat" by he ime of he revoluion he had become an enhsiasic advocate of systemaic conrol as praciced inGermany He extolled he prncpe of dscipline organiaion andharmonious cooperaion based upon he most modern mechanized n-dsry he mos rigid sysem of accounabiliy and conrol. 8

ion of superuous and awkward moions he working ou of correcmethods of work the inroducion of the bes sysem of accouning andconrol ec. he Soviet Republic must a all costs adop all ha is valu-abe in the achievemens of science and echnology in his eld . . . emus organie in Russia the sudy and eaching of he aylor systemand systematically ty it ou and adap i o our purposes.

By 1918 wh prodcion falling he was cang for rgid worknorms and if necessary he reinrodcion of haed piecework Thers ARssian Congress for Iniaives n Scenc Managemen wasconvened in 1921 and feared dispes beween advocaes of Tayrism and hose of energeics (also caed ergonomics). A eas wenyinsies and as many jornas were by hen devoed o scienic man-agemen in he Sovie Union A command economy a he macroleveland Tayoris principes of cenra coordinaion a the microle vel f hefacory oor provided an aracive and symbioic package for an ahoritarian highmodernis revolionary like enin

Despie he ahoriarian empaions of tweniehcenry highmodernism hey have ofen been resised. The reasons are no onycompex he y are diferen from case o case . hile is no my inen-ion o examine in deai all he poenial obsacles o highmodernisplanning he p articlar barrier posed by liberal democratic idea andinsitions deserves emphasis. Three facors seem decisive. The rs ishe exisence and belief in a privae sphere of actviy in which thestae and is agences may no legiimately interfere. To be sure hiszone of aonomy has had a beleagered existence as followingMannheim more hereofore privae spheres have been made he ob-je ct of ocial inervenion. Mch of he work of Michel oucalt wasan atemp o map hese incursions ino health sexaliy mental ill-ness vagrancy or saniaion and he srategies behnd hem. Neverheless the idea o f a private realm has served to limi he ambitions ofmany high moderniss throgh either heir own poliical values orheir healthy respect for he political storm hat sch ncursions wouldprovoke.

The second clsely elaed facor is the private secor in liberal p oliical economy. As oucault pt i unlike absoluism and mercantilism political economy annonces he nknowabiliy for the sover-eign of the toality of economic processes and as a conseqence heipossibility of an econoic sovereignty.0 The point of liberal politicaleconomy was n o only hat a free market proected prope rty and cr e

12 TRSFORIG VISIOS

ated wealth bt als ha the ecnmy was far cmplex fr i ever

t be managed in detail by a hierarchical administratinY

The third and by far mst imprtant barrier t thrghging high The Hgh-Modernst Cty:

A E t d C t



The third and by far mst p

mdernist shemes has been the existence f wrking representative

instittins thrgh which a resistant sciey ld make its inlence

fe. Sch istittins have thwarted the mst dracnian featres

highmdernist schemes in rghly the same way that pbliciy and m-

bilized ppsitin in pen scieties as Amarya Sen has arged have

prevented famines. Rlers he ntes d nt g hngry and hey are

nikey t earn abt and respnd readiy t rb famine nless heir

insitina psiin prvides strng incentives. The reedms

speech f assembly and f the press ensre hat widespread hnger

wi be pbicized whie the freedms f assemby and eecins in

representave insittins ensre that it is in the ineres f eeced

cias' sefpreservatin t prevent famine when they can. n the same

fashin highmdernis schemes in iberal demcratic setings mst

accmmdate themseves scienty t ca pinin in rder t avid

being ndne at he plls

Bt high mdernism nimpeded by ibera pitica ecnmy is

best graspe thrgh he wrking f its high ambins and is cn-

seqnces. t is t this practca terran in rban panning and revl-

tinary discrse that we nw trn.

An Experment and a Crtque

No one wise Kubi, knows better thn o tht the cit must neve be con-fsed with the wods tht descbe it.

to Cvino Ivble Cteme s ft hndcp to the boe concepton of the wod: ts mechn-c ode mkes no ownces fo gowth chnge dptton nd cetiveenew In sho boue pn ws bock chevement t must be d ott

.troke xed nd fozen foeve s if done ovenght b Arbn nghs

ge. Sch pn demns n chectur despot wokng for n bsoteue who w ive ong enoug h to compete the own concep tions . o teths tpe of pn t nrodce fresh eemens f nohe se s o brek s es-thetc bckbone.ewis Mumfd The Cty Htory

In Mmfrd's epigraph t this chaper his criticism is directed atPierreChares Enfant's Washingtn in particlar and at barqerban planning in general.! Greatly amplied Mmfrd's criticismcld be applied t the wrk and thght f the Swissbrn French es-sayist painter architect and planner CharlesEdard Jeanneretwh s better knwn by his prfessinal name Le Crbsier. Jeannerewas the embdimen f highmdernist rban design. Active rghlybetween 1920 and 1960, he was less an architect han a visinary plan-ner f planeary ambiins. The great majrity f his gargantanschemes were never bilt they ypically reqired a plitcal reslveand nancial wherewithal that few plitical athrities cld mster.

Sme mnments his expansive genis d exist the mst ntable fwhich are perhaps Chandigarh he astere capia f India's Pnaband Unit d' Habiatin a large apartment cmplex in Marseilles bthis legacy is mst apparent in the lgic f his nbilt megaprjecs.At ne time r anther he prpsed cityplanning schemes fr ParisAlgiers S Pal de Janeir Bens Aires Stckhlm Genevaand Barcelna . His early plitics was a bizarre cmbinain f Srel'srevltinary syndicalism and S aintSimn's tpian mdernism andhe desi gned bh in Svie Rssia (1928-36) and i Vichy fr ar-shal Phlippe Ptan. The key manifest f mdern rban planningthe Ahens charter f the Cngrs Internatinax d'Architectre M d-

erne(CAM

faithflly relected his dctrines.3

14 TRNSORING VISIONS

Le Cobsie embaced the hge, machineage, hieachical, centalized city with a engeance. f one wee looking fo a caicatea Colonel Bl imp, as it wee, of modenist banism oe co ld hadlydo beter than to invent Le Cobsie. His views wee exteme bt in-



lential and they wee representative in the sense that they cele-brated the logic implicit in high modernism. n his daring, his brilliance and his consistency, Le Corbsier casts the highmodernistfaith in shap re lief.

Total City Planning

n he aiant ity La ville ieue), pblished in 1933 and epblished with few changes in 1964 Le Cobsier offers the most completeexposition of his views. Here as elsewhere, Le Corbsiers plans wereselfconsciosly immodest. f E. Schmacher made the case for thevirte of smallness, Le Corbsier asserted, in effect, B ig is beatifl.The best way to appreciate the sheer extravagance of his reach is tolook briely at three of his designs. The rst is the coe idea behind hislan Voisi for central aris gre 14) the second, a new bsinesscity" for Benos Aires gre 5); and the last, a vast hosing schemefor abot ninety thosand residents in o de Janeiro gre ) .n their magnitde, these plans speak for themselves. N o compro-mise is made with the preexisting city the new cityscape completelyspplants ts predecessor. n each case, the new city has strikng sclptral properties it is designed to make a powerfl visal impact as a That impact it is woth noting, can be had only from a great distance Benos Aires is pictred as if seen from many miles ot to sea: aview of the New World afer a twoweek crossing," writes Le Corbsier, adopting the perspective of a modernday Chistophe Colmbs.6o is see a t several miles remoe, as if from an airplane. What we be-hold is a sxkilometerong highway elevaed one hndred me ters and

enclosing a continos rbbon of feenstoy apartments The new cilierally towers over the old. The plan for a city of 3 millon in aris isseen from far above and otside, the dstance emphasized by dots rep-resenting vehces on the majo avene as well as by a smal airplaneand what appears to be a helcopter. None of he plans makes any reference to the rban histoy, traditons, or aesthetic tastes of the placein whch t s to be located. The cties depcted, however srking, betray no context n their netalty, they cold be anywhere at all.Whe astondingly high constrcton costs may explain why none ofthese proects was ever adopted, Le Corbsers refsal to make anyappeal to local prde n an exsting city cannot have helped hs cas e.

1 4 Le Corbusiers Pa Vois or Prs cty o 3 mo peope

1 Le Corbuser's pa or the business cty o Buenos Aires s i seen rmn approching shp

106 TRNSFORING VISIONS he Hghes ty 10



1 6 . L Cobuss la fo oas an housg i n Ro Janio

Le Corbsier had no patience for the physical enironment thatcentries of rban living had created. He eaped scorn on the tangle,darkness, and disorder, the crowded and pestilential conditions, ofParis and other Eropean cities at the trn of the centry. Part of hisscorn was, as we shall see, on fnctional and scientic gronds a citythat was to become ecient and healthfl wold indeed have had todemolish mch of what it had inherited Bt another sorce of hisscorn was aesthetic. He was visally offended by disarray and confsion. And the disorder he wished to correct was not so mch a disorder

at grond level bt a disorder that was a fnction of distance, a brd'seye view. His mixed motves are ncely captred n hs dgment onsmall rral properties as seen from the ar (gre 17. From airplanes, a look down on inntely sbdvided incongruously shapedplots of land. The more modern machnery develops, the more land schopped p into tny holdngs that render the mraclos promse ofmachinery seless. The reslt is waste: nefcent ndividal scrabblng."8 The prely formal order was at least as mporant as the accommodaton wth the machne age. Archtectre," he inssted, s the artabove all others which achieves a state of platonic grander, mathematical order speclation, the perception of harmony that les n

emotonal relationshps."Formal, geometric simplcty and fnctonal ecency were not twodistnct goals to be balanced on the contrary, formal order was a preconditon of efciency. Le Corbser set hmself the task of inventngthe ideal indstrial city, in which the general trths" behind the machine age wold be expressed with graphc smplicity. The rgor andnty of this deal city reqired that it make as few concessions as possible to the hstory of exsting cites. We mst refse to aord even theslghtest concesson to what s to the mess we are n now," he wrote.There is no soltion to be fond there." Instead, his new city woldpreferably rise on a cleared site as a single, ntegrated rban composi

1 7 Aia vw of Asac, cca 1 930 fom L Cobusi's La vlle deue

ton. L e Corbsers new rban order was to be a lyrcal marriage between Caresan pre forms and the mplacable reqirements of the machne. In characteristcally bombastic terms, he declared, We claim,in the name of the steamship, the airplane, and the atomoble therght to health, logic daring, harmony, perfection" Unlke the existng cty of Pars, whic to him resembled a porcpine" and a vsonof antes Inferno" hs city wold be an organized, serene, forcefl,airy, ordered entty."

and Sandardian

It is impossble to read mch of Le Corbsier or to see many of hisarchitectral drawings wthot noticing his love ( mania? ) for smple,repettive lnes and his horror of complexi. He makes a personalcommitment to astere lnes and represents that commtment as an es sental characteristc of hman natre. In hs own words, an innityof combnatons is possible when nnmerable and diverse elementsare broght together. B t the hman mnd loses itself and becomes fatged by sch a labyrnth of possblities. Control becomes impossble.The spirital falre that mst reslt is disheartening . . . . Reason . . . isan nbroken straght line. Ths, in order to save hmself from ths

108 TRANSFORMING VISIONS

chaos in ode o ovide himsef wih a beaable acceable fame-wok fo his exisence one oducive of human webeing and con-o man has ojeced he aws of naue ino a sysem ha is a man-iesaion of he human sii isef geomey

he High-oderist City 10 9

facoies and hen assembled a he building sies. The sizes of a ee-mens would be sandadized wih muies of sandad sizes a ow-ing fo unique combinaions deemined by he achiec. Doo fameswindows bicks oof iles and even scews woud al conom o a unif d Th if i 1 92 8 ll d f h



When Le Cobusie visied Ne w Yok Ciy he was uey aken byhe geomeic logic of midown Manhaan. The caiy of wha hecaed he skyscae machines" and he see an eased him: Thesees ae a igh anges o each ohe and he mind is libeaed." 3

Esewhee Le Cobusie answeed wha he saw as he ciicism of hose

who wee nosalgic o he vaiey of he exising ciyin his casePais Peoe may comlain he noed ha in eality sees inesec aal sos o angles and ha he vaiaions ae innie. Bu" he eliedhas ecisely he oin. I eliminate all those things That 's my start-

ing point. . . . I insist on rightangled intersections. 4

Le Cobusie woud have liked o endow his love o saigh inesand igh anges wih he auhoi o he machine o science and onaue. Neihe he billiance of his designs no he heat of his oemic howeve could su cceed in justiing his move. The machines towhich he most adoingy eeedthe locomoive he ailane andthe auomobieembody ounde o moe elliica shaes than igh

anges (the teado being he mos steamlined of shaes). As fo sci-ence any shae is geomeical: he taezoid the iangle the cice.I shee smiciy o eciency was he cieion why no ee thecicle o sheeas the minimum suface encosing he maximumsaceo he squae o he ecangle? Natue as Le Cobusiecaimed migh be mathematica bu the comex inticae chaoic"logic o living foms has ony eceny been undestood with he aid ofcomues. IS No he gea achiec was exessing no moe and noless than an aeshetic ideology a stong taste fo classic lines whichhe aso consideed o be Galic" i nes: sublime saight lnes and ohsublime Fench igo. I was one oweful way o maseing sace.

Whas moe it ovided a legibe gid ha could b easily gased a aglance and tha could be eeaed in evey diection ad innium. As aactica mate of couse a saight line was oten imacical anduinousy exensive. Whee the toogahy was iegula building asaigh la avenue without dauning cimbs and descents woud equie gea feas of digging and leveling. Le Cobusie's kind o geomety was aely cost eecive.

He took his utoian scheme fo an abstact linea ciy o imessive lengths. He foesaw hat he industialization o he consuctiontades would ead o a welcome standadizaion. He foesaw oo theeabicaion o houses and ofce blocks whose ats wee built at

fom code The s manifeso o ClAM in 1 92 8 called fo he new san-dads o be egisaed by he League of Naions which woud deeloa univesa echnica language o be comusoiy augh houghouhe wod An inenaional convenion woud nomaize " he vaioussandad measuemens fo domesic equimen and aiances Le

Cobusie made efos o acice wha he eached. His design fohe mammoh Paace of vies (neve buil) was inended o aea oSovie high modenism. The building he claimed woud esabish ecise and uniesa new sandads fo al buidingssandads hawould cove ighing heaing venilaion sucue and aesheicsand ha would be vaid in all laiudes fo a needs .

The saigh line he igh angle and he imosiion of inenaional buiding sandads wee al deemined ses in he diecion osimlication. Pehas he mos decisive se howeve was Le Cobusie's ifelong insisence on sic funcional seaaion. Indicative ofthis docine was he second of oueen incies he enunciaed a

the beginning ofLa ville dieuse, namey the deah o he steet." Whahe meant by this was simly he comlete seaation of edesiantac fom vehicle tac and beyond tha the segegaion of sowfom fastmoing ehicles. He abhoed the mngling of edesiansand vehicles whch made walking uneasan and imeded the cculaion tac.

The incile functiona segegation was alied acoss theboad. Witen by Le Cobusie and is bothe Piee he nal eofo he second meeing of ClAM, in 1 929 began wih an assaut on ta-diional housing cnstuction The ovety the inad equacy o adi-iona echniques have bought in thei wake a confusion of owes an

articial mingling of functions only indieenty elated to one anohe. . . . We must nd and ay new methods . . lending themselvesnatualy to standadization indusiaization Tayloization . . . . If weesist in he esen methods by which the two functions [aange-ment and funishing vesus constuction; cicuaion vesus sucue]ae mingled and inedeendent then we will emain etied i thesame immobility."

Ouside he aatmet block he city iself was an execise inlanned functional segegationan execise ha became sandad

ubanlanning doctine until he ate 1 90s . Thee woud be seaatezones fo woklaces esidences shoing and enteainment cenes

1 1 RNSFORING VISIONS

and monmens and governmen bidngs. Where possible, workones were to be frher sbdivided into ofce bildings and facto-ries. L e Corbser s insistence on an rban plan in which each disricthad one an d only one fnction was evident in his rst ac afer akingover he planning of Chandigarh is only bil ciy He replaced he

he Higheis iy 1 1 1

these actvties, moreover, resists being redced o crieria of e-ciency; what is goin on in the ktchen when someone is cooking forfriends who have gahered there is no merely food preparation. Btthe logic of efcien plannig from above for large poplaions re-qres hat each of the vaes being maximied be sharply specied



over he planning of Chandigarh, is only bil ciy. He replaced hehosing ha had been planned for he city center with an acropolisof monmens" on a 2 20acre sie a a grea disance from he nearesresidences. n his lan Voisin for aris, he separaed what he calledla ville which was for dwelling, and he bsiness cener, which wasfor working These are two disinct fncions, consecive and no si-mlaneos, representaive of wo disinc and categorically separaeareas."

The logc of this rgd segregaion of fncions is perfectly clear. t isfar easier to plan an rban one if i has s one prpose is far eas-ier to plan the circlaion of pedesrians if hey do no have to compeewith aomobiles and rains. It is far easier to plan a fores f its soleprpose is o maximie the yield of frniregrade imber. When twoprposes ms be served by a sin gle facliy or plan, the radeofs be-come ne tlesome. When several or many prposes mst be considered,the variables ha the planner ms ggle begin to boggle the mind.Faced wih sch a labyrinh of possibiliies, as Le Corbsier note d, thehman mind loses iself and becomes fatiged"

The se gregation of ncions hs allowed he plan ner o hink wihgreaer cari abot eciency. If he only fncion of rads is o getaomobiles from to qickly and economically, hen one can compare wo road plans in terms of relaive efciency. This logic s eminenly reasonable inasmch as his is precisely what we have n mindwhen we bild a road from o . Noice, howe ver, ha he clarity isachieved by bracketing he many oher prposes tha we may wantroads to serve, sch as aording the leisre of a orisic drive, pro-viding aesheic beay or visal ineres, or enablng he transfer ofheavy goods E ven in he case of roads, narrow criteria of efciencyignore other ends that are no trvial. n the case of the places ha peo-ple ca ll home, narrow criteria of eciency do considerably greater vio-lence o hman pracice Le Corbsier calclaes the air la repirationexacte), heat, ligh , and space people need as a maer of pblic healh.Sarting wih a gre of forteen sqare meers per person, he reckonsthat this cold be redced to ten sqare meters if sch aciviies asfood preparation and landering were commnal Bt here the crite-ria of efciency ha may apply o a road can hardly do sice o ahome, which is variosly sed as a place for work, recreaion, privacy,sociabiliy, edcaion, cooking, gossip, poliics, and so on. Each of

qres hat each of the vaes being maximied be sharply speciedand tha he nmber of vales being maximied simlaneosly besharply restricedpreferably o a single vale The logic of Le Co rbsers doctrine was o careflly delineae rban space by se andfnction so that sngleprpose planning and standardiaion werepossible.

Rue by t Pan te Pann and te State

The rst of Le Corbsiers principles of rbanism," before eventhe de ath of he sreet," was he dicm The la n: Dicaor."4 woldbe dict o exaggerate the emphasis tha, like Descartes, Le Corbsier placed on making the ciy he relecion of a sngle, ratonalplan. He grealy admred Roman camps and imperial cities for theoverall logic of their layos He rerned repeaedly to the conrasbeween he existing ciy, which is the prodc of historical chance,and he ciy of he tre, which wod be consciosly designed fromsart o nish following scienic principles.

The centraliaion reqired by Le Corbsier's doctrine of the lan(always capiaied in hs sage) is replicaed by the cenraliation ofthe city self. Fncional segregation was joined to herarchy. H is citywas a monocephalic" city, is centrally located core performing thehigher" fnctons of the metropolian area. This is how he describedhe bsiness center of his lan Voisin for aris: From is oces comethe commands that p he world in order. In fact, the skyscrapers arethe brain of the ciy, the bain of the hole county. They embody hework of elaboraion and command on which all aciviies depend.

Everything is concentraed there he tools hat conqer time andspacetelephones, telegraphs, radios, he banks, rading hoses, heorgans of decision for he factories: nance, echnology, commerce."

The bsiness cener sses commands i does not sggest, mch lessconsl. The program of highmodernis ahoritarianism at work herestems in par from Le Corbsiers love of the order of the facory. Incondemning the ro" la pourit ure) of the contemporary ciy, ishoses, and its strees, he singles ot the factory as he sole excepionThere, a single ratinal prpose strcres both he physical layo andthe cordinaed movements of hndreds. The Van Nelle obacco factoin Roterdam is praised in partclar. Le Corbsier admires its aster



1 14 TRNSFORING VISIONS

Salins cmmissars fund his plans fr Mscw as wel l as hi s prec fr he Palace f Svies radical. 38 The Svie mdernis E Lissizky aacked Le Crbusiers Mscw as a ciy f nwhere, . . . a ciy]ha is neiher capialis, nr prlearian, nr scialis, . . . a ciy n

li i l d i d h h hi h

he Highodeist ity

whle."4 In he Pan Visin fr Paris, he place f each individual inhe grea urban hierarchy is spaially cded. The business elie indu-

tri) will live in highrise aparmens a he cre, while he subalernclasses w ill have small garden ap armens a he periphery. Ones saus can be direcly read frm nes disance frm he cener Bu like



paper, exraneus living naure, lcaed in a deser hrugh whichn even a river mus be allwed pass (since a cure wuld cnradic he syle)."3 As if cnrm E Lissizkys charge ha he had designed a ciy f nwhere," Le Crbusier recycled his design virually

inacaside m remving all references Mscwand presenedi as L vie rdieue suiable fr cenral Paris.

The ity as a Utopian Pje t

Believing ha his revluinary urban planning expressed univer

sal scienic ruhs, Le Crbusier naurally assumed ha he public,

nce hey undersd his lgic, wuld embrace his plan. The riginal

manifes f ClAM called fr primary schl sudens be augh he

elemenary principles f scienic husing: he imprance f sunligh

and fresh air healh he rudimens f elecriciy, hea, lighing, and

sund he righ principles f furniure design; and s n. These were

maers f science, n f ase; insrucin wuld creae, i n ime, a cli

enele wrhy f he scienic archiec. Whereas he scienic freser

culd, as i were, g righ wrk n he fres and shape i his plan,

he scienic archiec was bliged rs rain a new clienele ha

wuld freely" chse he urban life ha Le Crbusier had planned fr

hem.

Any archiec, I imagine, suppses ha he dwellings she designs

will cnribue her cliens happiness raher han heir misery.

The dierence lies in hw he archiec undersands hapiness. Fr Le

Crbusier, "huan happine alre ady e xit expressed in erms f num

bers, f mahemaics, f prperly calculaed d esigns, plans i n which

he ciies can already be seen."40 He was cerain, a leas rherically, ha since his ciy was he rainal expressin f a machineage cn

sciusness, mdern man wuld embrace i whlehearedly.4 1

The kinds f saisfacins ha he ciizensubjec f Le Crbusiers

ciy wuld experience, hwever, were n he pleasures f persnal

freedm and aunmy. They were he pleasures f ig lgically in

a rainal plan Auhriy mus nw sep in, pariarchal auhriy, he

auhriy f a faher cncerned fr his children . . . . We mus build

places where mankind will be rebrn. When he cllecive funcins f

he urban cmmuniy have been rganized, hen here will be individ

ual libery fr all. Each man will live in an rdered relain he

us can be direcly read frm ne s disance frm he cener. Bu likeeveryne in a welrun facry, everyne in he ciy will have he cllecive pri de" f a eam f wrkers prucing a perfec prduc. Thewrker wh des nly a par f he b undersands e rle f hislabr he machines ha cver he r f he facry are examples him f pwer and clariy, and ke hi rt of work of eet ion towhih hi ie irit never dred to ire.43 Jus as Le Crbusierwas perhaps ms famus fr assering ha he hme is a machine frliving," s he hugh f he planned ciy as a large, ecien machinewih many clsely calibraed pars. He assu med, herefre, ha he ciizens f his ciy wuld accep, wih pride, heir wn mdes rle in anble, scienically planned urban machine

By his wn lighs L e Crbusier was planning fr he basic needs fhis fellw menneeds ha were ignred r raduced in he exisingciy. Essenially, h e esablished hem by sipulaing an absrac, simplied human subec wih cerain maerial and physical requiremens.This schemaic subjec needed s many square meers f living space,s much fresh air, s much sunligh, s much pen space, s many essenial serices. A his level, he designed a ciy ha was indeed farmre healhful and funcinal han he crwded, dark slums againswhich he rail ed. Thus he spke f puncual and exac respirain," fvarius frmulas fr deermining pimal sizes fr aparmens h e insised n aparmen skyscrapers allw fr park space and, abve all,fr efcien rafc circulain.

The Le Crbusian ciy was designed, rs and frems, as a wrkshp fr prducin. Human needs, in his cnex, were scienicallysipulaed by he planner Nwhere did he admi ha he subjecs frwhm he was planning migh have smehing valuable say n hismaer r ha heir needs migh be plural raher han singular Suchwas his cncern wih eciency ha he reaed shpping and mealpreparain as nuisance s ha wuld be disch arged by cenral sericeslike hse ffered by wellrun hels.44 Alhugh r space was prvided fr scial aciviies, he said alms nhing abu he acua scial and culural needs f he ciizenry.

High mdernism implies, as we have seen, a rejecin f he pas asa mdel imprve upn and a desire make a cmleely fresh sar.The mre upian he high mdernism, he mre hrughging isimplied criique f he exising sciey. Sme f he ms viuperaive

1 16 RANSFORMING VISIONS

prose of he Radiant it was directed at the misery, consion, rot,"decay," scum and refuse" of the cities that Le Corbusier wanted totranscend The slums he showed in pictures wee abeled shabby" or, inthe case of the French capital, history, historic and tubercular Paris."

H d l d b th th diti f th l d th l th h d

The High-oders Ciy 1 17

caed the tota eciency and tota ationaization" o a new machine-age ciiization was uncompromising.49 Athough he was obiged todeal with ationstates his vision was univesal. As he put it, ciy anning everywhere, univesal city planning, total ciy panning"5 His ac-t l l f Al i P i d R h l



He deplored both the conditions of the slums and the people they hadcreated How many of those ve million [those who came from thecountside to make their fortune] are simply a dead weight on the city,an obstacle, a black clot of misery, of failure, of human g arbage? "4

His objection to the slums was twofold . First, they failed aestheti

cally to meet his standards of discipline, purpose, an d order. Is thereanything," he asked rhetorically, more pitiful tha an undiscip linedcrowd?" Nature, he added, is all discipine" and wil sweep them

away" een if nature operates by a logic contrary to the interests ofmankind."6 Here he signa s that th founders of the modern city mustbe prepared to act ruthlessly The second danger of the slums was that,besides being noisy dangerous, dusty, dark, and diseaseridden, they

harbored a potential revolutionary menace to the authorities He understood, as Haussmann had, that crowded sums were and had alwaysbeen an obstacle to ecient police work. Switching back and forth between Louis XIV's Paris and imperial Rome, L e Corbusier wrote: From

the huddle of hovels, rom the depths of grimy lairs (in RometheRome of the Caesarsthe plebes lived in an inextricable chaos ofabuting and warenlike skyscraers), there sometimes came the hot

gust of rebellion; the plot would be hatched in the dark recee of an

accumulated chaos in which an kind of police activity wa extremel

dicult. . . . St. Paul of Tarsus was impossible to arrest while he stayedin the sums, and the words of his Sermons were passed like wildrefrom mouth to mouth"7

In case they were wondering, Le Corbusiers potential bourgeoisbackers and their representatives could rest assured tha his legible,geometic city would facilitate police work. Where Haussmann man-

aged o rero the baroque ciy of absolutism L e Corbusier proposedo clear the decks completely and replace te center of Haussmannscity with one built with control and hierarchy in mind.8

A Tb C Hg-M Archttur

Le Corbusiers inteecual inuence on architecture was out of allproporion o he acua stucures he built. Not even the Soviet Unionwas quite up to his sweeping ambitio. It is as an exempar, a textbookcase, of the key elements of highmodernist planning oen exaggeratedthat he belongs in this analysis. His commitment to what he i

tual plans for Algiers, Paris, and Ro were, as we hae seen, On a s calethat was virtually without precedent. Le Corbusier was inuenced aswere others of his generation, by the spectacle of total military m�bi-lization in World War I L ets make our plans," he urged, plans on ascale with twentieth century events, plans equally as big as Satanswa] . . . . Big! Big!"1

The visual, aestetic component of his bold plans was central. Cean,smooh ies were something he associated with the albusiess"leanness of the machine. He was positively lyrical about the beauy ofthe machine and its products And houses, cities, an d agrovilles couldalso emerge propey equipped, glitteringly new, om the factory, omthe workshop, faultless products of smoothy humming machines. "2

Integra, ally, to Le C orbusiers ultramodernism was his repudi-ation of tradition, history, and received taste Aer explaining the ori-gin o he rac congestion in conemporary Paris, he warned againsttemptations to reform. We must refuse even the slightest considera

tion to what i: to the mess we are in now" He emphasized, There isno solution to be found here."3 Instead, he insisted, we must take ablank piece of paper," a clean tablecloth," and start new calculationsfrom zero. It was in this context that he was drawn to the USSR ad tothe ambitious rulers of developing countries. There, he hoped, hewoud not be cramped by the grotesquely inadequate sites" availablein the West, where it was possible to practice only what he called anorthope ahtetue."54 The ongesabished ciies o he Wes, heitradiions, their interest groups, their slowmoving institutions, andtheir complex lega and egulatory strctues could oly shackle thedreams of a highmodernist Gulliver

Braslia: The High-Modenist City BuiltAlmost

Cites also beleve they are the wok of he md or of chance, bu eihe the oe nor he other sufcs to hold up their wals.-Italo Calvino, Ivbl i

No utopian ciy gets buil precisely as designed by its prophetarchitec

Just as he scientic orester is foied by the vagaries of unpredictabenature and by the divergent purposes of both his employers and tosewho have access to he forest, so he urban planner must contend wih


the tstes nd nncil mens of his ptrons s well s the resistnceof uilders, workers, nd residents Even so, B rsli is out the closest thing we hve to highmodernist city, hving een uilt more orless long the lines set out y Le Corusier nd ClAM. Thnks to n excellent ook y Jmes Holston, he odest ty An A nthrooog

he ighoderist ity 11



y , y gca ritique of Brasa55 it is possile to nlyze oth the logic of thepln for Brsli nd the extent of its reliztion. An pprecition ofthe slippge etween wht Brsli ment for its origintors on onehnd nd for its residents on the other will in turn pve the wy (nopun intended) for Jne Jcos thoroughgoing critique of modern urn plnning.

The ide of new cpitl in the interior predtes even the independence of Brzil5 Its reliztion, however, ws the pet project of Jus-celino Kuitschek, the populist president from 956 to 96 , whopromised Brzilins fty yers of progress in ve" nd fture of selfsustining economic growth. In 957 Oscr Niemeyer, who hd lredy een nmed the chief rchitect for pulic uildings nd housingprototypes, orgnized design competition tht ws won, on the sisof very rough sketches, y Lucio Cost Cost's idefor it ws nomore thn thtws of monumentl xis" to dene the center of thecity, which consisted of terrced emnkments descriing n rc intersected n its center y stright venue, nd of tringle to dene thecity's limits (gure 8)

Both rchitects were working within the doctrines of ClAM nd LeCorusier. Nie meyer, longtime memer of the Brzin CommunistPrty, s lso inluenced y the Soviet version of rchitecturl mod-ernism. After the design competition, construction egn lmost immeditely on n empty site on the Centrl Plteu in the stte of ois,nerly kilometers from Rio de Jneiro nd the cost nd 62kilometers from the Pcic Ocen in the northest It ws indeed newcity in the wilderness. No orthopedic" compromises were necessrynow h the plnners hd, hnks o Kuischek, wo mde Brslihis op priority, clen lecloth" The stte plnning gency controlled ll he lnd the site, so here were no privteproperty own-ers wih whom to negoite. The ciy ws then designed from theground up, ccording o n elore nd unied pln Housing, work,recretion, rfc, nd pulic dministrion were ech sptilly segreged s Le Corusier would hve insisted. Insmuch s Brsliws itself singlefuncion, srictly dminisrtive cpil, he plnning itself ws gretly simplied.

\\ '

18 T osa la of 957 sowg A, Plaza of Tr Powrs; E tmsris; C surquara rstial zo s; D t sits rsic a Esglfamy ousig

the eton or Treee o Br

Brsli ws conceived of y Kuitschek nd y Cost nd Niemeyers city of the fture, city of development, relizle uopi. It mde

no reference o the hits, trditions, nd prctices of Brzils ps or ofits gret cities, So Pulo, So Slvdor, nd Ro de Jneiro As if to emphsize the point, Kuischek clled his own residence in Brsli theDwn Plce Wht else will Brsli e," he sked, if not the dwn of new dy for Brzil "5 Like the Sint Petersurg of Peter the ret,Brsli ws to e n exemplry ciy, center tht would trnsform thelives of he Brzilins who lived there from heir personl hits ndhousehold orgniztion to their socil lives, leisure, nd work. The golof mking over Brzil nd Brzilins necessrily implied disdin forwh Brzil hd een In this sense, he whole point of he new cpitlws to e mnifes contrst to he corruption, ckwrdness, n d ig

nornce of he old Brzi.

20 TRANSFORING VISIONS

The grea crossroads hat was the plans point of departre has

been varosly inerpreed as a symbol of Chrss cross or an Amazon

an bow. Cosa however referred o i as a monmental axs" hesame erm ha Le Corbsier sed o descrbe he cener of many of

hs rban plans Even f he axis represened a small atempt o assim

he High-oderis iy 2

to the street." As the focs for socablty these spaces were also crcialsies for he developmen of pblic opinion as well as for barrio na

onalism" whch cold ake nsiional form in spors eams bandspatronsan celebraions fesval grops and so on. I goes withot

sayng ha he sree or he pblc sqare nder he rgh circm-



ilae Brasla n some way o ts naional radion i remained a ciy

hat cold have been anywhere that provded no cle o is own hsory nless ha hstory was he modernis docrine of ClAM. I was a

saeimposed cy invened o projec a new Brazl o Brazlans and to

he word a large And i was a staemposed city in a leas one othersense: nasmch as i was creaed o be a cy for civil servans many

aspecs of ife tha migh oherwise have been ef o he prvate spherewere mnely organized from domesic and resdenial maters o

heah servces edcaion chid care recreaion commercal olesand so forh.

If Brasa was o be Brazl's rban fre what was Braz's rbanpas and presen? Wha precsely was he new capia ntended o

negae? A large par of he answer can be inferred from Le Corbsierssecond prncpe of he new rbanism he death of the sree" Braslia

was desgned o elimnate he stree and the sqare as places for pblic

life. Alhogh he elminaion of oca barrio loyaes and rvalres maynot have been panned they were also a casaly of the new ciy.

The pbic sqare and he crowded corridor" street had beenvenes of civc life in rban Braz since coonal days. As Hoson ex

plans hs cvc lfe ook wo forms. In he rst whch had been spon

sored by he chrch or stae ceremonial o r parioic processo ns andrals were pcay hed n he prncpal sqare of he town.8 The sec

ond form encompassed a nearly inexhasbe range of popar ses ofal the own sqares. Children mgh play here; adts mgh simply

shop sro and rn ino acqaintances mee friends for a mea or cof-fee play cards or chess enjoy he soca diversons of seeing and beng

seen The pont s ha the sqare as a conence of srees and asharply encosed framed space become wha Holson aply cals a

pblic visng room."5 As a pblic room he sqare s disingshed

by is accessiby o all socal casses and he great varey of actives

i accommodaes B arring sae proscrptons i is a exbe space thaenables hose who se t o se for thei mtal prposes. The sqare

or the bsy stree aracs a crowd precisey becase t provdes an an

imaed scenea scene n whch hosands of nplanned nforma

mprovsed enconers can ake place smlaneosly The sreet wasthe spata focs for pbc fe osde the saly cramped famiydwelng.6 The coloqialsm for m going downtown was m going

sances cold also become he sie of pblic demonsraions and rios

drected agains he sate.A mere glance a the scenes of Brasla jxaposed o he rban

Brazil ha we have been describing shows a once how radical s the

ransformaion. There are no srees in he sense of pblic gaherngplaces; here are only roads and hghways o be sed exclsvely bymoorzed rac compare gres 19 and 20).

There i a sqare B wha a sqare! The vas monmental Plaza

of he Three Powers anked by he Esplanade of he Minisries is ofsch a scale as o dwarf even a milary parade compare gres 2 1

and 22, and gres 2 3 and 24). In comparson Tiananmen Sqare and

he Red Sqare are posiively cozy and ntimae. The plaza s best seen

as are many of Le Corbser's plans from he air as n gre 2). If

one were o arrange o mee a friend here i wod be raher ke ry-ing o mee someone in he mdde of the Gob deser. And if one did

mee p wih ones friend there wold be nohng to do. Fnconasimplcaton demands ha he raionale for he sqare as a pblic vs-ing room be desgned ot of Brasa. Ths plaza is a symboc cener

for he sae; he only acviy hat goes on arond is he work of themnsries Whereas he vialiy of he older sqare depended on hemix of resdence c ommerce and adminisraon n is cachmen area

hose who work n he mnisries ms drve o heir residences andhen again o he separae commerca ceners of each resdenial area

One sriking res of Braslia's ciyscape s ha vraly al he pb

lic spaces in he ciy are ocay designated pbc spaces he sadim he heaer he concer hal he panned resarans. The smalle

nsrcred informa pblc spacessidewalk cafs sree cornerssma parks neighborhood sqaresdo no exst Paradoxicay agrea deal of nomnaly open space characerizes ths ciy as i does Le

Corbsiers ciy pans. Bt ha space ends o be dead" space as nhe Paza of he Three Powers Hoson explans his by showing how

ClAM docrines creae sclpra masses wdely separaed by arge

voids an inverson of the gregrond" reaons n older cties

Given or percepal habis hese voids i n he moderns cy seem t obe no inving pbc spaces b bondess empy spaces ha are

avoided6 One cold farly say ha he effec of he pan was o designot al hose nahorized locaons where casa enconers cold



9 Resdenta street the eghborhood Barra Fuda So Pauo 98 8

20 Resdetal access way L n Brasia 198 0

2 . Largo do Peouriho wh he museum of he city ad the former slave

marke So Savador 1980

22 The Plaza of the Three Powers with the museum of the city ad

Plaato Paace Brasla, 1980

he Hghode 2

occr and crowds cod gather spontaneosy. The dispersa and fnc-tiona segegation eant that eeting soeone viray eqied apan.

Cosa and Nieeyer were no only banishing the seet and hesqare fo their opian ciy. They beieved ha hey wee also b an-ishing cowded ss wih heir dakness disease cie poion



23 T Praa Se Sa Pauo 984

24 Th aza of t Tr Powrs an th Esana of t Minstr s Brasa 9 8

I

II

ishing cowded ss wih heir dakness, disease, cie, poionac as and noise , and ack of pblic sevices. Thee wee deniteadvanages to beginning wih an epty bdozed sie beonging tothe sate. At least the pobes of land specaion, ren goging and

poperybased ineqaliies ha beset os plannes cod be cicvened. As with Le Cobsie and Hassann there was an eancipaing vision he e. Th e bes and ost crent achiecal knowedgeabo saniaion, edcaion heath, and eceaion cold be ad patof the design Twenyve sqare ees of green space pe esideneached he designed ideal. And as with any opian plan hedesign of Baslia reected the social and poliical coitens of hebiders and their paon Kbischek. Al esidents wold have siiahosng he s ole difference wold be the nber of nis hey were al-loed. Following he pans of pogessive Eropean and Soviet archi-tects, the plannes of Baslia goped the apaten bildings ino

what were caed upequd in orde to faciliate he developen ofa collective life. Each sperqadra (oghly 360 apatens hosing,500-2,500 esients) had its own nrsery and eleentary schooleach groping of fo speqada had a secondary school a cineaa socia c lb, spos faciiies and a eail secor.

Vitally all th needs of Braslias fe esidens wee reected inhe plan. is st tha hese needs wee he sae absact, scheaicneeds that prodced he folas fo Le Cobsies plans Ahogh iwas sely a aional, healthy, ather egalitaian saeceated city, isplans ade not he slightest concession o the desies history andpacices of is esidens. n soe iporan especs B aslia is o So

Pao o io as scientic foestry is o the nplanned foest ohplans ae highly legibe, planned siplicaions devised to ceae anefcien oder that can be onitored and diected fro above. ohplans, as we shall see iscary in coparable espects. Finally, bohplans change he ciy and the woods to confor o the siple gid ofthe planne .

Baa

Most of those who have oved to Baslia fo othe cities aeaazed o discover hat it is a ciy wiho cowds. People coplain



he Highodeist ity 2 9

iansodely m ode ecien and nde hei disciplne. They weehwated by conempoay Bazilans wih dfeen neess and hedeeminaon o have hem head. Somehow was assmed ha hehge wokfoce (moe han sixy hosand song) wold espond ohe call o bild he cy and hen qely leave o he adminsaosfo whom was nended The conscon wokes moeove had



25 . Rsitia ara alog Rua Tirats i Our Prto 8

26 A surquara aartmt bloc i Basla 98

fo whom was nended. The conscon wokes moeove hadno been adeqaely planned fo Kbischek accoded op pioy onshng Baslia as qickly as possble Alhogh mos consconlaboes onely woked oveime he poplaion a he bildng sie

qckly osipped he tempoay hosng alloted to hem in whatwas called he Fee Ci. They soon sqaed on addtonal land onwhch hey bilt makeshif hoses; in cases whee whole familes mi-gated to Basla (o famed hee) the hoses hey eected weesomtmes qie sbsanal.

The pione es of Basla wee collectvely called bndeinte ofthe twentieth centy afe the adventes who had s penetatedthe inteo. The label was ntended as a complment nasmch as K-btscheks Basla was also a symbolic conqest of the inteo in a na-tion that had hstoically clng to the shoelne. At the otset howevethe manal laboes attacted to Baslia wee deogatoily called cn-

dngo A candango was a man withot qalities, withot clte avagabond loweclas lowbow. Kbitschek changed that. He sedthe bldng of Basla whch was afe all devsed to tansfomBazl n ode to tansfom the candangos nto the poletaian heoesof the new nation. Fte intepetes of Bazilan Cvlzation hedeclaed mst dwell with astonshment befoe the bonzed gos ofthis anonymos ttan who is the candango the obsce and fomdable heo of the constction of Basla . . Whle the skeptcs laghedat the ntended topa of the new cy that pepaed to bild the can-dangos sholdeed the esponsblty"! Takng fll advantage of thehetoical space ths povided them the candangos insisted on having

thei own patch of the topan ciy. They oganized to defend theiland to demand ban seices and to be given sece ttle n theend by 1980, 75 pecent of the poplation of Baslia lived n settle-ments tha had neve been anticpated whie the planned city hadeached less than haf of its pojected poplation of557,000 The foot-hod the poo ganed in Baslia was not st a eslt of he benecenceof Kbitschek and hs wfe Doa S aa. Politcal stcte played a keyole as well. Sqattes wee able to mobilze potest and be head byvte of a easonably competitive poltical system. Nethe Kbtschekno othe politcians cold possbly gnoe the oppotny to clvatea politcal centele who mght vote as a bloc.

30 RNSFORING VISIONS

The unplanned Brasiathat is the r eal existing Brasliawasquite differen from he origina vision. nsead of a cassless adminis-rative cy i was a ciy marked by sark spatia segregaion accordingo social cl ass. The poor lived on he periphery and commuted ong dis-ances to the cener where much of he eie ived and worked. Manyof he rch also creaed their own setlements wih inividua houses

he Hheist ity 3



a s a s s a s sand privae cubs hereby replicaing he aluen ifesyes found ese-where in Brazil The unpanned Brasias hat of the rich and ha ofhe poorwere not merey a footnoe or an accident one could say

tha the cos of his kind of order and legibiiy at the cener of the planvirtually required that i be sustained by an unplanned Brasia at hemargins. The wo Brasias were no jus different hey were symbioic.

Radicaly transforming an enire naion of Brails sie and diver-siyle alone in only ve yearswas all but inconceivable. Onesenses that Kubischek like many rlers wih grea ambitions for heircounries despaired of a direc assault on all Brai and all Brailiansand turned to he more plausible task of creaing from ero a utopianmodel. Raised on a new site in a new place the ci would provide aransforming physical environmen for its new residensan environmen minuely ailored to the laest dicaes regardng health e

ciency and raional order. As the progressive c iy woud evolve from aunitary inegraed plan on land owned enrely by he stae with allconracs commercial licenses and zoning in he hands of he plan-ning agency (Novacap) the conditions seemed favorable for a success-ful uopian miniauriaion."

How successful was Braslia as a highmodernis uopian space? fwe judge i t by he degree to whic h it depars from cities in older urbanBrail hen is success was considerable. f we udge i by ts capaciyeiher to ransform he res of Brail or to inspire a love of he new wayof life ten is success was minima. The real Brasla as opposed to hehypoheical Brasia i n he planning documents was greatly marked by

resistance subversion and political calculaion.

Le Corbusier at Chandigarh

Since Le Corbusier did no desgn Braslia i may seem like guil byassociaion o blame im for is manifest failings Two consideraionshowever usi he connecion. The rs is tha Braslia was faithfullybuilt according o ClAM doctrines eaboraed mosy by Le Corbusier.Second Le Corbusier dd in fac play a major role i designing an-other capial ciy hat relected precise ly e human problems encoun-tered in Braslia.

27 T chowk, or iazza tat L Corbusir sig fo Caigar's ci t

Chandigarh the ne w capital of the Punjab was half planned whenhe archiec in charge Mathew Nowicki suddenly died. Nehu insearch of a successor invited Le Corbusier to nish he design and su-pervise the constrcion. The choice was in keeping wih Nehru's ownhihmodernis purpose namely the promotion of mode technologyin a new capial ha woud dramatie the values that he new ndianelie wished to convey.3 Le Corbu sier's modications of Nowicki's andAlbert Mayers orginal plan were all in he direcion of monumenalism and lineariy. n place of large curves Le Corbusier substiuedrectilinear axes At the cener of he capital he insered a huge monu

mental axis no unlike those in Braslia and in his plan for Paris.4 nplace of crowded baaars cramming as man goods and people as possible into small spaces he subsiued huge squares ha today standlargely empty (gure 27)

Whereas road crossings in ndia had ypcally served as publicgahering places L e Co rbusier shifted he scale and arranged the zon-ing in order o preven animated sreet scenes from developing. Notesone recent observer: On the ground the scale is so arge and hewidth between meeting strees so grea that one sees nohing bu vastsreches of concrete paving with a few lone gures here and tere.The smalls cale stree trader the awker or the rehris (barrows) have


been banned from he cy cener, so ha even where sorces of ner-

es and avy cold be nclded, f ony o redce he concreed bar

renness and ahoy of he chowk, hese ae no lzed."75

As n rasla, he effor was o ranscend Inda as exsed and o

presen Chandgarhs czenslargely admnsaos wh an mage

f he wn fre As n rasla he psho was anoher nplanned

he Hghodeist ity 13 3

Vu Order Veru Exereed Order

A formave nsgh n Jacobss argmen s ha here s no neces-sa corespondence beween he dy look of geomec orde o oehand and sysems ha effecvely mee day needs on he oher Whyshol we expec, she asks, ha wellfnconng bl envonmenso soca aangemens wll sas prey vsal noons of orde and



of he own fre. As n rasla, he psho was anoher np

cy a he pephe and he margns, one ha cnradced he as

tee ode at the center.

The Cse Against High-Modernist Urbanism: Jane Jacobs

Jane Jacobss book he De th nd Life of Gre t Ame ricn Citie was

wren n 196 1 agans a hgh de of modenst, fnconal ban

plannng. Hes was by n means he rs crcsm of hghmoderns

rbansm, b was, I beleve, he mos caeflly obseed and nel-

lecaly gonded crqe.?6 As he mos comprehense challenge o

conempoa docrnes of ban plannng, s paked a debae, he

everbeaons of whch are s beng fel. The esl, some hee

deades laer, has been ha many of Jacobss vews have been ncorpo

aed no he workng assmpons of odays ban panners. Al

hogh wha she called her aack o n cren c y plannng and re-

bldng" was concened pmarly wh Amercan ces, she locaed

Le Cobsers docrnes, as appled abroad and a hoe, at he cener

of her eld of re.Wha s emarkable and ellng abo Jacobss cqe s s nqe

perspectve . She begns a sree level, wh an ehnography of mcro-

orde neghbohoods, sdewalks, and nersectons. Where L e Cor

bse sees" hs cy nally fom he a, Jacobs see s he c y as a

pedesran on he daly onds wold. Jacobs was also a poltcal ac

vs nvolved n many campagns agans proposals fo onng changes,

oad bldng, and hosng developmen ha she hogh lladvsed.?7

It was all b t nconcevable ha a radca cqe, gronded n hs

fasho cold ever have ognaed from whn the ellecal ccle

of ban plannes. 78 Her novel brand of eveyday ban socology ap-

ped he desgn of ces was smply oo far emoved fom he o r

hodox edcatonal rones of ban plannng schools at he me.7 9

An e xaaon of her crqe from the magns serves to nderlne

many f the falngs of hgh modernsm.

o soca aangemens wll sas prey vsal noons of orde andregay To llsae he conndrm, she efers o a new hosngpoec Eas Harlem ha spored, conspcosly, a ecangla lawn.The lawn was he obec of geneal conemp by he resdens. I waseven aken as a n nsl by hose who had been forcbly elocaed andnow lved n a poject among sanges whee was mpossble o gea newspape or a p of cofee or o borow fy cens.8 The apparenode of he lawn seemed crely emblemac of a moe keenly fe ds-ode.

A fndamenal msake ha ban plannes made, Jacobs clamswas ? fe functonl oder from he dplcaon and egmenaoof bldg foms: ha s, from pely vsal order. Mos complex sys-ems, o n he conra, d o no dsplay a srface eglay he oderms be sogh a a deepe level. To see c omplex sysems of fnconalode as ode, and o as chaos, akes ndersandng. The leaves droppg fo he rees he amn, he neo of an arplane engne,he enras of a rabb, he cy desk of a newspape, all appear to bechaos f hey ae see n who compehenson. Onc e hey ae see n assysems of ode, hey acally look dfeen. A hs level one co ldsay ha Jacobs was a fnconals," a word whose se was banned nLe Corbses sdo. She asked, Wha fncon does hs srcresee, and how well does serve ? The orde" of a hng s deer-med by he ppose serves, no by a pely aeshec vew of s srface oder.8 Le Corbse, by conras, seemed o have mly belevedha he mos efce nt forms wold lwy have a classc al clary andorder The physca envonmens Le Corbser desgned and bl hadas dd rasla, an oveall hamony and smpcy of form. or hmos par, howeve, hey faled n mporan ways as places where people wol d wan o lve and work

I was hs falre of he general rban plannng modes ha sopeoccped Jacobs. The planners concepon of a cy accoded ne-er h he acal economc and socal fncons of an rban arean wh he (no nelaed) ndvdal needs of s nhabtans. Therms fndamena error was he enely aeshec vew of ordeT erro dove hem o he fher error of rgdy segregatng fnc

134 RNSFORING VISIONS

tions . I n their eyes, mixed uses of real estate say, stores intermingledwith apartments, sma workshops, restaurants, an pubc bud-ingscreated a kind of visual disorder an confusion. The great advantage of single usesone shopping area, one residential areawas that it made possible the monofunctional uniformity and visualregimentation that they sought As a planning exercise it was of

Ihe Highoderns ity 13

view of social order is both subtle and instructie. ocial order i notthe result of the architectural order created by T squares and sliderules. Nor is social order brought about by such professionals a policemen, nightwatchmen, and public ofcials. Instead, says Jacobs,the public peacethe sidewalk and street peaceof cities . . . iskept by an intricate, almost unconscious network of voluntary controls



regimentation that they sought. As a planning exercise, it was ofcourse vastly easier to plan an area zoned for a single use than onezoned for several. Minimizing the number of uses and hence the number of variables to be juggled thus combined with an aesthetic of vi-sual order to argue for a singleuse doctrine.8 The metaphor thatcomes to mind in this connection is that of an army dawn up on theparade ground as opposed to an army engaged in combat with theenemy. In the st case is a tdy visua order created by nts andranks dawn up in straight lines. But it is an army doing nothing, anarmy on display An army at war will not display the same ordelyarrangement, but it will be, in Jacobss terms, an army doing what itwas trained to do. Jacobs thinks she knows the roots of this penchantfor absract, geometric order from above: Indirectly through theutopian tradition, and directly through te more realistic doctrine ofart by imposition, modern city planning has been burdened from itsbeginnings with the unsuitable aim of converting cties into disci-plned works of art.83

Recently, Jacobs notes, the statistica techniques ad inputoutputmodes avaabe to panners ad become ar more sopistcated. Theywere ecouraged to attempt such ambitious feats of panning as mas-sive slum clearance now that they coud closely calcuate the budget,matrials, space, energy, and transportation needs of a rebuilt area.These plans continued to ignore the social costs of moving familieslike grains o sand, or electrons, or billiard balls.84 The plans werealso based on notoriously shaky assumptions, and they treated systemsof complex order as if they coud be simplied by numerical tech-

niques, regarding shopping, for example, as a purely mathematicalissue invoving square footage for shopping space and traf management as an issue o moving a certain number of vehicles in a giventme aong a cetain number o streets of a gven wdt. Tese were n-deed formidable technical problems, but, as we sall see, te rea is-sues involved much more besides.

T Fcoal Srori o CroU a Col

Te establisment and maintenance of socia order in arge citiesare, as we have increasingly learned, fragile achievements Jacobss

p y , yand standards among the people themselves, and enforced by the peo-ple themselves. Te necessary conditions for a safe street are a cleardemarcation between public space and private space, a substantial

number of people who are watching the street on and of (eyes o thestreet), and fairly continual, heavy use, which adds to the quantity ofeyes on the sreet. 8 Her example of an area where these conditionswere met is B ostos North End. Its streets were thronged with pedes-trians throughout the day owing to the density of convenience and grocery stores, bars, restaurants, bakeries, and other shops. It was a placewhere people came to shop and stroll and to watch others shop andstroll. The shopkeepers had the most direct interest in watchin thesidewalk: they knew many people by name, they were there all day,and their businesses depended on the neighborhood trac. Those whocame and went on errands or to eat or drink also provided eyes o the

street, as did the elderly who watched the passing scene from theirapartment windows. Few of these people were friends, but a oodmany were acquaintances who did recognize one another. The processis powerfuy cumlative. The moe animated and busier te street, themore interesting it is to watch and observe all these un paid observerswho have some familiarity with the neighborhood provide willin, in-formed surveillance.

Jacobs recount a revealing incident that occurred on her mixed-use street in Manhattan when an older man see med to be trying t ca-jole a n eight or nineyearold girl to go with him. As Jacobs wathedthis from her seco ndoor window, wondering if she sh ould intervene,

the butchers wife appeared on the sidewalk, as did the owner of thedeli, two patrons of a bar, a fruit vendor, and a laundryman, and several other people watched openly from their tenement windows, readyto frstrate a possble abduction No peace ocer appeared or wasnecessary. 86

Another instance of informal urban order and services is instruc-tive. Jacobs explains that when a iend used their apartment wile seand er usband were away or when tey didnt want to wait up for alatearriving visitor, tey would leave te key to their apartment witte deli owner, who ad a specia drawer for suc keys and wo heldthem for the friend. 8 Se noted that every nearby mixeduse street had



140 TRANSFORMNG VSONS

Urban planners great penchant for massive scheme s of slm clear-ance was attacked on the same gronds. Slms were the rst footholdof poor migrants to the city. As long as these areas were reasonably sta-ble the economy relatively strong and people and bsinesses notstared for credit the slms cold given time manage to nslm"themselves Many aready had. Planners freqently destroyed nslm

I he Highodeist ty 14 1

rate optimm control formlas. Compared t o niformity diversity isalways more diclt to design bild and control. When EbeezerHoward approache d town planning as a simple twovariable prolemo relating hosing needs to the qantity of obs in a closed system hewas both temporay and fnctionaly operating scientically" withinhose selfimposed limits. Formlas or green space light schools and



ming sms" becase these areas violated their doctrines of layotse grond coverage mixtre and activities"8not to mention theland speclation and secrity concerns behind mch rban renewal"

From time to time Jacobs stands back from the innite and changing variety of American cities to express a certain awe and hmilityTheir intricate ordera manifestation of the freedom of contlessnmbes of peope to make and carry o contless plansis in manyways a grea wonder We oght no to be relctant to make this livingcollection of interdependent ses this freedom this life more n-derstandable for what it is nor s o naware hat we d o not know whatit is" The magisterial assmption behind the dotrines of manyrban planners tha they know what people want and how peopleshold spend heir time seems to Jacobs shortsighted and arrogan.They assmed or at least heir plans assmed hat people preferred

open space s visal (zoned) order and qiet. They assmed that peoplewaned to live in one place and work in anoher. Jacobs believes theywere mistaken and most importan she is prepared to arge fromcose daiy obsevation at stree eve raher han sipating hmanwishes from above.

The logic behind the spatial segregation and singlese zoning of theban planners that Jacobs criicized was at once aeshetic scienicad practical. As an aesthetic matter it led to the visal reglarityeven regimentationthat a sclptral view of the ensemble reqired.As a scienic mater it redced the nmber of nknowns for which theplanne had o nd a soltion. Like simltaneos eqations in algebra

too many nknowns in rban planning rendered any solion problematic or else reqired heroic assmptions. The problem the plannerfaced was analogos to that of the forester. One modern solion to theforesers diemma was o borrow a management echniqe caled optimm conrol theory whereby the ssained timber yield cold besccessflly predicted by few obserations and a parsimonios formla. t goes withot saying that optimm conrol theory was simplestwhere more variables cold be trned into constants. Ths a singlespecies sameage forest planed in straight lines on a at plain withconsistent soil and moistre proles yielded simpler and more acc

sqare meters per capita did the restn ran planning as in forestry it is a short step from parsimo

nios assmptions to the practice o f shaping the environment so that it

satises the simpications reqired by the ormla. The logic of plan-ning for the shopping needs of a given poplation seres as an eample. Once planners applied the ormla for a certain nmer of sqarefeet o commercia space p arceled ot among sch c ategories as foodand clothing they realized that they wold then have to make theseshopping centers monopolistic within their areas lest nearby compeitors draw away their clientele The whole point was to legislate the forma thereby garanteeing the shopping center a monopoly f itscachment area Rigid singlese zoning is then no jst an aestheic measre t is an indispensable aid to scientic planning and itcan also be sed o transform formlas posing as obserations into

selffllling prophesiesThe radically simplied city provided it is viewed from above isalso pactical and ecient. The organization of sericeselectricitywater sewage mai is simplied both below and aove grond. Singlese districts by virte of he repetition of fncionally similarapartments or oces are simpler to prodce and bild. Le Corbsierlooked forward to a ftre when all the components of sch b ildingswold be indstrially prefabricated Zoning along these lines alsoprodces a city that is district by district both more niform aeshet-ically and more orderly" fnctionally. A single activity or narrow andof activities is appropriate to each district work in the bsiness dis-

trict family life in he residential qarer shoppin g and entertainmentin the commercial district. As a police matter this fnctional segrega-tion minimizes nly crowds and introdces as mch regimentationinto the movement and condct of he poplation as physical planningalone can encorage.

Once the desire for comprehensive rban planning is establishedthe logc of niformity and regimentation is wellnigh inexorable. Costeffectiveness contribtes to this tendency Jst as it saves a prison toble and money if all prisoners wear niforms of the same materialcolor and size every concession to diversity is likely to entail a corre


sponding increase in administrative time and budgetary cost. If the

planning authority does not need to make concessions to popular de

sres, the oneszetsall solution is lkely to prevail 02

Aganst the planners' eye and formulas, Jacobs j uxtaposes her own

Her aesthetic, she would clam, s pragmatic and street level, an aes

thetc that has as its reference the xperienced workng order of the

he High-oderist City 14 3

evelop, insofar as public policy and action can do so, cities that are

congenial places for this great range of unofcial plans, ideas, and

opportunties to ourish" O Whereas Le Corbusier's planner is con-cerned with the overall form of the cityscape and its efciency in mov-

ing people from pont to point, Jacobs's planner consciously makes

room for the unexpected, small, nformal, and even nonproductive

human activties that consttute the vitality of the lved city "



cty for the people who live there. She asks, What physcal environ-

ments draw people, facilitate circulation, promote socal exchange and

contact, and satis both utilitaan and nonutilitaian needs? Ths per-

spective leads her to many judgments. Shot blocks are pe feable tolong bocks bec ause they knit together more actvties Lage tuck de

pots o lling statons that break the continuty of pedestrian interest

are to be aoded To be kept to a minimum are huge roads and vast,

forbidding open spaces that opeate as visual and pyscal bariers.

There s a logic here, but it is not an a po visual logic, no is t a

purely utilitarian logc narrowly conceved. Rathe, it is a standad of

evaluation that springs from how satsfactorly a given arangement

meets the social and practical desires of urban dwellers as those needs

ae revealed in their actual actvty.

Planning for the Unplanned

The historic diversity of the cty the souce of its value and mag-

netsmis an unplanned creaton of many hands and long histoical

practce. Most cties are the outcome, the vecto sum of innumeable

small acts bearing no discernible oveall intention Despite the best ef-

forts of monarchs, plannng bodies, and captalst speculators, most

cty dversity is the creaton of ncedible numbers of dieent people

and derent prvate organizations, wth vastly different ideas and pur-

poses, plannng and contriving outside the formal framework of public

action"1 03 Le Corbusie would have agreed wth this esciption of the

existing cty, and it was precise ly what appall ed him. It was just thiscacophony of intentons that was responsble for the clutter, ugliness,

disode, and neciencies of the unplanned city. Lookng at the same

social and histoical facts, Jacobs sees reason to prase tem: Cties

have the cap abity of proviing somethng fo eve rybody, only be -

cause, and only when, they are created by everybody." 1 04 She s no fee-

market libertaran, however; she understands cearly that capitalists

and sp eculators are, willynilly, transforming the cty wth thei com-

mercial muscle and political nluence. But when it comes to urban

public polcy, she thnks plannng ought not to surp this unplanned

city: The main responsibility of city plannng and des ign should be to

human activties that consttute the vitality of the lved city.

Jacobs is more aware than most urban planners of the ecological

and market forces contnually tansforming the city. The successon of

habos, ailroads, and highways as means of movng people an d gods

had already marked the rse and decline of sectons of the cty Even the

successful, animated neghborhoods that Jacobs so pizes wee, she

ecognizes, becomng vctims of thei own success Areas were colo-

nzed" by urban migrants because land values, and hence ents, were

cheap. As an aea became moe desrable to live n, its rents ose ad ts

local commece changed, the new businesses oen diving out the orig-

inal poneers who had helped tansform t. The natue of the city was

lux and change a successl neghborhood could not be frozen and

peserved by the planners. A cty that was extensively planned would

inevitably diminish much of the divesty that s the hallmark of geat

towns. The best a planner can hope for s to modestly enhance ather

than impede the development of uban complexty.

Fo Jacobs, how a city develops s something like how a language

evolves. A language s the joint hstorcal creation of millions of speak-

ers. Although all speakes have some eect on the taectory of a lan-

guage, the pocess s not particulaly egalitarian Lngusts, gamma-

ians, and educatos, some of them backed by the power of the state,

weigh in heavly. But the pocess s not particularly amenable to a dicta-

torshp, either Despite the eorts toward central plannng," langage

(especially its everyday spoken form) stubbornly tends to go on ts own

rich, multivalent, olorl way. Simlarly, despte the attempts by uban

planners toward designing and stablizng the city, it escapes ther gasp

it s always being reinvented and nlected by its inhabtants1 06 For both

a large city and a rich language, ths openness, plasticty, and diversty

allow them to serve an endless variety of purposesmany of wich

have yet to be conceived.

The analogy can be pressed further. Like planned cities, planned

languages are ineed possble. Esperanto is one example technicaland scentic languages are another, and they are quite precse and

powerful means of expresson within the limited purposes for which

they were desgned But language per se is not for only one or two ur

poses. It is a general tool that can be bent to countless e nds by vte of



6 TRANSFORMNG SONS

he envirnmen he ciy. These urban planners backed by saepwer are raher ike ailrs wh are n nly free inven whaeversui f clhes hey wish bu als free rim he cusmer s ha hes he measure.

Urban panners wh reec axidermy" Jacbs claims mus neverheless inven a kind f planning ha encurages nve iniiaives andcningencies frecsing as few pins as pssib le and ha fsers

The Revolutionary Party:A Plan and a Diagnosis

F l d b h h d



cningencies frecsing as few pins as pssib le and ha fsershe circuain and cnac u f which such iniiaives arise. T ilusrae he diversiy f urban ife Jacbs iss mre han a dzen uses

which have been served ver he years by he cener fr he ars inLuisvile sabe sch heaer bar aheic cub blacksmihs frgefacry warehuse ariss sudi. She hen asks rhericay Whcud anicipae r prvide fr such a successin f hpes and ser-vices? " Her answer is simple: Ony an unimaginaive man wuld hinkhe cud; ny an arrgan man wud wan ."

Feelng, omrade , s a mass eement bt thoght s organaton omradeLenn sad that organzaton s the hghest o all o sAndre Patonov, Chevegu

ommnsm was moderntys most devot, vgoros and gaant champon It was nder commnst aspces that the adacos dream of modernity,freed from obstaces by he mercless and omnipoten state was pshed to tsradca limits grand desgns, nlimted socal engineerng hge and lkytechnoogy, ota tansformaton o nateZygmn Baman, Lvg Wthout a Alteatve

Lenin's design fr he cnsrucin f he revluin was in manyways cmparable L e Crbusier s design fr he cnsrucin f hemdern ciy. Bh were cmplex endeavrs ha had be enrused

he prfessinalism and scienic insigh f a rained cadre wih fullpwer see he plan hrugh. And us as Le Crbusier and Leninshared a bradly cmparable high mdernism s Jane Jacbss perspecive was shared by Rsa Luxemburg and Aleksandra Kllnaywh ppsed Lenin's pliics. Jacbs dubed bh he pssibili andhe desirabiliy f he cenrally planned ciy and Luxemburg and Klnay dubed he pssibiliy and desirabili f a revluin plannedm abve by he vanguard pary.

Lenin: Achitect nd Enginee of Revolution

Lenin if we udge him frm his majr wriings was a cnvinced highmdernis The brad ines f his hugh were quie cnsisen;wheher he was wriing abu revluin indusrial panning agricul-ural rganizain r adminisrain he fcused n a uniary scien-ic answer ha was knwn a rained ineligensia and ha ugh be flwed. The Lenin f pracie was f curse smehing elseagain. His capaciy fr sensing he ppular md in fashining Blshevik prpaganda fr beaing a acical rerea when i seemed pru-den and fr sriking bldly seize he advanage was mre relevanhan his high mdernism his success as a revluinary. I is Leninas a hgh mdernis hwever wh whm we ar e prmarly cncerned.

7

4 TRANSFORMNG VSONS

The m ao text fo the elaboation of Lenins highmodenist viesof evoltion is Wht I to Be Done? High modenism as intega tothe centa ppose of Lenins agmen o convince the Rssian lefttha only a small seeced centaized pofessional cade of evolionaies cold bing abo a evotion in Rssia. Witen in 1903 ellbefoe the dess eheasal" evotion of 1905 his vie as neve en-

he evolon 4 9

gle."4 In fact Lenin complained the patys activists have been oelyinadeqate. It is not enogh to ca the movement a vangad" he insised. We mst a in sch a ay hat ll othe unit o the ny halsee s and be obliged o admit hat e ae he vangad." The goal ofhe vangad paty is o tain illing b backad" poletaians inevoionay poiics so hat hey may be indced ino an amy hat



tiely abandoned even nde totay diffeen cicmsances in 197beteen he Febay ovetho of he cza and the Bolshevik s eize

of poe in Octobe hen he oette nd evolution

I shall compae Lenins vie in these o oks and in his iings on agicleih Rosa Lxembgs Mass Sike Paty and Tade Unions" i-ten in eply to Wht I to Be Done? and ith he itings of AeksandaKolontay an impoant ge in hat as c alled the Wokes Opposiion a gop ihin the Bolshevik paty ho ciicized many ofLenins policie s afte he evolion.

The e o at to Be oeLenin's hoice of he title Wht I to Be Done? has gea ignicance.

I as aso he tile of an exceptionally popla novel by NicholasChenyshevsky in hich a ne man" of he intelligensa se abotdesoying he old ode and then ling aocaically o esablish asocia topia. It had been the favoite book of Lenins adoed oldebothe Alexande ho had been execed in 1887 fo a plo againstthe cza s life. Even afte Lenin became a Maxis i as still his favo-ie book: I became acqained ih the oks of Max Engels andPlekhanov b it as only Chenyshevsky ho had an ovehelminginlence on me." The idea that speio knoledge athoiaian in-scion and social design cold tansfom sociey pevades bohoks.

Cetain meaphos sse Lenins analysis of the link eeen thevangad paty and the okes in Wht I to Be Done? They se hetone of he ok and limit hat can be said ihin is connes. Thesemetaphos cente on the classoom and the baacks.3 The paty andits local agitatos and popagandits fnction as schoolteaches capable of aising meely economic complaints o the level of evolionaypolitical demands o they fncion as oces in a evoltionay amyho deploy thei toops to best advantage. In thei oles as teacheshe vangad paty and its nespape develop a pedagog ial sye hatis decidedy athoitaian. The pay analyzes he many and vaiedpopla gievances and at the igh time dictae[s] a positive pogamme of acion" hat ill conie to a nivesal p oitical stg

ill collec and ilize evey gain of even dimentay potes" ee-by ceaing a disciplined evoltionay amy.

In keeping ith these meaphos the masse

" in geneal and heoking cass in paticla become the body" hile he vangadpaty is the bain. The paty is o the oking class as ineigence is obte foce delibeation to consion a manage o a oke a eaheto a stdent an adminisato to a sbodinae a pofessiona o an am-ae an amy to a mob o a scienis to a ayman. A bief explanaionof ho hese meaphos ok ill help sitate Le nins on vesion ofhighmode albeit evolionay p oliics.

Lenin ealized of cose that the evoionay poec dependedon popla miitancy and spontaneos poes. The p oblem of eyingsolely on popa acion fom belo hoeve as ha sch aion

as scateed and spoadic making easy pickings fo the czaist po-lice. If e think of popla acion as incendiay poliica maeial theole of he vangad paty as o concentae and aim his explosivechage so ha its detonation cold bing don he egime. The van-gad paty meged the eleentl descive foce of a cod ithhe conciou descive foce of the oganizaion of evolionists."6It as he hinking ogan of he evoltion ensing hat he oheisedise be foce of the masses as effecively sed.

The logic of his pespecive led Lenin o think of the vangadpaty as a odbe geneal saff to a vas bt ndisciplined amy ofa ecits aleady in combat. The moe nly he amy the geatehe need fo a small cohesive geneal staff. To his compeitos on thelef (the Economis) ho aged tha en ise men cold easily begabed by he police heeas one hnded fools (he evoltionaycod) cold not be sopped Lenin eplied Witho he dozen ofied and alented leades (and talened men ae no bon by hndeds) pofessionally tained schooled by long expeience and oking in pefect hamony no class in moden society is capable of ondcing a detemined sggle."

Lenins analoges o militay oganization ee not st coloflges of speech they ee ho he hoght abot most aspecs ofpay oganizaion. He oe of acics" and stategy" in a stagh-foadly militay style. Only a geneal staff is capable of deploying is




of he wok as a whoe o enabe him o use no ony every brick bueven evey piece of bick which joining wih he bricks paced beforeand afer it foms a compete and a embracing ine? And are we notnow passing through a period in our party ife when we have bicksand brickayers bu we ack he guiding ine, visibe o a by which toguide ou movements? " 4 What the paty has is he buepint of he en

he evolutiona Party 15 3

Jus as Le Corbusier imagines ha he pubic wi acquiesce o heknowedge and cacuaions of he maser achiec so Lenin isconden ha a sensibe worker wi wan o pace himsef under heauhoity o f professiona revoutionists.

Let us return nay to the metaphor of the schoooom whee thevanguad party is he teacher and the masses ae the pupis. Lenin ish d i i hi f hi Hi d i i



tie new structue which its scienic insigh has made possibe. Theoe of he workes is to foow that part of the bueprint aotted to

them in the condence that the architects of revoution know whathey are doing.The anaogy to he division of abo in moden capiaist poduction

has impications roughy parae to hose of he miitary metaphor.Boh fo exampe equire auhoritaian mehods and cenra contro.

Thus Lenn woe of he party's need o disribue he housandand-one minute functions of heir oganizationa work" compained of

technica defects" and caed fo he unication of a tese iny facions into one whoe." As he concuded speciaizaion necessaiy presupposes cenrazaion and in is urn imperaivey cas for i."

i s surey a grea paradox of What Is to B Don? ha Lenin akesa subjectpromoting revouonha is insepaabe from popuaranger vioence and the deermnaion of new poitica en and ansforms i ino a dscourse on technica speciaization hierachy and heecien and predcabe organzaion of mans. Poics miracuousydsappears from wihin the revouionary ranks and is ef o the eieof he vanguard pary much as indusria engineers migh discussamong hemseves how to ay ou a faco oor. The vanguad partyis a machine to produce a revouion. There s no need for poiticswihin he pary nasmuch as he science and raionaiy of the socais ineigensa equire instead a technicay necessary subordinaion;he pary's udgmens are no subjecive and vaue aden bu obeciveand ogicay inevabe.

Lenn extends his ine of reasoning o his characerization of herevouionay eie. They are not mere revouionaries hey are professiona revouioniss." He insss on he fu meaning of he ermprofessiona": someone who is an experienced futime rained revoutions. This sma secre discpined professiona cadre is specicay conrasted o workers' organizaons which are arge pubic

and esabished according o trades. The wo are never o be consedThus o he anaogy of he facory manager visvis he worker Leninadds that of he professiona visvis he apprenice or amaeur I isassumed that those in he second caegoy wi defer o hose n thers on he basis of ther greaer echnca knowedge and experience

hardy unique in his use of this anaogy. His was a pedagogica age ingenera and eadng circes for workers and schoos for sociais t mii

ants were common especiay in Germany where Rosa Luxem

burg

taught at he Sociaist Party's schoo in Berin. Athough the imagery ofth� schoooom may have been commonpace Lenins particuar use

of t to characterize sociaist training beas emphasis. A emendousamount of Lenin's hough and prose was devoted to sociaist insruc-ion" broady undesood. He was peoccupied wih how miiansmight be trained he oe of he party newspaper Iskra, and the con-

tent of speeches manifestos and sogans. Bu Lenin's sociaist schooroom s augh wth danger. His constan fear is ha he teachers wiose conro of he sudens and be swamped by he pevasive inuenceof narrow economic demands egisaive efoms and purey ocaconcerns The cassoom meaphor s inhereny hiearchica but

Lein' main .wor is ha hs sociast teachers wi succ umb and gonatv . Lukg nea the surface of Lenin's witings s a powe cu-tura udgmen wich is eviden here in a represenaive passage

ur ve st and m� imertve dt i o he o rin workng

evoutO who be on te ame eve i rgard to party ativity .eu revl (e

.eme e wd n regrd pry

V. bee ahog neer no o ey nd no o

merve o brng worker u o te evel o ntelleual n oer re). hereore tenon mu be devoed priipally o e ak orasg e worker o e level o revoluion bu wo n dongo neearl dgradig orelve o e evel o e labor e" e Eonoms ws o do or neessar o e eve o e vergeworke [e newper] Svoboda desre to do.16

The diemma fo the party is how to train revouioniss who wi becose o th workes (and perhaps of worker backgrounds themseves)bu who not be absorbed contamnated and weakened by the poitica and cutura backwardness of the workers. Some of Lenins worries have to do with hs onviction at the time ha he Russian workingcass and mos of its sociaist ineigensia were woefuy backwardcompared o heir German counterpars. n What Is to B Don? Ger-an socia democracy and the German tradeunion movement func-

ton repeatedy as he mode n terms of which Russa is found wan



15 8 TRANSFORMING VISIONS

scheme for revolution was no more borne out in practice than were

highmodernist plans for Braslia and Chandigarh boe out in practice.

The most discordant fact about the Russian Revolution was that it

was not to any signicant degree brought about by the vanuard part

the Bolsheviks. What Lenin did succeed brilliantly in doing was in cap-

turing the revolution once it was an accomplished fact. As Hannah

A dt i tl t it Th B h ik f d i i th

he evolutiona Party 15 9

command strcture typically falters. Generals l ose contact with their

troos and are unable to follow the rapidly changing tides of battle thecommands the generals do issue are likely to be irrelevant by the time

they reach the batleeld 30 In Lenins case, the commandandcontrol

structure could hardly falter, a s it had never existed in te rst place .

Ironicay, Lenin himself was ot of step with the partys eadeship

(many of whom were behind bars) and was criticized on the eve of the



Arendt sccinctly put it, The Bosheviks found power ying in the

street, and picked it p."27 E. H. Carr, who wrote one of the earliest and

most complete studies of the revolutionary period, concluded that the

contribution of Lenin and the Bolsheviks to the overthrow of czarism

was negligible" and that indeed Bolshevism succeeded to an emptythrone" Nor was Lenin the prescient commander in chief who could

see the strategic situation clearly. In January 19 17, a month before the

February Revolution, he wrote disconsolately, We of the older generation may not see the decisive battles of the coming revotion."8

The Bosheviks, on the eve of the revolution, did have a modest

workingcass base, especially among the nskilled in Moscow and

Saint Petersburg, but So cial Revoutionaries, Menshevik, anarchists,and naliated workers predominated. What is more, the workers

who were afliated with the Bolsheviks were rarely amenable to any

thing like the hierarchical contro envisioned in Wha Is Be Done?

Lenin's aspiration for revolutionary practice was tha the Bolshe-

viks wold come to form a tight, disciplined, commandandcontrol

structure. Nothing could have been further from actual eperience. n

all bt one crucial respect, the revoltion of 1917 was very mch like

the miscarried revoltion of 1905. Workers in revolt took over the fac-

tores and seized municipal power, while in the countryside, the pea s-

antry began seizing and and attacking the gentry and tax ofcials.

Nether of these activities, either in 1905 or in 19 17, was brought aboutby the Bol sheviks or any other revoltionary vangard The workers,

who spontaneousy formed soviets to run each factory in 1917 disre-

garded at will the instrctions of their own Exective Committee ofSoviets, not to mention the Bolsheviks. For their part, the peasantry

took the opportnity created by a poitica vacm at the center to re

store commnal ontrol over land and enact their local concep t of justice. Most of the peasants had not even heard of the Bolsheviks, let

alone presmed to act on their orders

What must forcefly strike any reader of acc ounts of the detailed

events of late October 1917 s the tter confsion and localized spon-

taneity that prevaled.29 The very dea of centraized coordination in

ths potcal environment was mpausble. n the core of battle, as

miltary historians and astute observers have always nderstood, the

(many of whom were behind bars) and was criticized on the eve of the

Revolution as a rekless putschist.

The new eement in 1917 that made a revoutionary outcome far

ore likely than it had been in 1905 was World War Ispecically,the military collapse of the Russian oensive in Austria. Soldiers by

the thousands threw down ther weapons to return to the cities or to

seize land in the countryside. The provisional government of Alek

sandr Kerensky had little or nothing in the way of coercive resorces

to deploy in its defense. It is in this sense that the Bolsheviks suc-

ceeded to an empy throne," althogh Lenins small military uprising

of October 24 proved a crucial stroke What folowed in the years until

1921 is best descrbed as the reconquest, now by the ledgling Boshe-

vik state, of Rssia. The reconquest was not simply a civil war against

the Whites"; it was aso a war against the autonomous forces that had

seized local power in the revoltionY It involved, rst and foremost,a long strggle to destroy the independent power of the soviets and to

impose piecewok, labor contro, and the abrogation of the rigt to

strike on the workers. In the countryside, the Bolshevik state gradally

imposed political co ntol (in place of commnal power), grain deliver-

ies, and, eventualy, col lectivization on the peasantry.32 The proc ess of

Boshevik state making entailed a great dea of violence againt its

erstwhile beneciaries, as the prisings of Kronstadt, Tambov, and the

Maknovchina in the Ukraine atteted

The model for he vanguard party depicted so sharply in Wha Is o

Be Done? is an impressive eample of eecutive command and control

Applied to the actal revolutionary process however, it is a pipedream, bearing hardly any relation to the facts. Where the model is de

scriptively accrate, aas, is in the exercise of state authoity afer the

revoutionary seizre of power. As it turned ot, the structre of power

that Lenin ho ped wold characterize the making of the revolution was

more closey appoximated by the ongved dctatorshp of the pro-

letariat. And n this case, of corse, the workers and peasants dd not

consent to the strcture of power; the state mposed it as a matter of

mperatve coordnaton.

Since the revolutonary vctors get to wrte the ocal hstory of

how they acheved power, t matters lttle, in one sense, how sngly

160 TRANSORMNG VSONS

the accont ts the hstoca facts. Be case most ctzens come tobelieve the neatly packaged accont, whethe o not it is accate, it

fthe enhances thei condence in the clavoyance, detemination,and powe of thei evoltionay leades. The standad st so" stoyof the evoltionay pocess is pehaps the ltimate state simpl

cation. It sees a vaiety of political and aesthetic pposes, whch ntn help to accon t fo the fom it assmes Sely in the st n

e evolton 1 6 1

fogetting, anothe step n natalzng the evoltonay tmp has

been taken.3When victos sch as Lenin get to impose thei theoies of evol

tion, not so mch on the evoltonay events themselves, bt on thepostevoltonay ocial stoy, the naative typically stesses theagency, ppose, and genis of the evoltonay leadeshp and minimzes contingency.38 The nal iony, then, was that the ocial stoy of



tn help to accon t fo the fom it assmes. Sely, in the st nstance , the inheitos of the evoltionay state have a ves ted inteestin epesenting themselves as the pime animatos of the histoical ot

come. Sch an accont emphaszes the ndspensable ole as leadesand missionaies, and in the case of Lenin, it accoded best with thestated oganizational ideology of the olsheviks The athoized histoes of evoltions, as Milovan Dilas points ot, descibe the evoltion as if it wee the fit of the peviosly planned action of its leades. 33 No cynicism o mendacity need be involved. t is pefectlynatal fo leades and geneals to exaggeate thei inlence onevents; that is the way the wold looks fom whee they sit, and it isaely in the inteest o f thei sbodinates to contadict thei pcte

Afte sizing state powe, the vctos have a powefl nteest inmovng the evolton ot of the steets and into the msems and

schoolbooks as qckly as possible lest the people de cide to epeat theexpeence.34 A schematic accont highlighting the decisiveness of a

handfl of leades einfoces the legitimacy; its emphasis on cohesion, nifomty, and cental ppose makes it seem nevitable andtheefoe, it is to be hoped, pemanent. The slghting of atonomospopla action seves the additional ppose of implying that the

woking class is incapable of acting on its own withot otside leadeshp. 35 The accont s lkely to take the oppotnity to dent enemiesotside and inside the evoltion, singling ot appopate tagets ofhated an sppesson

The standad accont pomoted by evoltionay elites is bt

tessed by the way in which the histoical pocess itself natalizes"the wold, easing evidence of its contingency. Those who foght inThe Rssan Revolton" dscoveed this fact abot themselves onlylate, when the evolton was an accomplished fact. In the same way,none of the histoical paticipants in, say, Wold Wa I o the Battle ofthe Blge, not to menton the Reomation o the Renaissane kew atthe time that they wee paticipating in anythng that cold be so s mmaly debed. Ad becase things do tn ot n a cetan way aeall, with cetain pattens o cases that ae clea in etospect, it is notspisin that the otcome shold sometimes sem inevitable Eveyone fogets that it ight all have tned ot qite diffeently.36 In that

mzes contingency. The nal iony, then, was that the ocial stoy ofthe Bolshevk evoltion was made, fo moe than sxty yeas, to confom closely to the topian diections otlned in Wat Is to Be Done?

The enn otte and Revoltion

The late Lenin of State and Revoltion is often xtaposed to theLenin of Wat Is to Be Done? to demonstate a sbstantial shi i n hisvew of the elationship between the vangad paty and the massesWithot a dobt, mch of Lenn's tone in the pamphlet, witten atbeakneck speed n Agst and Septembe of 1 9 7afte the ebay Revoltion and st befoe the Octobe Revolton is diclt tosqae with the text of 90 . Thee wee impotant tactical easonswhy, in 9 1 7, Le nin might have wanted o encoage as mch aton

omos popla eoltionay acton as possible. He and othe Bo lsheviks wee concened that many wokes, now mastes of thei factoes, and many Rssian banites wold lose thei evoltionay ado,allowng Keens's povsional govenment to gain contol and blockthe Bolshevks. o Lenns evoltonaes, eveythng depended ondestabilzng te Keensky egime, even f the cowds wee not at allnde Bolshevik discipline No wonde that, even in ealy Novebe,befoe the Bolsheviks had consolidated powe, Lenin sonded veymch like te anachists: Socialism is not ceated by odes fomabove. State beacatic atomatism is alen to its spit socialism salive, ceativete ceation of the popla masses theselves."3

Wile State and Revoltion has an egalitaian and topan tone thatechoes Max's pcte of Commnism, wat s stkng o o pposeis the degee to which Lenin's highmodeist convctions stll pevadethe text. st, Le leaves no dobt that the applicaton of state oecive powe is the only way to bild socialism. He openly avows theneed fo violence afte the seize of powe: The poletaiat needsstate powe, the centalized oganization of foce, the oganization ofvi ole nc e, . . . fo the ppose of idin the geat mass of the poplation the peasanty, the petite bogeosie, the se mipoletaiansinthe wok of oganizing Socialist economy."4 Once agan Maxism povdes the deas and tainng that alone ceate a ban fo the wokng


masses By educating a workers' party Marxism educates the vanguard of he prolearia capable of assuming power and leading he

whole peole to Socialism of directing and organizing the new order

of being teacher guide and leader of all he oiling and expoited in theask of building up heir social life wihout he bourgeoisie and againshe bourgeoisie 4 The assumpion is hat he socia life of he working

class will be organized eiher by the bourgeoisie or by he vanguard

he evoluio 63

Lenin observed it must be said that largescale machine in dustywhich is precisely . . he foundaion of socialism[] . calls for absolue and strict i of will, which directs he joint labours of hun-dreds housands and tens of thousands of peole . . . . Bu how cansrict unity of will be ensured? By housands subordinaing heir will

o the will of one . . We mus learn to combine the publicmeetingdemocracy of he working peope urbulen surging overlowing its



ass b ga z by b g s by a g apaty but ever by members of the working class themselves .

A the same time Lenin waxes eloquen abou a new sociey in

which politics wil have disappeared and in which virually anyonecould be enrused with the administraion of hings. The models forLenins opimism were precisely the grea human machines of his

ime industrial organizaions and large bureaucracies. n his picure

he growh of capialism has bui a nonpoliica echnosrucure tharolls along of is accord Capialis culure has creae largescale producion facories railways the posal service elephones ec. and o

hi bai the grea majori of functions of he old sae power' havebecome so simplied and can be reduced o such simple operations of

regisraion ling and checking hat they would be quite within thereach of every literate person and i will be possible o perform hem

for workig mens wages which circumsance can (and mus) sriphose funcions of every shadow of privilege and every appearance ofocial grandeur." Lenin conures up a vision of the perfect echnical

raionaliy of modern producion Once he simple operaions" ap-propriae o each niche in he esablished division of labor are mas-tered hee is quie iteraly nohing more o discuss. The revolutionouss the bougeoisie from he bridge of his ocean liner" insas the

vanguard party and ses a new course but the obs of the vas cew areunchanged. Lenin's picure of he technica srucure i shoud benoted is entirely staic. The forms of producion are either se or ifhey do change he changes cannot require skils of a differen order.

The uopian promise of his capialiscreaed sae of affairs is thaanyone coud ake par in he adminisration of he sae. The develop-

men of capitaism had produced massive socialized bur eaucratic ap-parauses as well as he raining and diciliig of millions of work-ers. 3 Taken ogether hese huge cenralized bureaucracies were hekey o he new word. Lenin had seen hem at work in the warime mobiizaion of Germany under Rahenaus guiding hand. Science and hedivision of abor had spawned an instiuional order of echnica ex-perise in which poiics and quarrels were beside he poin Modern

producion provided the basis of a echnically neces sary dicaorship. In regard o . . . the impotance of individual dicaoria powers"

y g p p g g g sbanks ike a spring loodwih iron discipine while at work with -

qeioig obeiece o he wil of a single person the Soviet lea der

while at work."44In this respec Lenin joins many of his capialis conemporaries in

his enthusiasm for Fordist and Tayorist producion technology. Whatwas rejected by Western trade unions of the time as a deskilling" ofan arisanal workforce was embraced by Lenin as he key o raional

sae planning. There is for Lenin a single objecively correc e-

cient answer to all quesions of how to raionally design producion oradministration6

Lenin goes on o imagine i n a Fourieris vein a vas naional syn

dicate that will virtualy un itsef. He sees it as a technical net whosemesh will conne workers to he appropriate rouines by is rationality

and the discipine of habit. In a chillingly Orwelian passagea warning perhaps o anarchis or umpen eemens who might resist itslogicLenin indicaes how remorseless he system wi be Escapefrom this nationa accounting wil ineviaby become increasinglydifcut . . . and wil probaby be accompanied by such swi and se-

vere punishmen (or the armed workers are men o practical ife notsenimenal inellectuas and they wil scacely allow anyone to trile

with them) that very soon the ecessiy o observing he simpe fun-damental rules of social life in common wi have become a habi."47

Excep for he fact that Lenin's utopia is more egaitarian and is set

in he context o f the dictatorship of he proletaria he paraes with

Le Corbusiers high modernism are conspicuous. The social order isconceived as a vas facory or oce a smoothy humming machine"as Le Corbusier woud have pu i in which each man would live inan odered reaion o he whole" Neiher Lenin nor Le Corbsierwere unique in sharing this vision although they were excepioallyiuential. The parallels serve as a reminde of the extent to which

much of he socialist e as well as the righ were in hrall to he em-plae of mode indusria organizaion. Comparable uopias a dreamof auhoriarian miliary egalitarian bureaucratic socialism whichwas openly admiring of Prussian values" coud be found in Marx in

SainSimon and in he science ction hat was widely popuar in Rus


sia a he tie, especially a translation of Edward Bellay's Looking

Backar.48 High odernis was politically polyorphos; i cold

appear in any poliical disgise, even an anarchist one.

Th Lnn of he Ararin Qestion

In order o clinch he argen for Lenins consisenly highod

i d l hi i i i l ld

he evoltionar Pa 65

ancient, conservative, barbaros, ignorant, and paper ethods of

econoy on peasan allotens be transfored. The hreeeld sys-

te, the priitive ipleens, he pariarchical ipecniosity of the

tiller, he roine ehods of sock breeding and crass naive ignorance

of he condions and reqireens of the arket s all be thrown

overboard."5

The sitabiliy of a logic drawn fro anfacring and applied to

d



ernis stance, we need onl trn o his wriings on agriclre, a eld

in which highodernist views were holy contesed. Mos of or evi-

dence can be drawn fro a single work, h Agrarian Qustion , writen beween 190 1 and 1907 .4

This ex was an unremiing condemnaion of sm allscale family

farming and a celebraion of the gigantic, highly mechanized orms o

modern agriculture. For Lenin it was not jus a quesion o aestheics

o scale but a quesion of hisorical ineviabiliy. The difference be-

ween lowechnology family arming and largescale, mechanzed

farming was precsely the dierence beween he handoperated looms

o coageindustry weavers on one hand and he mechanzed looms o

large extle acories on he oher. The rs mode of producon was

smply doomed. Lenn's analogy was bo rrowed from Marx, who fre-

quenly used as a way o sayng ha he hand loom gies you eu-dalsm and the power loom gves you capalsm. So suggestive was

his magery that Lenn fell back on n oher conexs, claming, or

example, n What Is to B Done? ha his opponens, he Economists,

were usnghandicra mehods;' whereas he B olshevks operaed as

professional (modern, raned) revoluionaries.

Peasan fors o prodctionno o enion he peasans he-selves were, for Lenn, hopelessly backward. They were ere hisor-

al vesiges that wold ndobedly be swep away, as he cotage-indstry weavers had been, by he agrarian eqvalen o largescale

achine idstry. Two decades hae passed," he wroe, and achin-

ery has driven he sall prodcer ro stll anoher o hs las t refges,as f telling hose who have ears o hear and eyes o see ha the econ

os st always look orward, owards technical progress, or else be

left behnd a once, for he who will not look ahead rns hs back onhisory; there is not and there canno be any iddle pah."5 Here andin oher wrings Lenin denonced all he clvation and social prac

tces assoi ated wih the csoary, c onal, hreeeld syse oland alloents ha still perained n ch o Rssia. In hs ca se, the

idea o coon propery prevened the ll developent of captalis, whch, n trn, was a condion o revolton Modern agrcl

tral techniqe," he conclded, deands tha all he condions o f he

agriclre, howeer, was very ch conesed . Any nber of econ-

oists had carried o deailed sdies of labor allocation, prodcion,

and expenditres for rral prodcer hoseholds. While soe wereperhaps ideologic ally coied o developing a case or he prodc

ive eciency of all propery, hey had a wealth of epirical evi

dence hat had o be confronted. 52 They arged tha he natre o c hagriclral prodction eant tha the econoic rerns of echa-

nization were inial when copared o he retrns o f intensicaon

(which focsed on anrng, carefl breedng, and so on). The rerns

o scale as well, they arged, were inal or negaive beyond the av

erage acreage o the faily ar. Lenin ght have aken these argens less seroly had they all been based on Rssan data where

the backwardness of rral infrastrctre peded echanzaion and

coercal prodcon. Bt os of he daa cae o Gerany andAsra, coparavely developed conres, where he sall farersn qeston were hghly coercialzed and responsive o arket

forces.53Lenin set o t to refe the data prporting o show the ecieny or

copeveness o aly agricltre. He exploited he nconsistenciesof heir epirical evidence and ntrodced daa ro oher scholars,

both Rssan and Geran, to ake the case agans he. Where he

evidence seeed nassalable, Lenn claied ha the sall arerswho did srvive anaged o do so only by starving and overworkingheselves, heir wives and children, her cows, and ther plow ani-

als. Whatever prots he sall farms prodced were he conseqenceof overwork and nderconsption. Althogh sch paterns of ao

explotaton" were no ncoon wthn peasan failies, Lenins ev

idence was not copleely convincing. For his (and Marxs) ndersandng of odes o prodction, he srvval of artsanal handwork

and sall faring had to be an ncidenal anachronis. We have since

learned how ecien and enacos sallscale prodcton can be, bt

Lenin was n no dobt abo wha he ftre held. This nqry de

onsrates he echncal sperorty of largescale prodcton n agrcltre . . . [and] he overwork and nderconspton of he all

peasant an d his transforation n� reglar or daylaborer for the



6 TRANSORMNG VSONS

existence with the small armer . . . sinc makin of small

fam he reshaping his whle psychlgy and all his habis is aask requiring generains."6 I this is a acical rerea he acknwledgmen ha he transrmain the peasans will take generatinsdes n exactly sund like he wrds a general wh expects re-sume he ensive sn. On the ther hand Lenin's aih in mechanizain as the key he ransrmain a reca lciran human nature is undiminished. There is a new mdestyhe ruit eecive

e evoltion t 69

we must n verlk the idelgical cmmn grund hey k rgranted. They shared r example Marxist assumptins abu thecnradictins capialist develpmen and the inevitability revluin. They were bth enemies gradualism and anyhing mrehan tactical cmprmises wih nnrevlutinary parties. Even a hestrategic level hey bh argued r he imprtance a vanguard partyn the grunds hat he vanguard pary was mre likey see thewhle situain (the taliy") whereas mst wrkers were mre likely



ypeasan resisance abu hw rtuus and lng he pah a md

ern scialized agricuure wil be bu the visa nce the jurney ismade lks he same.

Luxeurg: Physician and Midwife to the Revolution

sa Luxemburg was mre han merey a cntemprary Lenin. Shewas an equaly cmmited revlutinary and Marxis wh was assassinaed a ng wih Karl Liebknech i n Berlin in 11 a he behest her less revuinary alies n he et. Ahugh Jane Jacbs was acriic Le Crbusier and highmdernist urban planning in generaLe Crbusier had ams cerainly never heard Jacbs bere he

died. Lenin n he her hand had met Luxemburg. They wrte argelyr the same audience and in he knwledge each her's pininsand indeed Luxemburg specicaly reuted Lenin's argumens abutthe vanguard party and is re lain t the prlearia in a revluinaryseting. We wil chiely be cncerned with he essays in which Luxemburg ms directy cnrns Lenin's highmdernis views: Organizaina Quesins ussian Scia Demcracy" (104), MassSrikeParty and Trade Unins" (106), and her pshumusy pubished heussian evluin" (written in 1, rst pubished in 121, aer theKrnsad uprising).

Luxemburg diered mst sharply with Lenin in her relative aithin he autnmus creaivity he wrking class Her ptimism inMass Srke Party and Trade Unins" is pary due he ac hat iwas wrien unlike Wa Is o Don? ater he bjec essn wrker miitancy prvided by he 105 revuin. Luxemburg was especiay sruck by he massive respnse he Warsaw prlearia tthe revluin 105. On he her hand Organizainal Quesins ussian Scial Demcracy" was writen bere he evens 05and in dir ec repy t Wa Is o Don? This essay was a key ex inthe reusa the Plish pary place isel under the cenral discipline he ussian S cia Dem cratic Party. 63

In emphasizing he dierences between Lenin and Luxemburg

y y see nly their lcal situatin and heir paricular interests. Neiher

Lenin nr Luxemburg had what might be caled a scilgy heparty. Tha is it did n ccur them tha the inelligentsia theparty migh have interests that did nt cincide with the wrkers' in-terests hwever dened. They were quick see a scilgy rade-unin bureaucracies bu nt a scilgy he revuinary Marxisparty

Luxemburg in ac was nt abve using he meaphr he acry manager as did Lenin t expain why he wrker might be wise w insrucins in rder t cntribue t a larger resu nt imme-diaey apparent rm where he sd. Where the dierence ariseshwever i s in the lenghs which his gic is purs ued. r Lenin he

taity was excusively in the hands he vanguard party which hada virtual mnply knwledge. He imagined an alseeing ceneran eye in the sky as it werewhich rmed the basis r stricly ierarchical perains in which the prletariat became mere sldiersr pawns. r Luxemburg he party migh wel be mre arsighedthan he wrkers bu i wuld nevertheless be cnstany surprsedand augh new lessns by hse whm i presumed le ad.

Luxemburg viewed he revluinary prcess as being ar mrecmpex and unpredicable than did Lenin j ust as Jacbs saw the cre-ain successul urban neighbrhds as being ar mre cmplexand myserius han did Le Crbusier. The meaphrs Luxemurg

used as we shall see were indicative. Eschewing miliary engineer-ing an acry paralles she wre mre requently grwth devel -pmen experience and earning.64

The idea tha t the vanguard party culd either rder r prhiit amass srike the way a cmmander migh rder his sdiers thern r cnne them t barracks struck Luxemburg as ludicrus.Any aemp t s engineer a strike was bh unreaisic and mrallyinadmissible. She rejeced the instrumenalism tha underay hisview. Bth tendencies rdering r prhibiing a mass srike] pr-ceed rm he same pure anarchist [sic] ntin that he mass srike ismerey a echnical means sruggle which can be decided ' r r



6 TRANSFORMNG VSONS

from above passes hose essons o n o ppis. She casigaed he paryfor is oofdae pedagogica l heory which le f no room for he poenial originaliy of he sdens. When one begins o rn over hepages of he senographic mines and speeches made by or prominen leaders one is asonished by he nexpeced manifesaion ofheir pedagogical aciviies. Every ahor of he hesis proposes hemos perfec sysem of bringing p he masse s. B all hese sysems ofedcaion lack provisions for freedom of experimen for raining andfor expression of creaive abiliies by hose who are o be agh In

he evoion

ake closely resembles ha of an agriclral exension serice andfarmers o whose needs he serice is closely ied. Tha is echnicalceners concerned wih indsrial prodcion wold be esablishedhrogho Rssia b he asks hey addressed and he serices heyprovided wold be direcly responsive o he demands of he prodc-ers.85 The expers wold sere he prodcers raher han dicaing ohem. To his end Kollonay proposed ha a hos of specialiss andocias who had no pracica facory experience and who had joinedhe pary afer b di i d l il h h d d



for expression of creaive abiliies by hose who are o be agh. Inhis respec also all or pedagoges are behind he imes.8

There is some evidence ha Kolonays work on behalf of womenhad a direc bearing on her case for he Workers Opposiion. Js asJacobs was aforded a diferen iew of how he ciy fncioned byvire of her addiional roles as hosewife and moher so Kollonaysaw he pary from he anage poin of an advocae for women whosework was rarely aken seriosy. She accsed he pary of denyingwomen opporniies in organizaion of creaie asks in he sphere ofprodcion and deelopmen of creaie abiliies" and of conninghem o he resriced asks of home economics hosehold diesec."8 Her experience of being paronized and condescended o as arepresenaie of he women's secion seems direcly ied o her accsaion ha he pary was also reaing he workers as nfans raherhan as aonomos creaie adls. I n he same passage as her chargeha he pary hogh women only for home economics shemocked Troskys praise for he workers a a miner's congress whohad vonarily replaced shop windows as showing ha he waned olimi hem o mere janiorial asks.

Like Lxembrg Kollonay believed ha he biding of socialismcold no be accompished by he Cenra Commiee aone howeerfarseeing i migh be The nions were no mere insrmens or rans-mission bels in he bilding of sociaism; hey were o a grea exen hesbjecs and he creaors of a socialis mode of prodcion. Kollonayp he fndamenal difference sccincly: Wok Oppoition in t ni on t mana an cato of t com mnit con

om, a kain tot it Lnin an t lav to tm

onl t ol ofcool of commnim an no mo."4Kolonay shared Lxembrg's conicion ha he pracical experi

ence of indsrial workers on he facory oor was indispensable nowedge ha he expers and echnicians ne eded. Se did nowan o min-imize e role of speciaiss and ocials hey were vial b hey colddo heir job eeciely ony in a genine collaboraion wih he radenions and workers. Her ision of he form his coaboraion migh

he pary afer be dismisseda leas nil hey had done some

manal labor.She clearly saw as did Lxembrg he social and psychologicalconseqenc es of frsraing he independen iniiaives of workers. Arging om concree examplesworkers procring rewood esabishing a dining hall and opening a nrseryshe explained how heywere hwared a eery rn by breacraic delay and peifoggeryEvery independen hogh or iniiaie is reaed as a heresy as a iolaion of pary discipline as an aemp o infringe on he prerogaives of he cener which ms foresee' eeryhing and decree' everyhing and anyhing." The harm done came no s from he fac hahe specialiss and breacras were more likely o make bad decisons.

The aide had wo oher conseqences. Firs i reeced a disrsowards he creaie abiliies of he workers" w hich was nworhy ofhe professed ideals of or pary." Second and mos imporan ismohered he morale and creaie spiri of he working class. In heirsraion a he speci aiss and ocials he workers became cynicaland said le he] ocias hemseles ake care of s. ' " The end reswas an arbirary myopic layer of ocias presiding oer a dispiriedworkforce ping in a badfaih" day on he facory oor. 86

Kolonay's poin of deparre like Lxembrg's is an assmpionabo wha kin of asks are he making of reolions and he creaing of new forms of prodcion. For boh of hem sch asks are oyages in nchared waers. There may be some res of hmb b erecan be no beprins or bae plans drawn p in adance he nmeros nknowns in he eqaion make a onesep soion inconceiable .In more echnical angage sch goas can be approached ony by asochasic process of sccessie approximaions rial and error exper-imen and learning hrogh experience. The kind of knowedge re-qired in sch endeavors is no dedcie knowledge om rs principles b raer wha Greeks of he classical period called mti aconcep o which we shall rern. sally ranslaed inadeqaely ascnning" mti is beer ndersood as he kind of knowledge ha canbe acqired only y ong pracice a simiar b rarey idenica sks

1 TRANSORMNG VSONS

hich requires constant adaptation to changing circumstances. It isto this kin of knoledge that Luxemburg appealed hen s he charac-terized the building of socialism as ne territory" demanding improvisation" and creatiity." It is to this kind of knoledge that Kollontay appealed hen she insisted that the party leaders ere notinfallible that they needed the everyday experience and practicalork of the basic class collectives of those ho actually produceand organize production at the same time "8 In an anaogy that any

he evotonr rt 1 9

Kollontays vanguard paty is not producing a revolution or soialis min the straightforard sense that a factory produces say axles. Thusthe vanguard par cannot be adequately judged as a factoy might byits outputby ho many axles of a certain quality it makes th agiven labor force capitalization and so onno matter ho it goesabout proucing that result. Also te vanguard pary of Luxemburgand Kollontay is a te same time producing a certain kind of orking

ti i t t d d ki



and organize production at the same time. In an anaogy that anyMarxis ould recognize Koontay asked hether it as conceivabletht te cleverest feudal estate managers coud have invented earycapitaism by themselves. Of curse not she ansered because theirknoledge and skills ere directy tied to feuda production just asthe technical speciaists of her day had learned their lessons ithin acapitaist frameork. There as simply no precedent for te futureno being forged.

Ecoig for rhetoical effect a sentiment that both Luxemburgand Leni had uttered Kollontay claimed that it is impossible to de-cree communism. It can be created only in the process of practical re-search through mistakes perhaps but only by the creative poers ofthe okng class itself." While specialists and ofcials had a collaborative role of vital impotance only those ho are d irectly bound toindustry can introduce into it animating innovations"88

For Lenin the vanguard party is a machine for making a revoution andthen for building socialismtasks hose main lines have it is assumed already been orked out. For Le Corbusier the house is a ma-chine for living and the city planner is a specialis t hose knoledgeshos him ho a city must be built. Fr Le Corbusie r the people are irrelevant to he pess of city planning although the result is designedth ther ellbeing and productivity in mind. Lenin cannot make therevolution ithout the proetariat but they are seen argely as troops to

be deployed. The goals of revoluton and scientic socialism are ofcourse also for the benet of the orking class. Each o these schemesimplies a single unitary anser discoverable by specialists and hence acommand center hich can or ought to impose the c orrect solution.

Kollontay and Luxembug in contrast take the tasks at hand tobe unknoable in advance. Given the uncertainty of the endeavor aplurality of experiments and initiatives ill best reveal hich ines ofattack are fruitful and hich are barren. The revolution and socialism il fare best as ill Jacobss city hen they ae jo int productionsbetee technicians and gifed experenced amateurs. Above al thereis no strict distinction beteen means and ends. Luxemburgs and

cassa creative conscious competent and empoered orking

classthat is the precondition of its achieving any of its other goas.ut positively the ay the trip is made matters at east as much a s thedestination. ut negatively a vanguard party can achieve its revolu-tionary results in ays that defeat its central purpose.



Legibiity is a condition of manipulaton. Any substantia state inter-vention in societyto vaccinate a popuation, produce goods, mobilizeabor, tax peope and teir propery, conduct lteracy campaigns, con

script sodiers, enforce sanitation standards, catc crminals, star universa schoolin grequires the invention of units that are visibe Theunts in question might be citizens, vilages, trees, eds, houses, or peo-pe grouped according to age, depending on the type of interventon.Whatever the unis beng manipulated, they must be organized in amanner that permits tem to be identied, observed, recorded, counted,aggregated, and monitored. The degree of knowedge required woudhave to be roughy commensurate with the depth of the intervention.n ot her words, on e might say that the greater the manipuation envis-aged, the greater the legibility requred to effect it.

t was precisey this phenomenon, which had reached fu tide by

the midde of the nineteenth century, that Proudhon had in mnd whenhe decared, To be rued is to be kept an eye on, inspected, spied on,reguated, indoctrinated, sermonized, listed and checked off, esti-mated, appraised, censured, ordered about. . . To be ruled is at everyoperaton, transaction, movement, to be noted, registered, counted,priced, admonished, prevented, reformed, redressed, corrected. !

rom another perspective, what Proudhon was deporing was nfact the great achievement of modern statecraf. How ardwon andtenuous this achievement was is worth emphasizing. Most states, tospeak boadly, ae younger" than the societies that they purport to ad-ministe. States therefore confront patterns of settlement, soci al rea

3



6 RURAL SETTLEMENT AND PRODUCTON

Thai devise d a syste of tattoos for liteally maring commoners withsymbols maing it clear who belonged" to whom. Sch tattooing isevidence tat exceptional measres were reqired to identi and x asbject po lation inclined to vote with its feet. So como n was phys-ical ight hat a large nmber of bonty hnters made a living cors-ing the forests in search of rnaways to retrn to their awl owners. Similar problems beset the estates of Roman Catholic friars in theearly years of Spains dominion in the Philippines. The Tagalogs who

l d d i d f i d d i h L i

u mn nd oduo 8

habitants who practiced shifting cltivation were more widely scat-tered, and were therefore less promising sbjects of appropriationThey were not an integral part of the ingdom, althogh they mightreglarly send tribte to the central cort. Still igher elevations woldconstitte yet other ecological, political, and cltral zones. What Leachpoposed, in efec, is tha we conside all relaively dense, wetricesettlements within range of the capital as the ingdom" and the rest,even if relatively close to the capital as nonstate s aces"

T l f f h b h f



were resettled and organized for spervised prodction on the LatinAmerican model freqently ed the harsh labor regime. They werenown as remontados, that is, peasants who had gone bac p to thehills," where they eoyed more atonomy.

More generally, for precolonia and colonial Sotheast Asia, it mightbe helpfl to thin n terms of state spaces and nonstate sp aces. In therst, o pt it crdely, the sbject poplation was settled rather denselyin qasipermanent commnities, prodcing a srpls of grain (sally of wet rice) and labor which was relatively easily appr opriated bythe state. n the second, the poplation was sparsely settled, typicallypracticed slashandbrn or shfing cltivation, maintained a moremixed economy (inclding, for example, polycltre o reliance on

forest prodc ts), and was highly mobile, thereby severe ly limiting thepossibiltes for reiable state appropriation State sp aces and nonstatespaces were not merely preexisting ecological and geographical settings that encoraged or discoraged the formation of states. A majorobjective of woldbe rlers was to reate and then expand state spacesby bildig irrigation wos, captring sbjects in wars, forcing settle-ment, codiing religons, and so on The casscal state envisaged a concentrated poplation, within easy range, prodcing a steady spply ofeasily trasportable storable grain and tribte and providng a srplsof manpower for secrity, war, and pblic wors.

Edmnd Leachs perceptive effort to nderstand the fronters of

Brma mplicitly followed this logic in ts reconstr ctio o the traditional Brmese polity. He sggested that we oo at the precoonialBrmese sate no as a physicaly contigos territory, as we wold inthe context of modern states bt as a complex patchwor that fol-lowed an entirely diferet logic. We shold pictre the ingdom, heinsisted, n terms of horizontal slices throgh the top ography. Follow-ing this logic, Brma was, in practice, a colle ction of all the sedentary,wetrce rodcers settled in vaeys within the ambit of the cort center These wold be, in the terms sggested above, the state spaces. Thenext horizontal stratm of the andscape from, say, ve hndred feetto fteen hndred feet wod, gien its different ecology, contain in

Te role of staecraft in this context becomes that of maximizingthe prodctive settled poplation in sch state spaces while at thesame time drawing tribte from, or at east netralizing, the nonstatespaces. These staeless zones have always played a potentially sbver-sve role, both sybolcally and practcally. From the vantage point ofthe cort, sch spaces and their inhabtants were the exemplars ofrdeness, dsorde, and barbar aganst whch the cvil, order, andsophistication of the center cold be gaged. Sch spaces, it goeswithot saying, have s erved as reges for eeing peasants, rebels, ban-dits and the pretenders who have oen threatened ingdoms.

Of corse, the ecology of dierent elevations is only one amongmany factors that might characterize nonstae spaces. They aso appear to share one or more of the following distnctive featres they arerelatvely impenetrabe (wild, tracless, labyrinthine, inhospitable)their poplation is dspersed o mgratory and they are npromisingsites for srpl s appropriation. Ths marshes and swamps (one thnso the now beleagered Marsh Arabs on the IraqiIranian boder),evershifting deltas and estaries, montains, deserts (favored by no-madic Berbers and Bedoins), and the sea (home to the socalled seagypsies of sothern Brma), and, mor e generally, the fronter hae allserved as nonstate spaces" in the sense that have been sing theterm.

Contemporary development schemes, whether n Sotheast Asia

or esewhere, reqre the creation of sate spaces where the goerment can recongre the society and economy of those who are to bedeeoped. The transformation of peripheral nonstate spaces intostate spaces by the modern, deveopmentalist natonstate is biqi-tos and, for the inhabitants of sch spaces, freqently tramatic.Anna Lowenhapt Tsngs sensitive accont of the attempts of the ndo-nesian state to captre, as it were, the nomadic Merats hll peopes ofKaimantan describes a strng case in pont. The Merats lve, as shenotes, in an area that, so far, has elded the clarity and visibiity re-qired for model development schemes." As migratory hntergathererswho at the same time practice shifting ctivation, who ive in con

1 RURA SETTLEMENT AND PRODUCTON

stantly changing kinship nits, who ae widely dispesed ove a demanding eain, and who ae, in ndonesian eyes, pagans, the Meats ae a togh case fo development. ndonesian ocials have tied,in thei desltoy fashion, to concentate the Meas i planned villages nea the main oads. The impicit goa was to ceate a xed, concentated poplation that ocias in chage of the managemen of isolated popations cold see and instrct when toing the distict.3Meats immobility was the pecondition of state spevision and deveopment wheeas mch of the identity of the Meas as a people

ura mn and roducion 19

sae space fo he sae. n any case, that is one way to chaacteizethe massive se of Agent Oange to defoliate lage sections of oestding he Vietnam Wa hs ende the oest legible and safe (ogovenment foces, that is).

The concept of state spaces , sitably modied fo the context of a maket economy, can also help s to esolve an appaent paadox in colo-nia agaian policy in S otheast Asia. How do we expain the decide dcol onial peeene o plantaion agicle ove smalhode po



veopment, wheeas mch of the identity of the Meas as a people

depended on nhampeed mobility."4The inaccessibiliy of the Meats was, in statedevelopment palance and in the eyes of govenment ocials, an index of thei amentable backwadness They wee descibed by hei woldbe civilizesas not yet aanged" o not yet odeed" (belum diato) as not yetbroght to eligion" (belum beugama) and thei clvaion praticeswee descibed as disodely agiclte" (petanian ang tidak teatu). Fo thei part, the Meats gasped the essentials of what thegovenment had in mind fo them. They had been asked to settle alongthe main tacks thogh the foest, one local eade obseved, so thegovenment can see the people ." The clsteed hoses they wee asked

to sette n were meant, they beleved to look good if the govenmentcame to vist." Cast n a discose of development, pogess, and civ-lzaton, he plans of the ndonesian state fo the Meats peopes aea he sae me a synopc poect of legbilty and concentaton

t is in the context of acta ebellon whee the effort to ceate andshaply distngish state spaces om nons tate spaces s caied o tslogcal conclson. The nate of militay theat eqes clealy denedand easily montoed and patolled state spaces, sch as fots, focedsettlements, o ntenment camps. Moden examples of this can befond in the socalled new vlages n Malaya ding he Emegencyfollowing Wold Wa , which wee designed patclaly to seqeste

a Chnese smallholde and bbetappng popaton and pevent tfom povding manpowe, food, cash, and spplies to a lagey Chi-nese gella foce in he hineland beyond. n an aangement latecopied n the stategic hamlets" n Vietnam, the elcan esidentswee lodged n dentical, nmbeed hoses aayed n staight lines.The popatons movement in and ot was stctly montoed Theywee one shot step away fom the concenation camps blt in watme to ceate and maintain a legible, bonded, onentted statespace and seal t off as compleely as possibe fom the otsde. Hee,dect contol and disciplne ae moe impotant than appopiation.In ecent tmes thee have be en npecedented effots to ecam non

col onial peeene o plantaion agicle ove smalhode po

dction The gonds fo the choice can cetainly not have been ef-ciency. Fo amos any cop one can name , with the possibe exceptionof sgacane, smalholdes have been able hstoicay to otcom-pete age nits of podction Time and time again, the colonialstates fond, smal podces, owing to thei ow xed costs and exibe se of amily labor cold consistently ndesell statemanagd orpivatesecto plantations

The paadox is lagely esolved, I believe, if we conside the ef-ciencies" of the pantation as a nit of taxation (both taxes on potsand vaios expot levies) of labo discipline and sveillance, an d ofpoitical contol. Take, fo example, bbe podction in colonial

Malaya. At the beginning of the rbbe boom in the st de cade of thetwentieth centy, Bitsh ocials and investos no dobt beleved thatbbe podced by estates, whch had bette planting stock, bettescentc management, and moe avaiable labo, wold pove moeecient and potable than rbbe podced by smallholdes. Whenthey dscoveed they wee wong, howeve, ocals pesisted i systematcally favoing bbe esates at some consdeable cost to theoveall economy of the colony. The infamos Stevenson schee inMalaya dng the woldwde depesson was a paticlaly blaant attempt to peseve the failing estate secto of the bbe indsy bylmitng smallholde podcton Withot it mos estates wold have

peished.The fact that, n potecting the estate seco, the colonizes weealso potecting the nteests o thei contymen and hose o meto-politan investos was only one facto in explaining thei policy. If itwee the main eason, one wold expec he policy o apse with thecontys independen ce As we shall shotly see, i did not . The planaions, althogh less efcient than smallholdes as podces, were famoe convenient as nis of taxation. It was e ase to mono and taxage, pbclowned bsnesses han o do so fo a vast swam osmall gowes who wee hee today and gone tomoow and whoselandholdings, podcton, and pots wee illegible to the state. Bt


beca se plantations specialized in a single crop it was a simple matterto assess their prodction and prots A second advantage of estaterbber prodction was that it typically provided cen tralized forms ofresidence and labor that were far more amenable to central politicaland administrative control. Estates were in a word far more legiblecommnities than were the Malay kampung, which had its own his-tory leadership and mixed economy.

A comparable logic can be seflly applied to the establishment offederal land schemes in independent Malaysia Why did the Malaysianstate elect to establish large costly breacratically monitored settle

ural lmn and roduion 1 9 1

for the rling party. Collective protest was rare and cold sally besnfed ot by the sanctions available to the administrators. It goeswithot saying that the settlements of the Federal Land DevelopmentAthority (FELDA allowed the state to control the mix o f export cropsto monitor prodction and processing and to set prodcer prices inorder to generate revene.

The pblicly stated rationale for planned settlement schemes wasalmost always coched in the discorse of orderly development andsocial services (sch as the provision of health clinics sanitation ade

h i d i l d i f ) Th bli



state elect to establish large costly breacratically monitored settlements in the 1 90s and 970s when the frontier was already being actively pioneered by largescale volntary migration? Pioneer settlement cost the state virtally nothing and had historically createdviable hosehold enterprises that grew and marketed cash crops. Asan economic proposition the hge rbber and palm oil concerns estabishe d by the government made little sens e. The y were enormoslycostly to set p the capital expenditre per settler being far beyondwhat a rational bsinessman wold have invested.

Politicaly and administratively however the advantages of thesearge centrally panned and centrally rn government schemes weremanifo. At a time when the attempted revoltion of the Malayan

Commnist Party was stil fresh in the minds of the contrys Maayrlers planned settements had some of the advantages of strategichamets They were laid ot according to a simpe grid pattern andwere immediatey legible to an otside ofcia. The hose ots werenmbered consectively and the inhabitants were registered and monitored far more closey than in open frontier areas Maaysian setterscold be and were careflly selected for age skis and politica reliability vilagers in the state of Kedah where I worked in the late 1 970snderstood that if they wanted to be selected for a settement s chemethey neded a recomendation fom a oca poitician of the lingparty.

The administrative and economic sitation of the Maaysian settlers was comparable to that of the company towns" of eary indstrialization where everyone worked at comparable jobs were paid bythe same boss lied in company hosing and shopped at the samecompany store. Until the plantation crops were matre the settlerswere paid a wage Their prodction was marketed throgh state chan-nels and they cold be dismissed for any one of a large nmber of infractions against the rles established by the schemes ocials. Theeconomic dependency and direct political contro eant that schschemes c old reglarly be made to prodce large elecoral majorities

qate hosing edcation clean water and infrastrctre). The pblicrhetoric was not intentionally insincere it was however misleadinglysilent abot the manifold ways in which orderly development of thiskind seed important goals of appropriation secrity and politicalhegemony that cold not have been met throgh atonomos frontiersettlement FELDA schemes were so" civilian versions of the new vil-lages created as part of conterinsrgency policy The dividend theypaid was less an economic retrn than a dividend in expanding statespaces.

State plans of sedentarization and planned settement have areygone as anticipated in Maaysia or elsewhere. Like the scientic for-est or the grid city the targets of deveopment have habitay escapedthe netned contro aspired to by their inventors B t we mst neveroverook the fact that the effect of these schemes however inecte d byocal practice lies as mch in what they repace as in the degree towhich they live p to their own rhetoric.

The concentration of popation in planned settleents ay notcreate what state panners had in mind bt it has amost always disrpted or destroyed prior commnities whose cohesion derived mostlyfrom nonstate sorces. The commnities ths spersededhoweverobjectionabe they may have been o n normative grondsw ere likelyto have had their own niqe histoies social ties ythology and ca-pacity for joint action. Vitally by denition the statedesignate d set-tlement mst start from the beginning to bild its own sorces of co-hesion and joint act ion A new commnity is ths also by denition acommnity demobilized and hence a commnity more amenabe tocontrol from aboe and otide.

6 Sovet CollectvzatonCaptalst Dreams



The master bilders of Soviet sociey were rather more like Niemeyerdesigning Bras lia han Baron Hassmann retroting Paris. A cmbinaion of defeat in war, economic collapse, and a revolion had pro-vided the clos es thing o a blldozed sie hat a sate bilder ever gets.

The resl was a kind of ltrahigh modernism that n s adaciy re-called the top ian aspects of its precrsor, he French RevolionThis is nt the place, no r am I the most knowledgeable gide, for an

exensve discsson of Soviet hgh modernism.! What I aim to do, insead, s o emphasze he clral and aesheic elemens in Soviethigh modernsm. This will in trn pave he way for an examnaion ofan illmnang pin of drec conac beween Sove and Americanhgh modernism: the belief in hge, mechanized, ndstrial farms.

In certan vital respects, Soviet high modeism s not a sharp breakfrom Rssian absolism Ernes Gellner has arged that of the twofaces of the Enlghenment he one assertng the sovereigny of he

ndividal and his inerests, he other commending he ratonal a-thoriy of expers i was he second hat spoke to r lers who wantedheir backward" staes to cach p. The Enlightenmen arrived n Cen-ral Erope, he cncldes, as a centralzng rather han a liberangforce."

Strong hisorical echoes of Leninst high modernsm can ths befond in wha Richard Sties calls he admnistrave topansm" ofhe Rssian czars and her advsers in he eighteenth and nineeenhcenries. Ths admnstrative opiansm fond expression n a sc-cesson of schemes o organize the poplation {serfs, soldiers, workers,

93

94 RURAL SETTLEMENT ND PRODUCTION

fncionaries) into institions base d pon hierarchy, discipine , reg-imentation, sric order, rational planning, a geomerica environmen,and a form of welfarism." Peer the Greas Sain Petersbrg was therban realizaion of this vision. The ciy was laid ot according o astric rectilinear and radial plan on compleely new errain. ts sraightbolevards were, by design, twice as wide as he alles bilding, whichwas, natrally, at the geometric cener of he ciy. The bildings themselves relected fnction and hierarchy, as he facade, height, and material of each corresponded to the social class of its inhabitants Thecitys physical ayot was in fact a legible map of its intended social

ovi olivizio 95

Plan (Magniogorsk), no to menion colecivizaion. Sheila Fitz-parick has appropriately called this passion for sheer size gigantomania" The economy itself was conceived as a we llordered machine,where everyone wold simply prodce goods of the description andqantity specied by he cenral states staistical brea, as Lenin hadforeseen.

A transformaon of the physical world was no, however, the onlyiem on he Bolshevik agenda. It was a cltral revoltion tha theysogh, the creation of a new person. Members of he secar inelli-gensia were the most devoted partisans of his aspec of the revol



city s physical ayot was in fact a legible map of its intended social

strcreSaint Petersbrg had many conterpars, rban and rral. UnderCatherine the Grea, Prince Grigory Potemkin esablised a whole series of model cities (sch as Ekaterinoslav) and model rral selemens.The next wo czars, Pal and Alexander I, inherited Caherines passionfor Prssian order and eciency.4 Their adviser, Alexei Arakcheev, e s-tablished a model estate on which peasants wore niforms and followed elaborae insrcions on pkeep and m ainenance, to the pointof carrying pnishment books" inscribed with records of their violations. This esate was made he bas is of a far bolder plan for a neworkof widely scaered, selfsfcien miliary colon ies, which by he late

1 20s inclded 70, 000 people. This attemp o create a new Rssia, inconras o he disorder, moblity, and x of a fronier sociey, qicklysccmbed o poplar resisance, corrption, and inefciency. Longbefore he Bolsheviks ook power, in any case, the historical landscapewas litered wih he wreckage of many miscarried experiments in a-thoritarian social planning.

Lenin and his confederates cold implemen their highmodernistplans stating from nearly zero. The war, the revolion, and he sbse-qent famine had gone a long way oward dissolving the prerevoltionary sociey, paticlarly in he cities. A general collapse of indsrialprodcion had provoked a vast exods from he ciies ad a vital re

gression to a barter economy. The ensing foryear civil war frtherdissolved existing social ies as well as schooling he hardpressed Bol-sheviks in he methods of war Commnism"reqisions, matiallaw, coercion.

Woking on a leveled social terrain and harboring highmodernisambiions in keepng wih the distincion o being he p ioneers of hes socialis evolion, he Bolsheviks thogh big. Nealy everyhingthey planned was on a monmental scale, fom ciies and individalbildings the Palace of Sovies) o consction proects (he WhiteSea Canal) and, aer, he gea indusrial poects of e st FveYear

gensia were the most devoted partisans of his aspec of the revol

tion. Campaigns o promoe atheism and o sppress Chrisian rtalswere pressed in he villages New revoltionary" fneral and mar-riage ceremonies were nvented amidst mch fanfare, and a rital ofOcobering" was encoraged as an alternative o bapism.6 Cremaionraional, clean economicalwas promoted. Along wih his seclarizaion came enormos and widely poplar campaigns o promoteedcaton and lieracy. Archiects and social planners invened newcommnal iving arrangemens designed o spersede he borgeoisfamily paern. Commnal food, landry, and childcare servicespromised o free women from he tradiional division of labor Hosing arrangemens were explcily intended to be so cial conden sers"

The new man"the Bolshevik specialist, engineer, or fnctionarycame o represen a new code of social ehics, which was someimessimply called kulu In keeping with the cl of echnology and scence, kltra emphasized pncality, cleanl iness, bsinesslik e direct-ness, polite modesy, and good, b never showy, manners. It was hisnderstanding of kra and the partys passion for he Leage ofTime, wih is promoion of time consciosness, ecient work habis,and clockdriven rotine, tha were so brillianly caricared in E-gene Zamiatins novel We and that laer became he inspiration forGeorge Orwells 9

What srikes an oside obserer of his revolion in clre and

architectre is is emphasis on pblic form on getting he visal andaesheic dimensions of the new world straigh. One can perhaps seehs best in what Sies calls the festivals of msering" organized byhe cltral impresario of the eary Soviet sae, Anatoy Lnacharsky.In the odoor dramas he prodced, the revoltion was eenacted ona scale that ms have seemed as large as he original, wih canons,bands, searchlighs, ships on the river, for hosand actos, andhiyve thosand spectaos. Whereas he acal revoltion had allthe sal messiness of realiy, the eenactmen called fo miliary pre-cision, and e varios actors wee oganized by platoon and mobi

96 RURAL STTLMNT AND RODUCTION

lized wih semaphoe and eld telephones. Like mass execises, hepbic specace gave a etoacive ode, ppose, and cental diection o he evens, which wee designed o impess he spectao, no oeec he histoica facts. f one can see in Aakcheevs militaycolonies an atempt o pege, to epesen, a wishedfo ode, thenpehaps Lnachasy's saged evolion can be seen as a epesenation of the wishedfo elaionship beween he B osheviks and the po-etaian cowd. Litle effot was spaed o see ha he ceemonytned o ight. When Lnachasky himself complained that chcheswee being demolished fo he May Day celebaions Laza Kagan

ov olvton 19

kept in toch hogh onals, pofessional confeences, and exhibitions. The conneions wee songes beween Ameican agonomissand hei Rssian colleagesconnections hat wee no entieyboen even ding he Cold Wa. Woing in vasty diffeen eco-nomic and poitical envionmens, the Rssians tended to be enviosof he leve of capializaion, paticlaly in mechanizaion, of Ameican fams while he Ameicans wee envios of the political scope ofSovie planning. The degee o which hey wee woking togehe toceate a new wold of lagescale, ational, indsial agiclte canbe dged by this bie f accont of hei elationship



wee being demolished fo he May Day celebaions, Laza Kaganivich, he city boss of Moscow, eplied, And my aesthetis demand hathe demonsaion pocessions fom he six disics of Moscow shodall po into Red Sae at the same time." n achiecte, pblicmannes, ban design, and pblic ita, he emphasis on a visible,aional disciplined social facade seemed to pevail. Sites sggessthat thee is some invese elation between this pbic face of odeand ppose an d he nea anachy ha eigned in society at lage: Asin he case of all sch topias, its oganies descibed it in aional,symmeical tems, in he mathemaical langage of planning, contolges, statisics, poections and pecise commands. As in the visionof miliay colonies, which he opian plan faintly esembled, its aional facade baely obsced the oceans of misey, dsode, chaos,coption and whimsicality tha wen wih it." 3

One possible implication of Sites's assetion is hat, in some ci-cmsaces what call he miniatization of ode may be sbstitted fo the eal thing. A facade o a small, easily managed zone ofode ad confomty may come o be an end in isef; the epe sena-ion may sp the eaity. Miniaes and small expeimens have, ofcose, a impoan ole in sdyg lage phenomena. Model ai-caft bl to scale and wind nnels ae ess enial steps n he design ofnew aiplanes B when he wo ae confsedwhen, say, the gen-eal misakes the paade god fo he baleeld iselfhe conse-

ence s ae poenially disastos.

A Soiet-Americn Fetis Indstril Frming

Befoe plnging into a discssion of he pactice and ogic of Sovietcollectivizaion, we shold ecognize hat he aionalizaion of faming on a h ge, even national, scale was pat of a faih saed by socialenginees and agicltal plannes thogho he wold. 4 And theywee consci os of being engaged in a common ende avo. Like he a-chiecs of the Congs ntenaionax d' Achiece Modene, they

be dged by this bie f accont of hei elationship.The high ide of enhsiasm fo applying indstia mehods o agi

clte in he United States setched oghly fom 1 9 1 0 to the end ofthe 1 90s . Agicltal enginees, a new specialy, wee the main caies of this enthsiasm inenced by cens in thei paent discipline, indstial engineeing, and mos paticlaly by he docines ofthe pophet of timemotion stdies, Fedeick Taylo, they econcept-alized he fam as a food and be factoy." Taylois pincipes ofscientically measing wok pocesses in ode to beak hem downinto simple, epeitive motions ha an nskilled woke cold leanickly might wok well enogh o n the factoy oo, bt hei appli-caion to he vaiegaed and nonepeiive eiemens of gowingcops was esionable. Agicltal enginees heefoe ned tohose aspecs of fam opeaion ha migh be moe easily standadized. They tied o aionalize the layot of fam bildings, to stan-dadize machiney and ools, and to pomoe he mechanizaion ofmao gain cop s.

The pofessional instincts of the agicla enginees led them toy to eplicate as mch as possible he feates of the moden factoy.This impeled them o insist on enlaging the scale of the typical smallfam so tha i cold masspodce standad agiclal commodities,mechanize is opeaion, and heeby, it was hogh, gealy edcehe nit cost of podcion.

As we shall ee late, the indstial model was applicable o some,bt not all, of agiclte. t was nonetheless ap plied indisciminaelyas a ceed ahe han a scientic hypothesis o be examined skepti-cally. The modenis condence in hge scale, centalization of po-dcion, sandadized mass commodities, and mechanization was sohegemonic in the leading secto of indsy tha i became an aile offaith hat the same pinciples wold wok, pai pass, in agicle.

Many effots wee made o p ths faih o he es. Pehaps hemost adacios was the Thomas Campbell fam" in Montana, begno pehaps shod say, fodedin 191.8 was an indsial



200 RURAL SETTLEMENT AND PRODUCTION

nomics at Montana State Universiy and later became a highle velocial n the Department of Agriculture under Henry Wallace. The

Russians were so taken with Campbells farm that they said they woul dprovide him with million acres if he would come to the Soviet Union

and demonstrate his farming methods. 2

rac in te other direction was just as brisk. he Soviet Union

had hired thousands of American technicians and engineers to help inthe design of various elements of Soviet industrial production, including the production of tractors and other farm machinery. By 1927 the

Soviet Union had also purchased twentyseven thousand American

ovit ollctvzation 20 1

plan a huge mechanized wheat farm of sme 00000 acres of virgin

land. It would be, Wilson wrote to a iend, the largest mechanized

wheat farm in the world. They planned the entire farm layout, labor

force, machinery eeds, crop rotations, and lockstep work schedule in a

Chicago hotel room in two weeks in December 1928Y The fact that they

imagined that suc a farm could be planed in a Chicago hotel room un-

derlines their presumption that the key issues were abstract, tecnical

interrelationships that were contextee. As Fitzgerald perceptively ex

plains: Even in the U .S ., those plans would have been optimistic, actu-ally, because they were based on an unrealistic idealization of nature



Soviet Union had also purchased twenty seven thousand American

tractors. Many of the American visitors, such as Ezekial, admired So-viet state farms, which by 1 9 0 offered the promise of collectivized

agriculture on a massive scale. he Americans were impressed not just

by the sheer size of the state farms but also by the fact that technical

specialstsagronomists, economists, engineers, statisticianswere,

it seemed, developing Russian production along rational, egalitarian

lines. he failure of the Western market economy in 1 9 0 reinforced

the attractiveness of the S oviet experiment. Visitors traveling in either

direction returned to their own country thinking that they had seen the

future.7

As Deborah Fitzgerald and Lewis Feuer argue, the attraction that

collectviation held for American agricultural modernizers had littleto do with a belief in Marxism or an anity for Soviet life.28 Rather it

was because he Soviet dea of growing wheat on an industrial scale

and in an industrial fashion was similar to American ideas about the

direction American agriculture should take.2 Soviet collectivization

represented, to these American vewers, an enormous demonstration

project without the political inconveniences of American institutions

that is, the Americans viewed the giant Soviet farms as huge experi

ment statons on which Americans could try out their most radical

ideas for increasing agricultural production, and, in particular, wheat

production. Many of the things they wished to learn more about simply

could not be tried in America, partly because it would cost too much,partly because no suitable large farmsite was available, and partly be

cause many farmers and farm aborers would be alarmed at the impli-

cations of this experimentation3 he hope was that the Soviet exper-

iment woud be to American industrial agronomy more or less what

the Tennessee Valley Authority was to be to American regional plan

ning: a proving ground and a possible m ode for adoption.

Athough Campbell did not accept the Soviet ofer of a vast demon

stration farm, others did. M L. Wison, Harold Ware (who had exten

sive experience in the Soviet Union), and Guy Riggin were invited to

y, y

and human behavior. And insofar as the plans represented what theAmericans woud do if they had millions of acres of at land, lots of la-

borers, and a government commitment to spare no expense in meeting

production goals, th plans wr dsignd for an abstrct, thortical kind

ofpla. his agrcultural place, w hich did ot correspod to America,

Russia, or any other actual location, obeyed the laws of physics and

chemistry, recognized no political or ideological stance."3The giant sovkhoz, amed Verblud, which they established ear

RostovonDon, one thousand miles south of Moscow, comprised3 75,000 acres that were to be sown to wheat. As an economc proposi-tion, it Was an abject failure athough n the early years it did produce

large quantities of wheat. The detailed reasons for the failure are ofless interest for our purposes than the fact that most of them could besummarized Lnder the rubric of context. It was the specic context ofthis specic farm that defeated them. he farm, unlke the plan, wasnot a hypothecated, generic, abstract farm but an unpredictable, com-plex, and particular farm, with its own unique combnation of sois, so-cial structure, administrative culture, weather, political strictures, ma-chinery, roads, and the work skills and habits of its employees. As we shall see, it resembled Braslia in being the knd of failure ypical ofambitious highmodernist schemes for which local knowledge, prac-tice, and context are considered irrelevant or at best an annoyance to

be circumvented.

Collectivization in Soviet Russia

What we have hee isn't a mechansm ts people iving hee You can't getthem squaed aound unti they get themseves aranged. I used to thnk of the

revouton as a steam engne, but now I see that it's not.-Adre Paonov Chevengur

The coectiviation of Soviet agricture was an extreme but diagnos

tic case of authoritarian highmodernist panning. It represented an



204 RURL SETTLEMENT ND PRODUCTION

ineciencies bil ino the sysem Collecivized agriclre, in oherwords, never qie opeated accoding o he hieachical grid of ispodcion plans and procrements.

What seems clear, in he brief accon tha follows is tha collec-tivization per se cannot be laid solely at the fee of Stalin, thogh hebore mh responsibility for is exceptional speed and brtaliy.8 Acollecivized agricltre was always par of he Bolshevik m ap of hefre, and he geat procemen srggles of he late 920s coldhardly have had any oher ocome in he conex of the decision oprse forceddraf indsrializaion. The pary's highmodernis faith

ov olcviaon 205

voked massive deance and evas ion in heir crde Mscovie tribe-collecting methods" ding Wold Wa , there was every reason tosspec tha he Bo lsheviks wold have an even harde time sqeezinggrain from he contryside .

If mch of the conryside was hostile to the B olsheviks, the seni-ment was abndanly eciprocaed. Fo Lenin, as we have seen, theLand Decree, which gave to the peasants he land tha hey had seized,had been a sategic manever designed to by ral qiescence whilepower was consolidated he had no dobt ha peasan smallholdingsmst evenally be abolished in favor of large socialized farms. For



p p y gin geat o llectivist schemes svived long afer the deseae improvisaions of the early 90s. That faih, which claimed o be boh aesthetic and scienic, is clearly visible in a mch laer agrarian highmodeis dream: namely, hrshchev's virgin lands scheme lanchedwell afe Stalins death and afte his cimes ding collecivizaionhad bee pblicly denonced. Wha is remakable is how long thesebeliefs and strcres prevailed, in spite of he evidence of their manfold falings.

Ro T Bo Sa a Paa

It sots ses to e tht f I co ps vryon to sy syste-tiz ch tm h wnt to sy l n o sy ozton evryt he wn o sy fo o porss wol no hv o w onoos bot onnpsnt ntction n ss.

Go Yny, The Ue to Moble

In the paticlar book qoed above, Yaney was wriing abo prerevoltionary Rssia, b he cold jst as easily have been wriingabot te Bolshevik state. Until 90, the continities between theral policy of the Leninist state and its czarist predecessor are morestriking than their diferences. Thee is he same belief in efom fomabove and in lage, modern, mechanzed farms as the key to podc-tive agricltre. There is also, alas the same high level of ignoranceabot a very complex rral economy copled, disastrosly, with heavy-handed aids on the contryside to seize grain by force Althogh thecontinities persisted even afte the instittional evoton of 190,wat is new abot the allot drive to collectivie is the evoltionarystates willingness to completely remake the instittional landscape ofthe agraian sector, and at whatever cost.

The new Bolshevik sate faced a rral s ociey that was signicantlymoe opaqe, resistant, atonomos and hosile than the one encontered by the carist breacracy. If the carist ocials had pro

Trosky the sooner wha he caed the Rssia of icons and cockroache s"was tansformed and banized," the bete. And for many of he newlyrbanized, rankandle Bolsheviks, he aboliion ofthe dak and back-wad peasant world" was a vital part of their own emerging personaland wokingclass ideniy."4

The easant was vitally tera incognia o he Bolsheviks. A hetime of he revoltion, he ary had throgho Rssia a grand otal of9 peasant" membes (mos of hem probably rral inelligensia). 4Mos villagers had never seen a Commnis, althogh hey may wellhave heard of the Bolshevik decree conrming peasant ownership ofhe land hat had been sezed. The only evolionary ary wih any

ral following was the Social Revolionaies, whose poplis ootstended o make them nsympahetic to Lenin's ahoiarian olook.The effecs o f the revoltionary process iself had rendeed rral s o-

ciey more opaqe and hence more dicl o ax. There had alreadybeen a sweepng seizre of land, digned, etrospectvely, by the inappropiate term land eform." I n fac, afe he collapse of he offen-sive into Astria dring the wa and the sbseqen mass desetions,mch of the land of the gentry and chrch, as well as crown land," hadbeen absorbed by the peasantry. Rich peasants clivating independentfarmsteads (the separatos" of he Stolypin eforms) wee ypallyfoced back into the village allotments, and rral socie ty was in efect

radically compressed. The very ich had been dispossessed, and manyof the very poor became smallholders for the rst tme in their lves.According to one set of gres, the nmber of landless rral laboesin Rssia dropped by half, and he average peasan holdng inceasedby 20 percent (in the Ukraine, by 0 0 percent). A total of 2 milionacres was conscaed, a lmost always by local initiative, from large andsmall landords and added to peasant holdings, which now averagedabot 70 aces per hosehod.4

Fom the perspecive of a ax ofcial or a miitary procremennit the sitation was nearly nfathomable. The landtenre stats in



20 RURAL STTLMNT AND PRODUTI ON

paying ni in the conyside. Yaney's smmay of he logic enailedis impeccable.

,Frm a tehnial pit f view it wa iitely eaier t plgh plarge it f land witht regard fr individa laim than it wa tideti eah famil alltmet, easre it vale i the peaat traditinal terms, ad the painfll traspse it frm sattered strips inta cslidated farm The, t, a capital it administratr ld othelp bt prefer to spervise ad ta large prdctive its and nthave t deal with separate farmers . . The collective had a dal appeal to atentic agraria refrmers. The represented a social ideal

ov olcvzon 209

is own peasants." t was a hollow victory. The deaths from thehnger and epidemics of 1 92 1 22 nearly eqaled the oll claimed byWorld War an d he civil war combined.

Ro Two: Hi oi a P

The conjnction of a highmodernis faith in what agriclreshold look like in he ftre and a more immediate crisis of stae ap-propriation helped o spark the allo drive o collecivizaion in thewiner of 19290. n fcsing on jst these wo isses, we mst nec



for rhetorical prposes, and at the same time te seemed to simplite tecnical probems of land reform ad state cotrol

n he rmoil of 972, not many sch agrarian experiments werepossible, and hose tha were attemped generally failed badly. Theywere, however, a sraw in he wind for the fll collecivizaion cam-paign a decade laer.

Unable o remake the rral landscape, the Bo lsheviks rned o thesame mehods of forced ribte nder marial law ha had been se dby their czaris predecessors dring he war. The erm maial law,"however, c onveys an orderliness ha was absen from acal practice.Armed bands (oa)-some athorized and others formed spontaneosly by hngy ownsmenplndered he contryside dring thegrain crisis of spring and smmer 191, secring whaever hey cold.nsofar as grain procremen qotas were set a all, h ey were p relymechanical acc oning gres originaing from an nreliable esimaeof arable and assming a good hares." They were, from the begin-ning, ctional and nflllable."48 The procrement of grain lookedmore like plnder and thef than delivey and prchase. Over 10 dis-tinct prisings, by one esimae, erpted agains he sates grain seiz-res Since e Bosheviks had, in March 19, renamed emselveshe Commnst Pary, many of he rebes claime d to be for te Bolsheviks and he Sovies (whom hey associated with he Land Decree ) and

agains the Commnists. Lenin, referring to he peasan prisings inTambov, he Volga, and the Ukraine, declared tha hey posed more ofa hreat than al he Whies pt ogeher. Desperae pe asant resisancehad in fac all bt stared the ciies ot of exisence,4 and in early 92 1 , he party, for he rst ime, trned its gns on is own rebelliossailors and workers in Kronsad. A this poin he beleagered partyba a acical rereat, abandoning War Commnism and inagratingthe New Economic Policy (NEP which condoned free rade and smallpropery As ges notes, Having defeaed he Whie Army, acked byeight Western powers, the Bolshevik governmen srrendered before

i!I/J•

essarily leave o ohers (and hey are a mltitde) he gripping issesof he hman coss of collecivizaion, he strggle with he right opposiion led by Bkharin, and wheher Salin intended to liqidateUkrainian cltre as well as many Ukrainians.

There is no dob hat Stalin shared Lenins faih in indsrial agri-cltre The aim of collectivization, he said in May 9 2 , was o ransfer from small, backward, and fragmented peasan farms o consolidaed, big, pblic farms, provided wih machines, eqipped wih thedaa of science , and capable of prodcing the greaes qanit of grainfor he marke."

This dream had been deferred in 19 2 . There had been some opehat a gradally expanding collective secor in the 1 92 0s cold provideas mch as onethrd of the conrys grain needs. Insead, the colecivized secor (bot he stae farms and the collecive farms), whic absorbed 10 percent of he labor force, prodced a dismal 2. 2 percen ofgross farm prodcion. When Salin decided on a crash indstrializaion program, was clear that the existing socialis agriclralsecor cold not provide eiher the food for a rapidy growing rbanworkforce or he grain exprts necessary to nance he impoed ech-nology needed for indstrial growth. The middle and rich peasans,many of them newly prosperos since he New Economic Policy, hadhe grain he needed.

Beginning in 1 92 , he ofcial reqisiion policy p the sate on acollision corse with the peasanry The mandaed delivery price ofgrain was onefh of he marke price, and he regime rerned osing police methods as peasant resistance stiffened. 3 When the procremens falered, those who refsed o deliver wha was reqired(who, along with anyone else opposing collecivization, were calledklaks, regardless of heir economic standing) were arresed for de-poaion or execion, and all heir grain, eqipment, land, and livestock were seized and sold. The orders sen o hose direcly in chargeof gran procremen specied ha hey were o arrange meengs of


poor peasans o make i seem a s if he iniiaive had com e from below.t was in the context of this war over grain, and not as a carefllyplanned policy initiative, that the decision to force total" (sploshnaia)collectivization was made in late 929 . Schola rs who agree on littleelse are in accord on this point: the overriding prpose of collectivization was to ensre the seizre of grain. Fitzpatrick begins her stdy ofthe collectives with this assertion The main prpose of collectivization was to increase state grain procrements and redce the peasantsability to withhold grain from the market. This prpose was obvios to

ovi ollcivizaion 2 1 1

highly mechanized and rn hierarchically along scienic, Taylorisprinciples. Above all, he clivaors were o resemble a highly skilledand disciplined proletariat, not a peasantry. Stalin himself, before practical failres discredited a faith in colossal proects, favored collec-ive farms ( grain factories") of 2 ,000 to 2 0,000 acres, as in theAmericanassisted scheme described earlier

The topian abstraction of the vision was matched, on the grond,by wildly nrealistic planning. Given a map and a few assmptionsabot scale and mechanizaion, a specialist cold devise a plan with



peasants from the start, since the collectivization drive of the winter of 92 9 0 was the clmination of more than two years of bitter strgglebetween the peasants and the state over grain procrements."4 RobertConqest concrs: The collective farms were essentially a chosenmechanism for extracting grain and other prodcts."

t appe ars that this was also h ow the vast maority of the peasantrysaw it, dging from their determined resista nce and what we know oftheir views. The seizre o f grain threatened their srvival. The peasantdepicted in Andrei Platonov's novel abot collectivization see s how theseizre of grain negates the earlier land reform: ts a sly bsiness.First yo hand over the land, and then yo take away the gain, right

down to the last kernel. Yo can choke on land like that The mzhikdoesnt have anything left from the land except the horizon. Who areyo fooling?6 At least as threatening was the loss of what little marginof social and economic atonomy the peasantry had achieved since therevoltion. Even poor peasants were aaid of collectivization, becaseit wold involve giving p ones land and implements and workingwith other families, nder orders, not temporarily, as in the army, btforeverit means the barracks for life" Unable to rely on any sig-nicant rral spport, Stalin dispatched twentyve thosand plenipotentiaries" (party members) from the towns and factories to destroythe peasant commne and replace it by a collective economy sbordi

nate to the state," whatever the cost.8Auhaa HihM T an h Pa ofSm

f the move o total" collectivization was directly animated by theparty's determination to seize the land and the crops sown on i onceand for all, i was a determination ltered throgh a highmodernistlens. Althogh the Bolsheviks might disagree abot means, they didthink they knew exactly what modern agricltre shold look like inthe end their nderstanding was as mch visal as scientic Modernagricltre was to be large in scale, the larger the better it was to be

little reference to local knowledge and conditions. A visiting agricltral ofcial wrote back to Moscow from the Urals in March 90 tocomplain that, on the instrction of the Raion Exective Commitee,twelve agronomists have been sitting for twenty days composing anoperationalprodction plan for the nonexistent raion commne with-ot ever leaving their ofces or going ot into the eld'6 When another breacratic monstrosity in Velikie Lkie in the wes t proved nwieldy, the planners simply redced the scale withot sacricingabstraction. They divided the 0,000hectare scheme into thirtytwoeqal sqares of 2,00 hectares each, with one sqare constitting akolkhoz. The sqares were drawn on a map withot any reference to

actal villages, settlements, rivers, hills, swamps or other demographicand topological characteristics of the land."6 Semiotically, we cannot nderstand this modernist vision of agri

cltre as an isolated ideological fragment. t is always seen as thenegtion of the existing rral world. A kolkhoz is meant to replace amir or village, machines to replace horsedrawn plows and hand labor,proletarian workers to replace peasants, scientic agricltre to replace folk tradition and sperstition, edcation to replace ignoranceand malokului and abndance to replace bare sbsistence. Collectivization was meant to spell the end of the peasantry and its way oflife. The introdction of a socialist ec onomy entaild a cltral revol

tion as well the dark" narod, the peasants who were perhaps the greatremaining, intractable threat to the Bolshevik state, were to be re-placed by rational, indstrios, deChristianized, progressivethinkingkolkhoz workers.6 The scale of collectivization was intended to effacethe peas antry and its instittions, thereby narrowing the glf betweenthe rral and rban worlds Underlying the whole plan, of corse,was the assmption that the great collective farms wold operate likefactories in a centralized economy, in this case fllling state ordersfor grain and other agricltral prodcs. As if to drive the pointhome, the state conscated roghly percent of the entire harvest in 9 .

212 RURAL STTLMNT AND PRODUCTION

om a ceal panes pespecive oe gea avanage of colecivizao is ha he sae acquie coo ove how much of eachcop was sow Saing wih he saes nees fo gais mea aiypoucs a so o he sae coul heoeicaly bul hose nees ioits istuctios to the collective secto I pactice the sowig pansimpose fom above wee ofte whoy uneasoable The lan e-patments whch pepae the plans kne w ittle about the cops theywee manating the iputs neee to gow them ocaly o oca soicoitios Nevetheess th ey ha quotas to a them they i

1935

ve evzan 21 3

ouble ske uig afoul of a moe gisly qua: he oe fo kulaksa eemies of he sae

o much of he peasay he auhoiaia abo egime of hekolkhoz seeme no oy o eopaize hei subssence bu o evokemany of he feeoms they ha wo sce hei emacipaio i 1861.They compae co llectivizatio to the sefom thei gapaents e-membee As oe eay sovkhoz woke put it The sovkhoz ae a-ways focing the peasat to wok they make the pea sats wee theiels A they ot eve give us bea o wate hat will come of

baschina



When in A Iakovev the hea of the Cental Committees agcultua epatment cale fo collective fams to be manage by pemanent caes" who genuiney knew the es" he impie that thepesnt ncumbents i not 63 We catch a glimpse of the isastes fomthe eat Puges of 1936-37, when a cetain amount of peasant cit-cism of kolkhoz ocials was biey encouage in oe to etectweckes" One kokhoz was instucte to pow meaows an openlan without whch they cou not have fe thei ivestock Anotheeceive sowing oes that ouble the pevious aceage alotte fohay es b taking i pivate plots an qucksans4

The panes cleal favoe monocutue an a faeachng stct

vision of abo Ente egions an cetainly iniviuakolkhoz,

wee inceasngy specialize poucing only say wheat ivestockcotton o potatoes65 In the case of ivestock pouction one kokhozwoul pouce foe fo beef cattle o hogs whle anohe woulase an bee them The ogic behin kokhoz an egioa specia-ization was oughly compaable to the ogic behin functionay spe-cc uban ones Specialzation euce the numbe of vaiabes thatagonomists ha to consie; it also incease the aministative ou-tinization of wok an hence the powe an knowege of centalocias

Pocuement folowe a compaabe centalizing logi Stating

wth the nees o f the plan an a usually uneiabe estimate of the ha-vest a seies of quotas fo evey oblast aion an kokhoz was mechancay eive Each kokhoz then claime that its quota was impossibe to f an appeale to have it lowee Actuall meeting aquota they kew fom bitte expeience only aise the ante fo thenext oun of pocuements n this espect colective fames wee ina moe pecaious situation than inustia wokes who sti eceivethei wages an ation cas whethe o not the factoy met its quotaFo the kolkhozniki, howeve meeting the quota might mean stava-tion nee the geat famine of 1933-34 can ony be cae a colec-tivization an pocuement famine Those who wee tempte to make

all this ts like [feual abo ues] a ove agai"6 Thepeasats began to say that the aconym fo the AllUnion CommunistPay stoo fo vtoe kepostnoe pavo, o secon sefom"6The paallel was ot a m ee gue of speech the esembances to se fom wee emakabe 68 The kokhoz membes wee equie to wokon the states lan at east haftime fo wages i cash o kin thatwee eisoy They epene lagey on thei own small pivatepots to gow the foo they neee (othe than gain) although theyha ttle fee time to cultivate thei gaens The quantity to be e-livee an pice pa fo kokhoz pouce was set by the state Thekokhozniki owe annual cove abo ues fo oawok an caage

They wee obige to han ove quotas of mik meat eggs an so onfom thei pivate pots The collectives ocias ike feual masteswee wont to use kokhoz abo fo thei pivate siees an ha inpactice if not in aw the abitay powe to nsut beat o epot thepeasants As they wee une sefom they wee legay mmobilize An intenal passpot sstem was eintouce to cea the cities of unesable an unpouctive esients" an to make sue that the peas-anty i not ee aws wee passe to epive the peasanty of theeams they use fo hunting inally the kokhozniki ivng outsiethe viage nuceus (khuto wees) often on thei o famsteaswee focibly elocae beginning in 1939 This last esettemet af

fecte moe than haf a million p easantsThe esulting abo ues pop ey egime an settement pateni in fact esembe a coss between plantation o estate agicutueon one han an feual sevtue on the othe

As a vast stateimpose buepint fo evolutionay change colec-tivization was at east as notabe fo what it estoye as fo what itbuilt The initial inte nt of collectivization was not just to cush the e-sistance of welltoo peasants an gab thei lan it was aso to ismante the social uit though which that esstance was expesse:the mi The peasant commune ha typicaly been the vehicle fo oga-nizing lan seizues uing the evolution fo ochestating lan use

24 RURL ETTLEMENT ND RDUTN

an gazing fo managing local aais geneally an fo opposingpocuements The paty ha evey eason to fea that if he c ollec-tives wee bse on the taitional village they woul simp ly einfocethe basic unit of peasant esistance Han't the villge soviets quicklyescape the state's contol Huge collectives then ha the ecie a -vantage o f bypassing villag e stuctues altogethe They coul be unby a boa consisting of caes an specialists If the giant kolkhozwas then ivie into sections one specialist coul be name manageof each lie the ba ilis i n the old das [of sefo] as [one] e-

l ll f l



pot wyly note Eventually exce pt in fontie aeas pactical con-sieations pevaile an a majoity of the kolkhozy coinci e oughlywith the ealie peasant commune an its lans

The kolkhoz was not howeve just winow essing hii ng a tai-tional commune Almost eveything ha change All the focal pointsfo an autonomous public life ha been eliminate The taven ualfais an makets the chuch an the local mill is appeae ; in theiplaces stoo the kolkho oce the public meeting oom an the schoolNonstate public spaces gave way to the state spaces of govenmentagencies albeit local ones

The conce ntation legibility an centalization o f social oganiza-

tion an pouction can be s een in the map of the state fam at Vech-nyua Toitsa (Uppe Tinity) in Tve Oblast (gue 2 ) Much of theol village has been emove fom the cente an elocate on the out-skits (legen efeence ) Twostoy apatment houses containingsixteen ats each have been clustee nea the cente (legen efe-ences ; see also gue 29 ) while the loc al aministation antae cente school an community builing all public institutionsun by the state lie close to the cente of the new gi Even allowingfo the exaggeate fomalism of the map the state fam is a fa cyfom the spawl an autonomous institutional oe of the pecolle ctivie village a photogaph showing the olstyle housing an a lane

illustates the stak visual contast (see gue 0).Compae to Haussmann's etoting of the physical geogaphy ofPais to make it legible an to facilitate state omination the olshe-viks etotting of ual Russia was fa moe thooughgoing In pla ceof an opaque an often obstinate mi it ha fashione a legiblekolkhoz In place of myia small fams it ha ceate a single localeconomic u nit4 With the establishment of hieachi cal state fams aquasiautonomous petite bougeoisie was eplace with epenentemployees In place theefoe of an agicultue in whch plantinghavesting an maketing ecisons wee in the hans of iniviualhousehols the patystate ha built a ual econoy whee all these

ecisions woul be mae centally In place of a peasanty that was

28 Pln of th stt fr t Vrchnyu Tros (Uppr Trny) n Tvr Obls,showng th following sts: , county cntr; , onun; , hotl; 4 locinstrtion n tr cntr; , school; knrgrtn; usus; 9,shop; bthouse; , ol wooen house ove fro new constructon r; ol villge; two n threestory houss; , grge (prvte); n

grcultur sites (fr storge, wtr towr n so on)

29 At Verchny rots o ne of he new vlg's twostory houses, ch con-tning sixten lts

vi llcivizin 21 7

technicay inepenent, it ha ceate a peasanty that was iectlyepenent on the state o combines an tactos, etilize, an seesn pace of a peasant economy whose havests, income, an potswee wellnigh inecipheable, it ha ceate units that wee iea fosimple an iect appopiation n pace of a vaie o social units withthei own unique histoies an pactices, it ha ceate homoogousunits of accounting that coul all be tte into a national aminista-tive gi The logic was not unike the management scheme at McDon-als: moula, similaly esigne units poucing simila poucts,

i t f k ti U it il b li t th l th i t i t



30 Hoss on n n th od vi t Vrchny Troits

accoing to a common fomua an wok outine Units can easily beuplicate acoss the lanscape, an the inspectos coming to assessthei opeations ente legible omains which they can evaluate with asingle checklist

Any compehensive assessment of sixty yeas of collectivizationwoul equie both achival mateial only now becoming available anabe hans than my own What must stike even a casual stuent ofcollectivization, oweve, is how it lagely aile in eah of its highmoenist aims, espite huge investments in machiney, inastuc-tue, an agonomic eseach ts successes, paaoxically, wee in theomain of taitional stateca The state manage to get its hans on

enough gain to push api inustializaion, even while conteningwith staggeing ineciencies, stagnant yiels, an ecological evastation5 The state also manage, at geat human cost, to eliminate te social basis of oganize, public opposition fom the ual population Onthe othe han, the states capaci o ealizing its vision of lage, pouctive, ecient, scientically avance fams gowing highqalitypoucts fo maket was vitually nil

The collectives that the state ha ceate manifeste in some waysthe acae of moen agicultue without its substance The ams weehighly mechanize (by wol stanas), an they wee manage byocials wit egees in agonomy an engineeing Demonstationfams eally i achieve lage yiels, although oen at pohibitivecost6 t in the en none o this coul isguise the many faiues oSoviet agicultue Only thee souces of these failues ae note heebecause they will conce n us late Fist, having taken fom the eas -ants both thei (elative) inepenence an autonomy as well as theilan an gain, te state ceate a clas s of essentially unfee laboeswho espone with all the oms of footagging an esistance pactice by unfee laboes eveywhee Secon, the unitay aminstative stuctue an impeatives of cental panning ceate a clmsymachine that was uttely unesponsive to local knowlege o to localconitions Finally, te eninist political stuctue of the Soviet Uni on



222 RURAL STTLMNT AND PRODUCTON

cee such cops to those who ha the pesona inteest, incentive, a

hoticultual skills to gow them successfully Such cops can, pn

ciple, be gown by huge centalie entepises as well, but they must

be entepises that ae elaboately attentive to the cae of the cops an

to the cae of the labo that tens them Even whee such cops ae

gown on lage fams, the fams ten to be family entepises of smalle

sie than wheat fams an ae insistent on a stable, knowlegeable

wokfoce n these situations, the small family entepise has, in the

tems of neoclassical economics, a compaative avantage

Anothe way in which wheat pouction is ieent om aspbey

i i h th i f wheat involves a moest numbe of

7 Cmpulsory Villagization inTanzania:Aesthetics and Miniaturization



Anothe way in which wheat popouction is that the gowing of wheat involves a moest numbe of

outines that because the gain is obust, allow some slack o play

The cop will take some abuse Raspbey gwes, because successful

cultivaton of the cop is complex an the fuit is elicate, must be

aaptive, nimble, an exceptionally attentve Successfu aspbey

gowng eques, n othe wos, a substantal s tock of local knowl

ege an expeience These istinctons will pove gemane to the T�n

anan example, to which we now tun, an late to ou unestang

of local knowlege

The ujamaa vllage campaign n Taana fom 97 t 97 was amassve attempt to pemanently settle most o the countys populationn villages, of whch the layouts, housing esgns, an local economieswee planne, pay o wholly, by ocals of the cental govenmentWe shal examne te Tanzanan expeience fo thee easons ist thecampaign was by most accounts the lagest foce esettlement schemeunetaken in inepenent Aca up to that tme; at least mllionTanzanians wee elocate! Secon, ocumentation of the villagiaton pocess is abunant, thanks to the ntenational nteest in the expement an the elatively open chaacte of Tanzanan potical lifeinally, the campagn was unetaken lagely as a evelopment anwefae poect an not, as has oen been he case as p at of a plan opuntive appopiaton, ethnic cleansng, o miltay secuity (as nSouh Afcas foce emovals an homelan schemes une apa-he) Compae wh Soviet collectiviaton the ujamaa vllage cam -paig was a case of lagescae social egneeng by a elatvely be-ngn an weak stae

May ohe lagescale esettlemen schemes can be subecte tomuch the same analyss f, in he Tanzanian case, Chinese an Russan moels as wel as Maxisteninist hetoic play an mpoant eoogical ole, we shoul not imagne that these wee the only souceso nspation fo such schemes We coul as easily have exam ne thehuge foce emovals une apahei polices n S ouh Afca w ichwee fa moe butal an economcally estuctive We coul also haveanalye any numbe of he many lagescale captalst schemes fo

223


producton, often requring ubtantial population movement, that

have been undertaken with international aitance in poor countrie3Juliu Nyerere, Tanzania' head of tate, viewed the perma nent reet-tlement in way that were trkingly continuou with colonial policy, awe hall ee and hi idea about both mechanization and economie of

cale in agriculture were par and parcel of international development

dicourse at the time That dicoure of modernization wa, in turn,heavly nluenced by the model of the Tenneee Valley Authority, thedevelopmet of captalintenve agriculture i n the United State, and

the leon of economic mobilization from World War 11.4

In contrat to Soviet collectivization, Tanzanan villagization wa

Vilagization in anzania 225

travel" a an abbreviated viual image of efciency that i le a cientic propoition to be tete d than a quaireligiou faith in a vualign or repreentation of order A Jacob uggeted, they may ubti-tute an apparent viual order for the real thng The fact that they lookright become more important than whether hey work or, better put,

the aumption i that if the arrangement look right, i will alo ipo

facto, fnction well The imp ortance of uch repreentation i mani-feted in a tendency to miniaturize, to create uch mcroenvironmentof apparent order a model village, demontration project, new cap

ital, and o on

Fnaly ike Soviet colectve ujamaa vilage were economc and



In contrat to Soviet collectivization, Tanzanan villagization wanot conceved a a n aout war of appropriation Nyerere made a pointof warning againt the ue of adminitraive or miitary coercion, initng that no one hould be forced, againt h or her will, nto the

new village And in fact the diruption and inhumanitie of Nyerere

program, however eriou for it victim, were not in the ame leaguea thoe nicted by Stalin Een o, the ujamaa campaign was coer

cive and occaionally violent It proved, moreover, a failure, ecoogically a well a economically

Even in thi ofter" verion of authoritarian high modernim, cer-tain famiy reemblance tand out The rt i the logic o f improve-

ment." A in the unimproved" foret, the exiting pattern of ettlementand ocia ife n Tanzania were egbe and reitant to the narrow

purpoe of the tate Only by radically imping the ettlement pattern wa it poible for the tate to eciently deliver uch developmentervices a choo, clinc, and clean water Mere adminirative convenience wa hardy the ony objective of tate ocia, and that ourecond poi The thinly veiled ubtext of vilagization wa ao to re-organize human communiie in order to make them better object ofpoitica control and to facilitate he new form of communa farmingfavored by tae policy In thi context, there are triking p aralle be-ween what Nyerere and Tanzanian African Nationa Union (TANU) en-

viioned and the program of agricuture and ettlement initiated by thecolonal regime in Eat Africa The parallel ugget that we havetumbled acro omething generic about he project of he modern

developmentalt tate

Beyond th econd crerion of bureaucratic management, how-ever, lay a hird reemblance tha had nothing directly to do wth e-ciency A in the Soviet cae, there wa alo, I believe, a powerful ae-

thetic dimenion Cerain vual repreentaton of order and eciencalthough they may have made eminen ene i ome original context,are detached from their initial mooring Highmodeit plan tend to

Fnaly ike Soviet colectve ujamaa vilage were economc andecological failure For ideologica reaon, the deigner of the new o-ciety had pa id virtuay no attention to the loca knowledge and prac-

tice of cltivator and patoralit. They had ao forgotten the motimportant fact about ocial engineerng: it efciency depend on therepone and cooperation of rea human ubject If peope nd the

new arrangement, however efcient n princple, to be hotie to therdignity, their pla, and their tate, they can make it an inefcientarrangement

Colonial High-Modernist Agriculture n East Afrca

For th coon stt not ry spr to ct n ts contro hn nscpe of perfect sblty; h conon of ths vsblty ws hryon ryhn h (s t wr) sr nb.Bnct Aeson, maine Communities

Colonial rule ha alway been meant o be protabe for the colonzerThi implied, in a rural ociety, imulating cultivation for the market.A variety of uch mean a head taxe payable in cah or in valuablecrop, privateecor plantation, and the encouragement of white et

tler were deployed o thi end Beginnng during Word War andepec iay after i, the Britih n Eat Africa urned to planning arge

cale development proect and mobilizng he required labor A rawin the wind wa the concription of nearly hir thouand laborer

for work on planation (particularly ial planation) during the warPowar cheme, alhough they often had prewar precedent, were

far more ambtiou: a giganic groundnut (peanut) cheme; variourice, obacco, coton, and cattle cheme; and, above all, elaborate oilconervation pla mandating a rict regimen of practice Reetlement and mechanzation were integral part of many cheme5 Thevat majority of thee project were neither popular nor uccefl n

fact, one of the tandard explanation for he uccee of TANU n the

226 RURAL STTL MENT AND PRODU TON

coutyie wa peciey the wiepea popula eetmet agaitcooia agcultual policypaticulay foce coevatio meaue a uch lvetock eguatio a etockg a cattle ppg. 6

The mot eachig accout of the logic ueyg thee chemeof welfae cooialm" i Wiliam eiet tuy of eihboig Maawi (the Nyaala). Athough the ecoogy ffeet Maawi, theboa le f it agcultual pocy vae itte fom that attempteelewhee itih Eat Aica. Fo ou pupoe, what i mot tkg the egee to whch the aumpto of the coloal egmematche thoe of the epeet, a fa moe legtmate, ocialttate of Taaia.

agzan n anzna 22

e agicultue, vey few of which ha bee veie i the cotext ofocal coitio. They wee ao epoyg a et o f aethetc a viualtaa, ome o f them obviouy oigatg i the tempeate Wet,whch ha come to ymbolize a oee a pouctive agicultueThey wee ve by what eet calle the techical magiato ofwhat might be pobe."

the cae of idgig and bundig in the lowe ive the imagiatiohad an almot pictoial qali the looked fowad to a valle of gla ld, atl idgd, between long taight conto bnd, below alie of tom dain toped b fort. t wa a ectangla ontoedode whih wod ender the environmet cetile to onto, failit t t h i t f ti f d t l t i l



The po of epatue fo coloa polcy wa a compete faith iwhat ocial took fo cietic agcutue" o oe ha a a ealytota kepticim about the actua agicultua pactce of Afica othe othe. As a povicia agcutua oce the She (Tch) Valey put it, The Afca ha ethe the taig, kl, o equpmet toagoe hi ol eoo toube o ca he pa the emeial mea-ue, which ae bae o cietic kowege, a thi i whee thikwe ightly come i. Athough the ofce etimet wa o oubtpefecty icee, oe caot fai to ote how it jutie, at the ametime, the impotace a authoity of agicultua expet ove meepactitioe.

keepig with the paig ieoogy of the time, the expet weeiclie to popoe elaboate poject a tota eveopmet chem e,a compeheive la uage cheme. ut thee wee eomou obtace to impoig a complicate a acoia et of egulatio o apopulatio of cultivato wel awae of eviometa coait acovice of the logic of thei ow famig pactice. Puhig aheaautocaticaly oy coute potet a evaio. t wa i jut uch co-text that the tategy of eettemet wa o ap pealg. Opeig ewa o epuchaig the etate of white ette alowe ocia totar om catch with compact vage ite a cooate iivi-ua plot Te ewly ecute ette coul the be eocate to a pe-pae, egile ite eplacig the cattee eiece a complexteue patte fou eewhee The moe the plae e i theetailthat i, the moe that hut wee built o pecie, ite emacate, el ceae a plowe, a plat electe a ometime owthe geate the chace of cotoig the cheme akeepig t to it ege fom.

The paig of the lowe Shie Valley alog thee ie, eietmake clea, wa ot a etiely cietic execie. The cheme e-ige wee eployig a et of techcal beief aocia te with mo

,cilitate technica tafomation of, ad cotrol over, eaat agicltre and, erha, accod with thei e of laned bat. t wathi oltion which wold make adqate roduction oible tdiven by their technical convition and imagination, the were neonive to the eect of their itrention on eaant ociety andeaat clte .

Aethetic oe i the agicutual a foet lacape wa epcatei the huma geogaphy a wel. A eie of moe viage, peaevey aco the ectagula gi of el a like by oa, oulbecome the cete of techcal a ocial evice The el them

eve w ee o aaye a to faciitate the yla otatioal famigbuilt ito the cheme. fact, the Shie Valley poject wa to be amiatue veio of the Teeee Valley Authoity, complete witham alog the ive a ite iicate fo capitaliteive poce-ig pat. A theemeioal moel, aog the lie of a achtectmoel of a ew tow, wa cotucte to how, i miiatue, what thewhole poject woul look like whe complete. 3

The pla fo huma ettlemet a a ue i the owe Shie Valley faie amot completey." The eao fo thei failue peage theaco of the ujamaa vilage. oca cutivato, fo example, eitethe geeic coloial olutio to ol eoio igig A ate eeach

howe, i thi cotext thei eitace wa both ecoomically a eco-logicaly ou. gig o ay oil wa utable, teig to ceatege eoio gulie i the aiy eao, a igig caue the oil toy out quickly uig the y eao, ecouagig white at to attackthe oots of cop Woulbe ettle hate the egimetatio of the govemet cheme; a moel ettemet with commua faming" ewo voutay mgat a ha to be covete ito a govemet maizefam uig wage labo. The pohibitio o famig the ettemet ichmahla dimba) etee volutee ate, ocal cocee thatthey, a ot the peaat, ha bee mitake i thi epect.



234 RURAL STTLMNT AND PRODUTION

Although it put into pactice Neees esp ouse go als, its efusal to tinto the centalize scheme of the pat was fatal.

"T Le n Vllages Is an Order

With hs oe of Decembe 97,3 Neee ene a peio of villag-ization make b spoaic but unauthoize coec ion an put the entie machne of the state behin compulso, univesal villagization.35Whateve estainng inluence that his public isavowal of the use offoce ha povie was now nullie; it was eplace b the esie ofthe pa an bueaucac to pouce the quick esults he wante. Vll i ti ft ll f th i b t J M h

illgizon in nzni 235

ment woul have a saluta effect. t woul ip the peasant om theitaitional suounings an netwoks an woul put them own inentiel new settings whee, it was hope, the coul then be moeeail emae into moen pouces following the instuctions ofexpets.38 n a lage sense , of couse, the pupose of foce settlementis alwas isoientaton an then eoientation. Colonal schemes fostate fams o pivate plantations, as well as the man plans to ceate aclass of pogessive eoman fames, opeate on the assumption thatevolutionizing the living aangements an woking envionments of

peop le woul tansfom them funamentall. Neee was fon of con-tasting the loose, autonomous wok hthms of taitonal cultivatosith th ti ht k it i t t i i li f th f t 3 D l



lagization was, afte all, fo thei own benet, as Juma Mwapachu, anocial in chage of foce settlement in the istict of Shinanga, explaine The 97 Opeation Planne] Villages was not to be a matteof pesuasion but of coecion. As Neee ague, the move ha to becompulso because Tanzania coul not sit back seeing the maoitof its people leaing a life of eath. The State, ha, theefoe, to takethe ole of the fathe in ensuing that its people chose a bette anmoe pospeous life fo themselves"36 New villages an communalfaming ha been an ocial polic pioit at least since 97 but theesults ha been a isappointment Now it was tme to insist on village lvin g, Neee claime, as the onl wa to pomote evelopmentan incease pouction. The ofcial tem emploe afte 97 wasplanne" villages not uamaa" vllages), pesumabl to istinguishthem both fom the communalpouction egime of uamaa vllages ,which ha faile, an fom the unplanne settlements an homesteasin which Tanzanians now esie

The actual campagn was calle Opeaion Planne Villages, con-uing in the popula min images of milia opeations. An so itwas The opeaional plan specie, b he book, a sixphase sequence :eucate o politicize" the people, seach fo a suitable site, inspectthe location, pla n the village an emacate he lan cleal, tain theocials in the methoolog of uamaa, an esettlemen." The sequence was both ineviable an involunta iven he cash" natueof he campaign, eucating the people i no mean asking he consent; it meant telling them ha the ha to move an wh it was inthei best inteest. The pace was, moeove, oublequick. The esseheasal n Dooma in 970 ha allowe planning teams one a pevillage plan he new campaign stetche the planning app aatus eventhinne.

No was the spe e of the opeation a mee bpouct of aminis-ttive hase. The plannes felt that the shock of lightningquick settle

with the tightknit, inteepenent iscipline of the facto3 De nselsettle villages wi th coopeative pouction woul move the Tanzanianpopulation towa that ieal.

Rual Tanzanians we e unestanabl eluctant to move nto n ewcommunities planne b the state. Thei past expeience, whethe be-foe inepene nce o afte, waante thei skepticis m. As cultivatosan pastoalists, the ha evelope pattens of settlement an, inman cases, pattens of peioic movements that wee nel tuneaaptations to an often sting envionment which the knew excep-

tionall well. The statemanate movement theatene to esto thelogic of this aaptation. Aministative convenence, not ecologicalconseations, govene the selection of sites; the wee often fafom fuelwoo an wate, an thei population often exceee the caing capacit of the lan. As one specialist foesaw: Unless villagization can be c ouple with infastuctual inputs to ceate a nove l technolog to maste the envionment, the nucleate settlement patenma, b itself, be countepouctive in economic tems an estuc-tive of the ecological balance maintaine une the taitional settlement patten. Nucleate setlement will mean ovecowing . . withpeople an omestic animals an the accompaning soil eosion, gullfomation, an us bowls which ae common featues in situationswhee he human initiative has suenl ovetaxe the caing ca-pacit of he lan

iven t he esistance of the population an the bueaucaticmiliaimpeative of a cash pogam, violence was inevitable. Theats weeall but univesal. Those slate o move wee again tol that famine elief woul be accoe onl to those who move peacefull. The militiaan the am wee mobilize to povie tanspot an to compel com -pliance. People wee tol that if the i not pull own thei housesan loa them into the govenment tucks, the authoities woul pullown the houses. n oe to pevent those focibl move fom e

236 RURAL SETTLEMENT AND RODUCTION

tunng, man homes wee bune Tpca of he epos ha cameou of Tanzania was he foowing esciption b a stuen in he pooegion of Kgoma: Foce an buait was use The poie wee heones empowee ogehe with some govenment oci als. Fo example at Kaanazuza n Kalinz . . the polce ha o ake cage phsicall n some aeas whee peasans efuse o pack hei belongingsan boa he Opeation loies an tucks hei houses wee esoe hough buning o pulling he m own House estucion waswinesse in Nange village. t beca me a ouine oe of he a. An

the peasans ha unconiionall to shift. t was a foceful villagizaionn some villages."4 When the peasant ealize hat open esistancewas angeous an pobabl fuile te save wha he coul ofen

ilagizaion in anzania 23

wa afas of ecues expanaons, nstuctons scongs, pomises, an wanings The assembe viages wee expecte o be whaSa Fak Mooe has appopiae calle aiing boies public"gving popuis legitimac to ecsions mae esewhee.46 Fa fomachievng this populis legitimac, the villagzaion camp aign ceateonl an alenae skeptical emoalize an uncoopeatve peasan fo whch Tanzana woul pa a huge pice, both nanciall anpolitical. 4

A Sramd Po ad Thr CThe planne new villages followe both a bueaucatc logic an an



was angeous an pobabl fuile te save wha he coul, ofenleeing he new village a he s oppotuni

Such ncenives as clinics, pipe wae, an schools wee ofee ohose who went peacefull. Someimes he , alhough he e toinsst on a witten conact with ofcias an to equie tat the newsevices pomise hem be establishe bfore he move Positive inucemens wee appaentl moe pical of te eal voluna phaseof villagizaion han he lae compuls o phase. A few egons weelile affece ocals hee smpl esgnae man exsng setlements as planne villages an le it at that. Thee was both an economic an political logc to the exclusions. Wealh ensel seleaeas such as West Lake an Kilimanao wee lagel spae fo theeeasons fames hee wee alea living in populous vilages heiunistube poucivi in cash cops was vial fo sae evenues anfoeign exchange an the goups esiing in hese aeas wee oveepesente among he bueaucac elie. Some ciics suggese thahe highe the popoion of govenmen ofcials fom an aea, helate an moe esulo) its villagizaon.43

When Neee leane exactl how hin was he cion of pesuasion an how wespea wee he bualities, he expesse his isma He ecie he failue to compensate peasans fo thei esoehus an allowe hat some ocials ha move people o unsuiablelocations tha lacke wae o sucen aable lan. Despite ou ofcial policies an espite all ou emocatic insiuions, some leaes o not listen o the people," he amitte. The n t much easieto tell people what to o. 44 But it was absu to petenha thesecases wee tpical of villagization,"45 let alone to call o f the campaign.Neee wante local authoties to be knowlegeable close to thepeople, an pesuasive in putting acoss state polic he i not anmoe than Lenn , want hem o obe te people's wses No supisingl, the souces agee that viuall all village meetings wee one

The planne new villages followe both a bueaucatc logic an anaesthetic logc. Neee an his plannes ha a visual iea of us how amoen vllage shoul look Such visual eas become poweful opesTake the wo steamline" fo example Seamlning" h as become apoweful image fo moen foms conveing econom sleekessefcienc, an minimal fiction o esisance Poliicians an aminisaos hasen to cash in on the smbolic capial behin the em beclaing tha the will steamline this agenc o tha copoation, allowng he auiences vsual magnaton to ll n the etals of a bueaucatic euivalen of a sleek locomotive o e. Thus i is that a temthat has a specic conexual meaning in one el aeonamics)comes to be genealize to subecs whee is meaning is moe visualan aestheic than scientic. Above all, as we shall se e he aestheic ofhe new village was a negaion of the pas Fist howeve, to the aminisative logic

Wha geee Neee when he visie new villages in the isict ofShinanga nohwest Tanzania) in eal 9 7 was fail pical o f bu-eaucaic haste an insensibli.48 Some of the villages wee lai ouas one lon g seet of houses setching fo miles like he wagons o f alocomoive."4 appeae to Neee that tis was a cue case o simpl umpng" the setles But such linea villages i have a cuiouslogc behin them. Aministaos ha a penchan fo locating new villages along he mao oas, whee the coul be most easil eacean monitoe5 Roasie siting ael mae economic sense i,on the ohe han emonstae how the goal o exening he ste'scontol ove he peasant often tumpe the states ohe goal of aising agicultul pouction. As Stalin ha leane a captue peas-ant was not necessal a pouctve peasant.

The visual aesthetics of how a pope new village soul look combine elements o aministative egulait, iness an egibltlinke to an oveall Caesan oe. This was the moen aminista

23 RRL SETTLEMENT ND PRODCTION

tive village, an it was implicitl associate with a moen, sci-

pline, an pouctive peasant. One astute obsve, smpathetc t�

the aims of villagization, note the oveall effect. The new appoac�,

he explaine, was moe in line with bueaucatic thinking an wth

what a bueaucac can o effectivel: enfoce movement of the peas

ants into new moen setlements, i .e. , setlements with houses place

close togethe, in staight lines, along the oas, an with the els

outsie the nucleate village, oganize in block fams, each block con

taining the villages iniviual plots, but with onl one te o f cop,

an eail accessible fo contol b the agicultual extenn oce

" an eventual cultivation b govenment tactos . As the execise of village ceation was epeate, the aministative

l i k

lagzaon n anzana 23 9

stantial sults bcaus of th issal of th fam odcs, theimovishmnt of the soils b th actic of bush bning and con-sidabl difclties in makting odcts h olic which ovn-mnt has decid to us with sct to all ths ones consists in and fams on th most favoabl soil, installingth a sstm o ivat o colctiv ownshi an intodcing o ao a a that wold mit th maintnanc of soil ftiit.

The population concentate in planne villages woul, b egees,gow cash cops as specie b the agicultual expets on comunal els with statesupplie machine. Thei housing, thei local a

ministation, thei agicultual pactices, an, most impotant, theiwokas woul b e ovesee n b state authoities.



image of the moen village became inceasingl coi;, a known

potocol that almost an bueaucat coul epouce. he :st e

sponse of the West Lake leaes, when the wee c alle upon t mple

ment uamaa in the Region, was to hink of esettlement. Ceatg new

settlements ha seveal avantages. The wee highl visible, an eas

to oganize ight fom the beginning in the oel, nice looking wa

pefee b bueaucats with the houses an s�am?as gaens,

fams] in saight lines, etc.52 Reconstucting the hstocal leage of

this composite pictue of moen ual life woul be fascinating, al-

though tangential to ou puposes . No oubt i owes something to colonial polic an hence to the loo of the moen Euopean ual lan

scape, an we also know ha Neee was impesse i what he

saw on his ips to he Sovie Union an o China. What sgcan,

howeve is that the moen planne village in Tanzania was essen

tiall a ointboint negation of existing ual pacice , ��ich in

clue shifting culivaion an pasoalism; polcoppg; lvg well

off he main oas; kinship an lineage auhoit; small, s caee set

tlements with houses buil higglepiggle; an pouction th was

ispese an opaque to the state. The logic of this negation seeme

ofen to pevail ove soun ecological o economic consieations.

Coa Fa a oo

Collecting Tanzanians into villages was seen fom he ve begining as a ne cessa step in establishing completel new fms of agcultual pouction in which he state woul pla the mao ole. Thest veea plan was explicit

Althogh th imovmnt aoach as oos to t tansfomatiaoach can contibt to incasing odcto m . . . ons hlow and iga ainfa, it cannot in all vnts gv s to v sb

The foce villagization campaign itself ha such a isastous eecton agicultual pouction that the state was in no position to pessahea immeiatel with fullscale communal faming. Huge impotsof foo wee necessa om 97 though 97 Neee eclaethat the 2 billion shillings spent fo foo impots woul have boughtone cow fo eve Tanzanian famil. Roughl 0 p ecent of the n ew vil-lages wee loca te on semiai lan unsuitable fo pemanent cultivation, equiing peasants to walk long isances to each viable plots.The chaos of the move itself an the slow pocess of aapting to a new

ecological seting meant futhe isuptions of pouction.5 Unil 97 the stae's effo o conol pouction ousie its ownstae schemes ook he classic colonial fom: laws manaing that eachhousehol gow cetain cops on a minimum numbe of aces. A vai-et of nes an penalies wee eploe o nfoce these easues none egion, ocials announce hat no one woul be allowe to go tomaket o ie a bus un less he c oul pove tha he was culivaing theequie seven an onehalf aces of lan. n anohe case, famine e-lief was withhel until each village ha plante one ace of cassava inaccoance with the minimum aceage law.56 On e mao souce of theconict leaing to the issolution of the Ruvuma uamaa villages wa s

the foce cultivation of ecue tobacco at what the villages ook tobe conscato pices. As the colonizes ha unestoo long befoe,foce cultivation of this kin coul be success full impose onl on apeasant that was phsicall concentate an theefoe able to bemonitoe an, if necessa, iscipline

The next step was egulate , communal pouction. 8 This fom ofcultivation was anticipate in the Villages an Uamaa Villages ct 97 ) which establishe village collective fams" an equie vil-lage authoities to aw up annu al wok plans an poduction tagets.



22 RUR STTLMNT ND PRDUCTIN

Neee entiel agee with the maoit of the extenson ocia ls,who believe that thei ob was to ovecome the fames apath anattachment to outmoe pactices" H e an t he Wol Bank saw ee-toee n having the st plan povie fo sixt new settlement schemesin which fames who followe the ules woul eceve lan Thee sno mistaking ths pictue of a willfull ignoant an less th an iligentclass of cltivatos in Neees st boacast as pime ministe in9 f ou have cotton unpicke on ou shamba, if ou have culti-vate half an ace less than ou coul cultivate, f ou ae letting thesoil un neeles sl of ou lan, o f ou shamba is ull of wees, ifou elibeatel ignoe the avice given ou b the agcultual epets, then ou ae a taito in the battle" !

illagizaon in anzania 23

LNO UAP r 8.Slrtd 2! . j9!



The logical countepat to the lack of faith of the oina culti-vato was the hpefaith of the agicultual expets an the blin faithin machines an lage scale opeations Just as the planne villagewas a vast impovement in legibilit an contol ove pat settlementpactices, the planne agicultue ofee b the expets was, in its leg-ibilit an oe, an impovement" on the innte vaiet an muleof smallholings an thei existing techniques3 n the new villages,the settle pivate plots (shambas) wee geneall mappe out b su-veos an wee tim, squae o ectangula plots of equa size, place

sie b sie in staight ows gue ) Thei esign ollowe thesame logic as the segmente communal plots a logic o clait an aministatve ease athe than agonomic sense Thus when a schemefo tea cultivaton was begun, the smallholes wee equie to plantthei tea in a single block because it was ea sie fo the extension staff

h I "4to wok on tea that was plante t e same p aceThe oe of the els was eplicate in the oe of the plants

withn the els Tanzanian fames oen plante two o moe copstogethe in the same el a technque vaiousl calle polcopping,intecopping, o ela copping) n the cofeegowing aeas, fo example, coee was oen inteplante wth bananas, beans, an othe

annuals Fo most agonomists, this pactice was anathema As oneissentin specalist explaine, he agicultual extension seice hasbeen encuagng fames to plant puresand cofee an cons iengthis pactce the sine qua non of moen faming the op wee ba-nanas, the banana tees must also be in pue stans Agicultual eloces uge thei accomplishments b whethe each cop une theisupeisin was plante in staight, popel space ows an was notmixe wih an othe cultigen Like lagescale mechan ze aming,monocoping ha a scientic ationale in pariular onexs but ex-tension oces oen pomote monocopping uciticall as an aicle

$HW

J L

3 . Pln for j v: zi

py, Olnz, shw Tnzni

of faith in the catechism of moen faming While empiical eviencewas even then mounting in favo of the ecological sounness an poctivit of some intecopping egimes, the faith continue unabateWhat is clea, howeve, is that monocopping an ow planting vastl facilitate the wok of aministatos an agonomists Both techniques fa-ciltate inspecton an calculations of aceage an iel the geatlsimpli el tials b minimizing the numbe of vaiables at pla in anone el the steamline the ob of extension ecommenations an thesupeision of cultivation an, nall, the simpli contol of the ha-

vest The simplie an legible el cop offes to state agicultualoces man of the same avantages that the stippeown" com-mecial foest ofee to scientic foestes an evenue oces

Baat Co Ba

Authoitaian social engineeing is apt to ispla the ull ange ofstna bueaucatic patoogies e tansomations it wises to efet cannot geneal be bought about without appling foce o with-ot teating natue an human subects as if the wee funcions in afe aministative outines Fa om being egettable anomalies, these

244 UAL STTLMNT AND PDUCTIN

behavioral yproucts are inherent in highmoeist campaigns fthis kin. am puposely ignoing here the moe obvious inhumanitiesthat ae inevitable wheneve geat powe is place in the hans oflagely unaccountabe state authoities who ae une pessue omabove to prouce results espite popular esistance. nstea stesstwo key elements of the bueaucatic response tie by the ujamaavillage ca mpaign st the civil sevants inclination to eintepret thecampaign so that it calle for esults that they coul moe easiy eliver an secon their isposition to eintepet the campaign in linewith what was in thei copoate interests

The rst tenency was most eaily apparent in the splacementof goals towa stictly quantitative citeia of peformance What

azao azaa 245

raton when we a no sare a all op part ocials were eral.g a posiiv� reinorcing te acievemens o reselemenin eiat. o suc circmsances woul ave wise o lag ehinotcal leaers tereore calle or qic measures to complete the resetlement eersein a sor time. uc a ruse eercise cause prolems o ourse te orm o poorl planne villages.

Nyre ne cessaily perceiving the campaign lagely though setsof statstcs an selfcongratulatoy ocial epots exacebate thecompetitive atmosphee. His glowing eport to was a eliium ofnumbers tagets an percentages.8

onsier or eample e qeion o villagiation n m report o e 7� onerence was ale to a at 164 people were liv



might e calle a substantive ujamaa village" whose resients hafreely consente to move ha agree on how to manage a communalplot an wee pouctive famers managing thei own ocal afairsNyeees initial vision ) was eplac e by a notional ujamaa villagean intege that coul be ae to an avalanche of statistics. Thuspaty cares an civil sevants in showing how much they ha accompishe emphasize the numbes of people move new villages ce-ate house lots an communa ls suveye wells ille aeascleare an plowe tons of fertilizer elivere an anches setup. No matte if a given ujamaa village was not much more than a fewtrucloa of angy peasants an hei belongings unceemoniouslyumpe at a site marke off with a few suveyors stakes; it stillcounte as one ujamaa vilage to the ofcials' ceit. n aition apettifogging aesthetics might pevail ove sustance. The sie tohave al the houses in a planne vilage pefectly aigne whch waspesumay inke to easy suveying an the esie to please the inspecting ocials might require that a house e is mante in oe tomove it a cant fty feet to the suveyos lin e

The pouctivi of the political apparatus was ju ge by numerica esuts that pemitte aggregation an pehaps moe important

compaisons 8 An when ocials eaize that thei ftues epeneon proucing impessive gues quickly a poce ss of competitive emuation was unleashe. One ocia escibe the atmosphee thatcause him to abanon an initial stategy of selective implementationan to plnge ahea.

i strateg was oun o e nworale for wo main reaon rere was a compeiive aiue paricularl beween region) wit alis politica overone ere wa a momen or elagganiemen bproving aili o moilie a rural populaion woleale epor werecomng n fom ara egion a e were abou o comlee eir op

7� onerence was ale to a at ,,164 people were livg vllages wo ears later in une 7, repore to e net onerec� tat approimatel , 1, people were living in villagecommutes o tere are aou 1,6, people living togeter in7,64 vllages a tremenou acievement. t i an acievemento an overnmen leaer in ooperation wit te people of anaa t means tat someting lie 7% o our people ave moveteir ome in e pace o aout ree ear

The secon an suey most ominous eection of the ujamaacampagn ought off by state authorities was to see that its imple

mentatn systematically seve to unerwite thei status an poweAs Anrew Coulson has perceptively note in the actual pocess ofceating new villages the aministators an paty ocials themselves competitors) efectively evae all those policies that woulhave minishe thei pivileges an powe whie eaggeating thosetat efce thir copoate sway Thus such ieas as allowing smalluamaa ages ke Ruvuma to operate free of govenment inteference befoe 196, pupils involvement in ecision making in schools(1969, wokes participation in management (1969-70), an thepower to eect vllage councis an leaeship (197-75 wee all honore in the reach.8 Highmoenist social engineeing is ieal soil

for authoitarian petensions an Tanzanian ocialom mae themost of this chance to consoliate its position.

T a o a Naoal Plaao

Vilagization was meant to raicaly concentate Tanzanias peasnty or e to egiment t poitcay an economica f woket wou tansfom the isperse atonomous an illegible populatonsthat ha thus fa elue most of the state policie s they foun oneousThe plannes pice instea a populaton sele in govenment



250 RURAL SETTLMNT AND PRODUCTION

1

1 I I H

Villagization in anzania 25 1



13 � O= �

40

Crp ares on 1000 m2 comunds

3 A govenment pan fo a standad socalst vllage Arsi region Ethiopia. The

layout shows 1 a mass organzaton ofce; 2 a kindegarten; 3 a health clnic; 4,a state coopeative shop; 5 peasant assocation oce; 6, reserve plots; 7, a p-

mary school 8 a spos ed 9, a seedmultplcaton cente; 10 a handcrafts

center; and 11 , an anmabeeding staton. Detail 12 depicts an enlagement of

compound stes, and deta 13 is an enlagement of two stes showng the neighborhood atne at 14.

villagizaon mean tha it was even more destructive of peasan live-lihoods and of the environmen than its Tanzanian counerpart

A fll appreciaion of the toll of forced resetlement in Ethiopia extends far beyond the standard reports of sarvation, executions, deforestaion, and failed crops The new settlements nearly always failedtheir inhabitants as human communities ad as units of food produc-tion. The very fac of massive resettleme nllied a precious legacy

of local agricultural and pastoral knowledge and, with i, some thirtyto forty housand fctioning communities, most of them in regionshat had regularly produced food surpluses.

A typical cultivator in Tigray, a location singled out for harsh mea

sures, plnted a n average of feen crops a season (suc cereal crops

3 3 . Aeria view of a resettlement site i n southwestern Ethiopa 1 9 8 6

as teff, barley, wheat, sorghum, corn, millet; such root crops as sweetpotatoes, potatoes, onions some legumes, including horsebeans, lentils, and chickpeas and a number of vegetable crops, including pep

pers, okra, and many others). 101 t goes without saying that the farmer

was familiar with each of several varieties of any crop, when to plant

it, how deeply to sow i, how o prepare he soil, and how to tend andharves it This knowledge was place specifc in he sense tha he successfl growing o any variety required l ocal knowledge abou rainfall

and soils, down to and including the peculiariies of each plot the

farmer culivated. 102 t was also place specic in the sense tha mch of

this knowledge was stored in the collective memory of the locality: a noral archive of techniques, seed varieies, and ec ological informtion.

Once the farmer was moved, ofen to a vastly diferen ecologicalsetting, his local knowledge was all but useless As Jason Clay empha-

sizes, Thus, when a farmer from he highlands is ransported to set-tlemen camps in areas like Gambella, he is insantly ransformed

from an agricultral epert o an unskilled, ignoran laborer, compleely dependent for hs survival on he central governmen."03 Re

selemen was far more han a change in sc enery t took people froma setting in which they had the skills and resources to produce many oftheir own basic needs and hence he means of a reasonably selfscien independence I then ransferred hem to a setting where

these skills were of lttle or no avail Oly in such circumstances was


it pssible for camp ocials to reduce migrats to medicats whoseobedence ad labor could be exacted for subsistece rations.

Although the drought that coincided with forced migration i Ethi-opia was real enough, much of the famine to which international aiagencies resp onded was a product of the massive resettlement. 4 Thedestruction of social ties was almost as productive of famin as werethe crop failures induced by poor planning and ignorance of the newagricultural environment. Communal tes, relations with kin andafnes, networks of reciprocity and cooperation, local charity and dependence had been the principal means by which villagers had managed to survive periods of food shortage in the past. Stripped of thesesocia resources by indiscrimnate deportations, oen separated fromh i i di f il d f bidd l h l i h

Vllagzation n anzaa 23

The coct betwee the ofcials ad spe cialists actively planig thefuture o oe had ad the peasantry on the other has been billed bythe rst group as a struggle between progress and obscurantism, ra-tionality and superstitio, science and religion Yet it is apparnt fromthe highmodernist schemes we hae examined that the rational plansthey imposed were oe n spectaclar failures. As units of production,as human communities, or as a means of delivering serices, theplanned villages faile the people they were intended, sometimes sin-cerely, to sere. In the long run they even failed their orignators asunits of growing appropriation or as a way of securing the loyaty of

the rral populaton, although they may have still seed eectvey, nthe short run at least, as a way of detaching a popuation from its customary socia network and thus thwatig collective protest



their immediate family and forbidden to leave, the settlers in the campswere far more vulnerable to starvation than they had been in theirhome regons.

The immanent ogic, never achieved, of the Dergues rural policy istelling. If mpemented successlly, rural Ethiopians wold have beenpermanety settled along the main roads in large, egibe villages,where uniform, umbered houses would have bee set in a grid centered on the headquaters of the peasant association (that is, the paty),whee the chaiman, his deputies and the ilitia maitaied their

posts. Des igated crops would have been grown collectively, with machinery, o lat elds laid out uniformly by state sueors ad thenharested for delivery to state agencies for distribution and sale abroad.Labor would have been closely superised by experts ad cadres. Inteded to modernize Ethiopia agriculture ad, not icidentally, tostregthe the cotrol of the Dergue, the policy was literally fatal tohundreds of thousads of cultivators ad, nally, to the D ergue itself.

Conclusion

In quiet and untoubed times, i t seems to evey administato that it s ony by

hs effots hat he whole popuato ue his rue s kept g oig, an n this consciousness of beig idspesabe evey admstato nds the chief e-

ward of his labo and effos. Whe he sea of hstoy emains cam the ue

amnistao in hs fa bak hoig wih a boa hook he s hp of the

people and hiself movng, naualy iagnes tha his effots move he shp he

s hong o o. Bu as soon as a som ases an the sea begins o heave an

the shp to ove, such a euson s no oge possbe. The sh ip moves ne-

penenty wth ts ow eomous moton, the boa hook no loge eaches the

moving vesse and sudeny he admstato nsead of appeang a ue an

a soue of powe becomes an nsgnicant, useless feeble an.

-Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

tomary socia network and thus thwatig collective protest.

High Modeism and the Optics of Power

If the plans for villagization were so rationa and scientic, why didthey bring about such geera ruin? The answer, I believe, is that suchplas were ot scietic or rational i ay meaningful sense of thoseterms. What these planers carried in their mind's eye was a certainaesthetic, what one might call a visual codication of modern rural

productio and community life. Like a religious faith, this visual codication was almost impeious to criticsm or disconrming evidece.The belief i large farms, monocroppig, proper" villages, tractor-plowed elds, and collective or commual farming was an aestheticconviction undergirded by a conviction that this was the way in whichthe world was headed a teleology lOS For all but a hand of special-ists, these were not empirical hypotheses derived from paticular co-texts in the temperate West that would have to be carefully examinedi practice In a given historical and social contextsay, wheat grow-ing by farmers breaking new ground o the plains of Kasasmanyelements of this faith might have made sense.106 As a faith, however, it

was generalized ad applied ucritically in widely divergent settingswith disastros results.If the proverbial man om Mars were to stumble on the facts here

he coud be forgiven if he were cosed about exacty who was th�empiricist and who was the true believer. Tazanian peasants had, forexampe, been readjusting their settlement patterns and armig prac-tices i accordace with climate chages, ew crops, and ew marketswth notable sucess i the two decades befoe vllagizatio. Theyseemed to have a eminetly empirica, albeit cautious, outook Onthei ow pactces . By cotast, specialsts ad p oltcas seemed to

254 RURAL STTLMENT AND PRODTION

b in th unshakabl gip of a quasiligious nhusiasm ma vnmo pon in bing back by h sa.

This was no jus any faih. ha a ic laion o h sausan ints of is bas. Bcaus th bas of his visua coica ion saw hmslvs as sfconscous monizs of hi sociishi vision qui a shap an moally loa conas bwnwha ook mon iy ciina unifom concna simpi mchaniz) an wha loo pimiiv igula isps com-plica unmchaniz) As h tchnical an polical li wh a monopoly on mon ucation hy us his visual ashtic of pogsso n hi histoic mission an to nhanc hi saus.Thi onis faih was slfsving in oh spcts as wl.Th vy ia of a naional plan which wou b vis a h capi-

llgzon n nzn 25 5

cuiousy staic quaity to i. t is ath i a comp picu hatcannot b impov upon. ts sign is h su of scintic anchncal aws an t impici assumpion is hat onc bui th taskthn bcoms on of maintaining is fom. Th planns aim to havach nw viag loo lik th as. Lik a Roman miitay commanning a nw camp h ocia aiving fom Da s Saaam woulknow actly wh vyhing coul b foun om th TAN haquas o h pasant association an halh clinic. Evy an vy hous wou aso in pincipl b naly inical a o-

cat accoing o an ovall schm. To h g that this visionha bn aliz in pactic i woul hav ma absolutly no connctions to t paticulaitis of plac an tim. t woul b a viwf h f th bl i f tl



Th vy ia of a naional plan which wou b vis a h capi-ta an wou thn o h pphy aft is own imag inoquasimilay units obying a sing c omman was pofounly cn-aizing Each unit a h piphy was i no so much o its nghboing stlmn as o h comman cnt in h capita th ins ofcommunicaion ah smbl h convging ins us o oganiz psciv in aly Rnaissanc painings Th convnion ofpsp ctv . . . cns vything in th y of th bhol is ika bam fom a lighthousonly insta of tavling outwa ap-

paanc tavl in. Th convnions call hos appaancs aity.spctiv mas th singl y th cnt of th visbl wol Evything convgs on th y as to th vanishing poi nt of innity. Th vis-ib wo is aang fo th spctato as th univs was oncthought to b aang fo o."

Th mag of oonation an authoity asp to h calsthat of mass ciss thousans of bois moving in pfct unisonaccoing to a mticulously has scipt. Whn such cooinationis achiv th spctacl ma hav sval cts. Th monsationof mass coonaton its sgns hop will aw spctatos an patcipants with its isplay of powful cohsion. Th aw s nhanc by

th fact that as in th Tayloist factoy only somon outsi anabov th isplay can fully appciat it as a totality; th nviualpaticipnts at goun lvl a small molculs wthn an oganismwhos bain s lswh. Th imag of a nation that mght opatalong ths lins is nomously lattng to lits at th ap an ofcous maning to a populaton whos ol thy thus uc to thatof ciphs. Byon impssng obsvs such isplays may in thshot un at last constitut a assuing slfhypnosis which ss toinfoc th moal pupos an slfconnc of th lts.

Th monist visual asthtic that animat plann villags has a

fom nowh. nsa of th unpaabl vaiy of stlmnsclosly ajust to local coogy an subsisnc ouins an instaof h consanly changing oca spons to shis i n mogaph clima an maks th sta woul hav ca thin gnic villagsthat w unifom in vything om poliica suctu an sociastaicaion o copping tchniqus. Th numb of vaiabls a playwou b minimiz n hi pfc lgibility an samnss h villags woul b ial substitutabl bicks n an ic of stat lanning. Whth thy woul funion was anoth matt.

Th aur of

des anno des ea.JeanPal Se

t is fa asi fo woulb foms to chang th fomal tuctu of an institution than to chang its pactics Rsigning thlins an bos in an oganizational chat s smpl than changinghow tha oganization in fact opats. Changing h uls an gula-tions is simpl than liciting bhavio that confoms to thm. R-

signing th physical layout of a villag is simpl than tansfomngits social an pouctiv lif. Fo obvious asons politcal litspaticulaly authoitaian highmonist lits typically bgin withchangs in th fomal stuctu an uls Such lgal n stattoychangs a th most accssibl an th asist to aang.

Anyon who has wok in a fomal oganzatonvn a smallon stictly govn by tail ulsknows that hanbooks anwittn guilin fail uttly in plaining how th institution gossuccssfull about its wok Accountng fo its smooth opation analy nlss an shifting sts of implicit unstanings tacit coo

256 UAL STTLMNT AND PODUCTION

inatins an pactical mutualities that cul neve be successllycaptue in a witten ce Ths bquitus scial fact is useful t emplyees an lab unins. T he pemise behin what ae telingly calewktue stikes is a case in pint. When Paisian tai ives wantt pess a pint n the municipal authities abut egulatins feesthey smetimes launch a wktule stike t cnsists meely in wing meticulusly al the egulatins in the ode rouier an theebybinging tac thughut cental Pas t a ginng halt The iesthus take tactical avantage f the fact that the ciculatin f tac ispssible onl because ives have mastee a set f pactices that

have evlve utsie an en in cntaventin f the fmal ules.Any attempt t cmpletely plan a village a city f that matta language is cetain t un aful f the same scal ealty A village

iagizain n azana 257

ula an that wul technically len itself t me claity an peci-sin. Thi s was cuse pecisely the bective f Espeant's inven-t Laza Zamenhf wh as imagine that Espeant which wasas knwn as intenatinal language wu eiminate the pachialnatinalisms f Eupe 4 Yet it is als pefectly bvius wh Espeant whch acke a pwefl state t enfce its aptin falet eplace the eisting venaculas ialects f Eupe As scial lin-guists ae fn f saying ' natina language is a ialect wih anamy") t was an eceptinally thin language withut any f the es-nances cnntatins eay metaphs iteatue al histy i-ms an taitins f pactcal se that any scaly embee lan-guage aleay ha Espeant has suvve as a kin f utpiancuisty a vey thin aect spken by a hanful f nelligentsa wh



a language is cetain t un aful f the same scal ealty A villagecity language s the ntly ceate patly unntene puct fmany may hans. T the egee that authities insst n eplacingthis inefably cmpe web f activity with mal ules an egula-tins they ae cetain t isupt the web in ways hat they cannt ps-sibly fesee. I I I This pint is mst fequently mae by suc h ppnentsf laissezfaie as Fieich Hayek wh ae n f pinting ut that acmman ecnmy hweve sphisticate an legible cannt begint eplace the myia ap mutual austments f funcining ma-

kets an the pice system n this cntet hweve the pint appliesin imptant ways t the even me cmpe pattens f scial inte-actin with the mateial envinment that we call a city a villageCities with a lng histy may be calle eep" thick" cties in thesense that they ae the histical puct f a vast nume f peplefm all statins incuing ciam) wh ae ng gne. t is pssi-be f cuse t buil a new city a new village but it wl be a thin" shalw" city an its esients wil have t begn pehaps fmknwn epeties) t make it wk in spite f the ues. n case s ikeBasia Tanzanas panne villages ne can unestan why statepannes may pefe a feshy cleae site an a shcke" ppuatin

mve abuptly t the new setting in which the plannes' inluence ismamize. The atenative s t efm in situ an eisting fnctiningcmmuniy that has me scia esuces esisting an eashn-ing the tansfmatin panne f it

The thnness f aticialy esigne cmmunities can be cmpaet the thnness aticially esigne languages. 3 Cmmunitiesplanne a a single stkeBaslia the planne village n Tanzania Ethipa ae t e unpanne cmmunites as Esp eant s tsay Engish Bumes e. n e can in fact esgn a new anguage that inmany espects is me lgical simple me univesa an less eg

cuisty a vey thin aect spken by a hanful f nelligentsa whhave kept its pmise aive.

The Miiauiza Pe ad C rol

The petense f authitaan highmenist schemes t isciplinevitually eveything within thei ambit s bun t encunt intact-abe esstance. Scia inetia entenche pvieges intenainapices was envinmental change t mentin nly a few facts en

sue that the esuts f highmenist planning will k substantiallyiffeent fm what was iginaly imagine. Such is even the casewhee as in Salinist clectivzatin the state evtes geat esucest enfcing a hgh egee f fmal cmpiance with is iectives.Thse wh have thei heats set n ealizing such pans cannt fai tbe fustate by stubbn scial ealiies an mateia facts

ne espnse t this fustatin is a eeat t the eam f appeaances an miniauest mel cities an Ptemkin vilages as itwee 5 t is easie t buil Baslia than t funamentaly tansfmBaz an Bazilia ns The eect f this eteat is t ceate a smal elatvey selfcntaie utpian space whee highmenist aspatins

might me neay be eaize The limiting case whee cnt is ma-imize but impact n the etena w is minimize is in the mu-seum the theme pak. 6

This miniatuzain pefectin think has a gic all its wnin spite f its impicit abannment f agescae tansfmatins.Me villages me citie s miitay clnes shw pjects an em-nstatin fams fe piticans aministats an speciaists an p-ptunity t ceate a shaly ene epeimental teain in which thenumbe f gue vaables an unknwns ae minimize f f cusesuch epeiments make it succ essfully fm the pilt stage t geneal

5 RURL SETTLEMENT ND PRODUCTION

applcat, the they ae a pefecty ata fm f plcy plag.Thee ae avatages t matuzat. The cstct f fcusmakes pssble a fa hghe egee f scal cntl an scple Byccentatng the mateal an pesel esuces f the state at asngle pt, matuzat ca appxmate the achtectue, layut,mechanzatn, scal seces, a cppng pattens that ts vscalls f. Small slans f e an men, as Ptemkn well ue-st, ae pltcaly useful t fcals wh want t please he supes wth an example f what they ca accmplsh If the supes aesucetly clsete a msnfme, they may mstake, as Cathene

he eat appaently wh Ptemkns cvncg sce ey the exem-play nsace f he lage ealy The effec s bansh a epace an e me, n a kn f hghmes vesn f Vesalles

lgzon in nzn 259

f hghmest captals epes t, as t ce , hw wellthey epeset a sace pa st but athe hw flly they symble theutpa aspatns that ues hl f the atns. As eve, t besue, the splay s meat t exue pwe as well as the authty f thepast f the futue

Clnal captals wee fashne wth these fuctns n m. Thempeal captal f New elh, esge by Ewn Lutyens, was a stung example f a captal tee t veawe ts subects a pehaps ts wn fcals) wth s scale a ts ganeu, wth ts pcessal axes f paaes emstatg mla pwe an ts tumphal

aches New elh was atually tene as a egat f wha he be-came Old elh Oe ceal pupse f the ew capal was capuencely by he pvae secea t ege V a te abu he fuue



p gan L e Pe Ta, he lage lss f cl.

The vsual aeshetc f mauza seems sgca as well.Jus as he achecual awng, he mel , an he map ae ways fealng wh a lage ealy ha s n easly gaspe maageable s eney, he mnauza f hghmes evelpmen f-fes a vsually cmplee example f wha he fuue lks ke

Maua f e k anhe s ubquus. s emp-g t we wheh he human enency mnauzatn

ceae ys f lage becs a eales ha can s easly bemanpulaees als have a bueaucac equvalen YfuTuan has bllanly exame hw we mnauze, a heeby mescae, he lage phenmea ha ae use u cnl, fewh beg enns. Une hs elasc ubc, he nclues bnsa,bsek, an gaens a mauza f he pla wl) alg whlls an lhuses, y lcmves, y sles an weaps f wa,a lvng ys n he fm f specaly be sh a gs. WhleTua cncenaes me less playful mesca, smehg fhe same ese f cl an masey can als, wul seem, pe-ate he lage scale bueaucaces. Jus as subsanive gals, he

acheveme f whch ae ha measue, may be supplae by h,nal sascshe umbe f vllages fme, he umbe faces plwe s may hey als be suppate by mcevmesf mes e

Capa ces, as the sea f he sae an f s ules, as he sym-blc cee f ew) nas, a as he places whee e pwefufegnes cme, ae ms lkely eceve clse aen as veableheme paks f hghmes evelpme. Eve n he cempay secua guses, naal capas ea smehg f he le ta-n f eng sace cees f a naal cul The symblc pwe

y y p gesece f he Bsh vcey. I mus, he we, be cnspcuus acmmang, mnae by he sucues f pas empes byhe feaues f he aual lascape. We mus w le he Ia] seef he s me he pwe f Wese scece, a, a cvlza Sag a s cene f a ceemal ccasn, e mgh fge f amme ha hs ty gem f mpeal achecue was all bu ls avas sea f Ian eales whch ehe cnace t pa hee.

A gea may ans, sme f hem fme cles, have buleely ew capals ahe ha cmpmse wh an uba pasha the eaes wee eeme asce e hks f azl,Paksa, Tukey, Belze, Ngea, he Ivy Cas, Malaw, an Tanzana Ms wee bul fllwg he plas f Wesen Wese-ae achecs, eve whe hey aempe cpae eeeces veacula bulng as As Lawece Vale ps u, manynew capals seem nee as cmplee a selfcae ecsN subac, a, mca s cemplae nly a-man An he saegc use f hlls a eleva, f cmplexesset behn walls wae baes, f nely gae sucual hea

chy eectng func an saus, hey als cnvey a mpess fhegemny an man whch was ulkely peval bey hecy lms

Nyeee plane a ew capal, ma, ha was be smewhaffee. The elgcal cmmmes f he egme wee e ex-pesse a achecue ha was pupsey no mumeal. Sevealecnnece selemets wul uulae wh the lanscape, a hemes scale f he bulgs wul elmae he ee f elevasan a cng. ma was vey eely, hweve, nee be a upa space ha bh epesene he fuue a expcly

260 RURAL STTLMNT AND RODUCTION

negate ar es alaam The master plan or ooma conemne aras a omnan focus o eelopment, . . he anthesis of what Tanzana s amng for, an is growng a a pace, whch f not chece, wllamage the ciy as a humanst habta an Tanzana as an egaliaransocialissae" While planning llages or eeryone else wheherhey lie or no, he rulers also esigne for hemseles a new sym-bolic cener incorporaing, no by accien, thin, a hllop refugeamis manicure, orerly surrounings.

f the intractable iculies of ransforming existing cies ca n leao he tempaion to erect a moel capial ciy, so can he iculies o

ransformng eising illages prompt a rerea ino miniaurizationne major arian of this tenency was the creaion of carefuly conrolle proucion enironments by frusrate colonal eension o-

1gzto za 26

The planne cty, the planne llage, an the planne language(not to mention he comman economy) are, we hae emphasze,lely to be thn ctes, llages, an languages. They are thn n hesense ha hey canno reasonably plan or anything more than a fewschemaic aspects of the nexhausbly complex actiies tha charac-terize thic" ciies a illages ne allbuguaranee consequenceof such thin planning is tha the planne insitution generaes anunocial realitya ar twin"tha arises o perorm many of thearious nees tha he planne instiuton fails to full Brasla, asHolston showe, engenere an unplanne Braslia" o constructionworers, migrants, an hose whose housing an actiites were nec-essry but were not foreseen or were preclue by the plan. Nearyeery new, exemplary capital city has, as he ineiable accompani



cers Coulson noes he logic inole f a farmer coul not beforce or persuae, he only alernaies were o ignore hem alto-geher an go for mechanize agriculture conrolle by ousiers (asin the rounnuts cheme, or on settler farms controle by Europeans ), or o ae hem rght away rom he raional surrounings,o selemen schemes where in reurn for receiving lan they mightperhaps agree to follow the insrucions o the agriculural sa."

ill anoher arian was he atempt o isill ou of he general

populato a care of progressie farmers who woul then be mobilize to pracice moern agriculure. uch policies were followe inelaborae etail in Moambique an were imporant in colonial Tanzania as well When he stae confronte a brc wall of peasantconserasm," noes a 9 ocumen from he Tanganyia eparmen o griculure, i became necessary to wihraw he eor fromsome porions so as o concenrae on small selecte ponts, a proceure which has come to be nown as he focalpoin approach ' " nheir esre o solate the small sector o he agricultural populaiontha hey hough woul respon o scienic agrculure, he etensionagens frequenly oerlooe oher realiies ha bore irectly on heir

subsanie missionrealiies tha were uner heir nose bu notuner heir aegis Pauline Peters hus escribes an effort in Malawi oepopuate a rural area of all bu those whom he agricultural auhoriies ha esignae master farmers" Eension agents were attempting to creae a microlanscape of neatlyboune, miefarminglots base on rotation of singestan crops which woul repace thescaere, mulicroppe arming they consiere bacwar n hemeanime, hey entirely ignore an autonomous an general rush toplant obaccohe very transormation hey were rying to bringabou by orce"6

e ery new, exemplary cap tal c ty as, as e ne able accompanmen of is ocial strucures, gien rise o another, far more isor-erly" an comple ciy ha makes he oi al i wokha s virtu-ally a coniion of is existence. Tha is, he ar twin is no just ananomaly an outlaw reality" it represens he aciiy an lfe wihoutwhich he ofcial ciy woul cease to functon The oulaw ciy bearshe same relation o the ocial ciy as he Parisian tai riers acualpracices bear o he ode uie

n a more speculaie noe, imagine tha he greater the preenseof an inssence on an ocially ecree m icroorer, he greaer heolume of nonconforming pracices necessary o susain ha ctionThe most rigily planne economies ten to be accompanie by largeunergroun, gay,' infoal," economes hat supply, n a thosanways, what the formal economy fails to supply. When his ecoomyis ruhlessly suppresse, the cos has oen been economic ruin anstaraon (he rea Leap Forwar an he Culural Revolution inChina; he auaric, moneyless economy o Pol Pots Camboia). Effors o force a counry's inhabitans o manain permanent, e resiences en o prouce large, illegal, unocumente populations inurban areas where hey hae be en forbien tog.8 The nsistence on

a igi visual aeshetic at he coe o he capita ciy ens o proucesetlemens an slums eeming wih squaters who, as ofen as not,sweep he oors, coo he meals, an ten the chilren of the eliteswho wor in he ecorous, planne center

8 Taming Nature:An Agricuture of Legibiityand Simpicity

Ys nt th ci ptsSti not ci.

Whn yo bi n csios ctti it ps ns pp

A h l k h t t

aing atue 26 3

seve as the mel scientic est. The guiing iea was themaimizatin f the cp iel pt The fests wee ecnceptualize as time fams" in which a single species f tee was plantein staight ws an haveste ie a cp when it was matue." Thepecnitins f such simpicatins wee the eistence f a cmm-it maet an cmpetitive pessue n states as we as n entepe-neus t maimize pts evenue n the mncppe e ansingespecies fest aie the innumeale the memes f the itic cmmunit wee igne unless the ha sme iect eaing nthe health an iel the species t e haveste. Such nawing f

attentin t a single utcme invaia the ne f mst cmmecial scal inteestcnfes an analtical pwe that alws fetesan agnmists t tac caeful the inuence f the facts this



A onc ns pp yo shol know whn to stop.Taotechg

The neces sail simple astactins f lage ueaucatic institutinsas we have seen can neve aequatel epesent the actual cmpeitf natual scial pcesses. The categies that the empl ae tcase t static an t stlize t just ice t the w that the

pupt t escie. .F easns that wil ecme appaent statespnse hghmenit agcultue has ecuse t astactns f the same eThe simpe puctin an pt" me f agicutual etensinan agicutua eseach has faile in imptant was t ep esent thecmpe suppe negtiate ectives f eal fames an thei cmmunities. That mel has als faile t epesent the space in whichfames pant cps its micclimates its mistue an wate mvement its micelief an its lcal itic hist. Una le t efctiveepesent the pfusin an cmpleit f ea fams an eal elshighmenist agicultue has ften succeee in aical simpli-

ing thse fams an els s the can e me iectl appehenecntlle an manage. I emphasize the adial simplicatin f ag-cutua high menism ecause agicutue is even n its mst u-menta nelthic fms inevital a pcess f sipiing the alpfusin f natue. w else ae we t unestan the pcess which man has encuage cetain species f a that he fun useful an iscuage thes that he fun a n uisance

The lgic ehin the aical simplicatin f the el is am st pe-cisel ientical t the lgic ehin the aical simplicatin f thefest. I fact a simplie agicultue which was evelpe ealie

262

singe epenent vaiae. Within its amit thee is n ening the e-taina pwe f this appach t incease ies . As we shal seehweve this ptent ut naw pespective is tue th cetaininevitae in spts an phenmena that ie utsie its estictee f visin T cntinue the metaph this nawness in tunmeans that puctin agnm is ccasina linsie factsutsie its anatica fcus an is fce the esuting cisis t taea ae pespective.

The questin we shall aess in this chapte is wh a mel fmen scientic agicutue that has appaentl een successfl inthe tempeate inustiaizing West has s en funee in the hiW. In spite f these iniffeent esuts the mel has een pe sse cnia menizes inepenent states an intenatina agen-cies. In Afica whee the esults have een paticla seing anagnmist with geat epeience has claime that ne f the cciaessns f the past ft eas s f ecgica eseach fcuse nAfican agicultue is that the amatic menizatin ptin has atac ec s p that a etun t slwe an me incementa appaches must nw e given seius an sustaine attentin 3

We will nt e uch cncene in this iscussin with the paticula easns that mae this scheme that cpping plan fail. T e uethe famia ueaucatc pathges as we as penl peat ac-tices have en geatl cmpune these failues. M claim hweveis that the igin f these failues can e tace t a eepe level; thesewee in the ws sstemic faiues an wul have ccue unethe est assuptins aut aministative ecienc an pit.

At least fu elements seem t e at w in these sstemic failes.The st tw ae lne t the histical igin an institutinal neusf highmenst agicultue. Fist given thei isciplines igin in

26 RURAL SETTLEMEN T AND PRODUTIO N

the tempeate, inutializing Wet, the beae f menim in agi-

cultual planning inheite a eie f unexamine aumptin abut

cpping an el pepaatin that tune ut t wk baly in the

cntext Secn, given the peumptin abut expetie embie in

menit agicultual planning, the actual cheme were cntinually

bent t eve the pwer an tatu f fcial an f the tate rgan

they cntrlle4The thi element, hwever, peate at a eeper level: it i the y

tematic, cyclpean htightene f highmenit agicultue that

cut cetain frm f failure It igu attentin t pructinit

gal cat int elative bcuriy all the utcme lying utie the im-meiate relatinhip between farm input an yiel Thi mean that

bth lngem utcme (il tucture, water quality, lantenure e

ll "

g au 265

when fully meticate becme epenent f thei uival upnthe management f cultivatuch activitie a making a cleaingbuning buh beaking the il weeing puning man uing Stictlypeaking a crp in the el i nt an articial lancape inamuch aall fauna nt ecluing human being mi their envinment inthe cure f f gatheing What i ce tain hweve i that mt fomo sapiens cultiva have been aapte t thei altee lan-cape that they have becme bilgical mnte' which cul ntuvive in the wi l5

Millennia f vaiatin an cnciu human electin have fa

vre cultivar that are ytematically iffeent fm thei wil anweey cuin Ou cnvenience ha le u t pefe plant that havelage ee an ae eay t germinate have me blm an hence

f i h f i il h h h ll C l i



g

latin) an thipaty effect, what welfae ecnmit call "ete

nalitie;' eceive little attentin until they begin t affect puctin

Finally, the very tength f cientic agicultual experimentatin

it impliing aumptin an it abiliy t ilate the impact f a in

gle vaiable n ttal pructin i incapable f ealing aequately

with cetain fm f cmplexity It ten t igne, r icunt, agi-

cultural pactice that ae nt aimilable t it technique

et thee be any miunetaning abut my pupe hee, I want

t emphaize that thi i nt a general ffenive againt men agnmic cience, let alne an attack n the culture f cientic eeach

Men agnmic cience, with it phiticate plant beeing, plant

pathlgy, analyi f plant nutitin, il analyi, an technical vitu

iy, i epnible fr ceating a un f technical knwlege that i by

nw being ue in me fm by even the mt taitinal cultivat

My pupe, athe, i t hw hw the impe rial prete nsions f ag-

nmic cienceit inabiliy t recgnize incpate knwlege cre-

ate utie it paraigm haply limite it utiliy t many cultiva-

t Wheea fame, a we hall ee, eem pagmatically alet t

knwlege cming fm any quate hul it eve thei pupe,

mern agicultual planne are fa le eceptive t the way fknwing

arieties of gricultural Simplication

Ea gutu

Cultivatin i implicatn Even the mt cury fm f agi-cultue ypically puce a lral lancape that i le ivee than anunmanage ancape The crp that mankin ha cutivate have

me fuit an whe fuit are me eaily thehe helle Cu ltivate maize thu ha a few lage ear with lage kernel wheea wil emimeticate maize have very mall cb with mall kenelThe iffeence i mt takly captue by the cntrat between thehuge eelaen cmmecial unlwe an it iminutive wlanelative

Beyn the que tin f the haet itelf f cue cultivat haveal ele cte f ce f the prpetie: tetue lav cl t

age qualiy aetheic value ginig an cking qualitie an nThe breath f human purpe ha le nt t a ingle iea l cultivar feach pecie but rathe t a geat many vaietie each itinctive inme imptant way Thu we have the varietie f baley gwn fprige f bea f bee an f feeing livetck an thu weetghum f chewing whiteeee type fr bea mall ak e-eee type fr beer an tngtemme bu type f hue-cntuctin an baketry

The greatet electin peue hweve came frm the minantanxiety f cultivat that they nt tave Thi mt baic f eiten-tial cncen al le t a geat vaiey f cultivar teme the l an

ace f the vaiu cp anace ae genetically vaiable ppulatin that epn ieently t iffeent il cnitin level fmitue tempeaue unlght ieae an pet micrclimate an fth Ove time tatinal cultivat peating a epeienceapplie btanit ha ve evelpe literally thuan f lanace f aingle pecie A wking knwlege f many if nt all f thee lanace prvie cultivat with enmu lexibility in the face envinmental fact that the y cul nt cntl 8

F ur pupe the lng evelpment f many lanace iignicant in at leat tw epect Fit while ealy fame wee




more chartably, the breeders dd what they could to develop the best

tomato wthn the very sharp constraints of mechanization

The imperatives of maimzing pots and hence, in his case, of

mechanzing the harvest worked powerfully to transform and simpli

both the eld and the crop. Relatvely nlexible, nonselective machnes

work best in lat elds with identical plants gowing uniform fruits of

perfecty even matrity Agronomic science was depoyed o appoi

mate this ideal: large, nely graded elds uniform irrigation and nu-

trients to regulate growth; liberal use of herbcides, fungicides, and in

secticides to maintain uniform health and, above all, p lant breeding to

create the ideal cultivar.

T U Co oSao

Taming Natur

� ogens that thrie and feed on ths partcular cultivar. The uiform

habitat espeially one in whh plants ae owe eets a natualseletion pessue as it wee that favos suh pathogens iven theght seasonal ontons fo the pathogen to multiply tempeatuehumiity wn an so on the lasi onitions fo the geometipogession of an epiemi ae in p lae

In otast ivesity is the enemy of epiemis In a el wthmany speies of plants only a few iniviuas ae lkely to be ss eptble to a given pathogen an they ae likely to be wiely sateeThe mathematial logi of the epiemi is boken A monooppe

e as the Natonal Reseah ounil epot note ineases vlneability appeiably inasmuh as all membes of the same plant speiesshae muh of thei geneti inheitane But whee a el is populateby many genetially ivese lanaes of a given speies the isk is



T U Co o Sao

Reviewing the histoy of mao op epiemi s beginning with theIish potato famine in a o mmittee of the nite tates NationalReseah Counil onlue These enountes show lealy thatop monoultue an geneti unifomity invite epiemis All that isneee is the aival on the sene of a paasite that an take avantageof the vlneability If the op is unifomly vulneable s o muh thebette fo the paasite In this way vius iseases have evastate sugabees wih yellows' peahes with yellows potatoes with leaf oll anX an Y viuses ooa with swollen shoot love with suen eathsugaane with mosai an ie with hoja blana Ae a on leafblight ha evastate muh of the 97 on op the ommittee habn onvene in oe to onsie he geneti vulneably of all maoops One of the pionee beees of hybi on onal Jones hafoeseen the poblems that the loss of geneti ivesity might bingenetially unifom pue line vaieties ae vey poutive an highlyesiabe when envionmenta onitions ae favoable an the vaieties ae wellpotete fom pests of all kins When these extenalfatos ae not favoable, the esult an be isastou ue to some

new vilent paasite The ogi of epiemioogy n ops is elativey saightfowa inpiniple All plants have some esistane to pahogens; othewise theyan the pathogen if it peye upon only that plant woul isappeaAt the same tme, a plants ae genetialy vulneabe to etainpathogens f a e is populate eusivey by genetiay ienti iniviuals suh as singleoss hybis o lones then eah plant vulneable in exaly the same way to the same pathogen b e t a viusfungus bateium o nematoe 9 uh a el is an ieal geneti habiat fo e poifeation of peisely those stains o muants of path

by many genetially ivese lanaes of a given speies the isk isvastly ee Any agultual pate that neases ivesty ovetime an spae sh as op otation o mie opping on a fam on a egion ats as a baie to the spea of epiemis

The moen egime of pestii e use wh h has aisen ove the pasty yeas must be seen as an negl featue of this geneti vuleability not as an unelate sienti beakthough It is peisely beause hybis ae so unifom an hene isease pone that quasi

heoi measues have to be taken to ontol the envonment in whihthey ae gown uh hybis ae analogous to a human patient witha ompomise immune system who must be kept in a steile el lestan oppotunisti infetion take hol The steile el in this ase hasbeen establishe by the blanket use of pestiies

on as the most wiely plante op in the nite tates million aes in 93 an the st one to be hybiize has povenealy ieal onitions fo inset isease a n wee builup Pestiieuse is oesponingly high Con aounts fo onethi of the totalmaket fo hebiies an onequate of the maket fo nsetiies 4One of the longtem efets whih is eaily peitable aoig t o

the theoy of natual seletion has been the emegene of esistantstains among insets fungi an wees neessitating eithe lageoses o a new set of hemial agents ome pathogens again peitably hae evelope what is teme ossesistane " to a whoelass of pestiies As moe geneations of the pathogen ae eposeto the pestiie the likelihoo that esistant stains will emege is oesponingly geate Above an beyon the toubling onsequenes opestie use fo the ogani matte in the soil gounwate qualityhuman health an the eosystem pestiies have eaebate someeisting op iseases while eating new ones

20 RRL SETTLEMENT ND PRDCTIN

Jus the c leaf blgh n he uh n 970 7 ecent fall aceage n c was lane nly s hybs. The secalss n-vesgang he blgh sesse the esses f mechanzatn anuc unfmy ha e t a acaly nawe genec c base.nifoi the et assete s he key w." Ms f he hy-bs ha been evele by he maesee meh usng Teas cytlasm." was hs unfmy ha was aacke by he fngus elmin-hospoiu madis; hse hybs ceate wthu Teas cytlasmsuffee ny tval amage. The athgen was nt new n ts etthe Natna eseach Cuncl cmmttee magne that t was ba-

by n estence when quant shwe the lgms hw t lant c.Whe madis may have fm tme t tme uce me vuentstans Amecan cn was oo vaiable t gve the new stan a veyg fthl."8 What was new was the vuneabty f the hst.

mng au 2 1

A few sketcs lke Rachel Casn wee begnnng t questn themel but they wee gealy unumbee by a chus f vsnaeswh saw an unlmte an bllan fuue ahea. Tycal f the t-msm was an ace by James B. Blla enttle Me F f OuMultlyng Mlns The evlutn n Amecan Agcltue whchaeae n a 970 ssue f Naional Geogaphi.3! ts vsn f thefam f the futue euce hee n gue , was nt an e fan-tasy t was we ae tl awn wth the guance f U. . Deatmentf Agcltue secalsts." Blas tet s ne lng aean t mecha-natn scentc maels an hge scale F all the techncal wzay he envsns a cess f smlcatn f the lanscae ancentalzatn f cmman Fels wl be lage wth fewe teesheges an as ts may be seveal mes lng an a huneyas we" weathe cntl" wl event halstms an tnaes·atmc enegy wl leve hlls" an make gatn wate f seawa



The et went n t cument the fact that mst maj cs aemessvely unfm genetcay an messvely vuneable t eemcs]." Etc gem lasm fm a ae Mecan anace ve tbe the sutn t beeng new hybs that wee ess suscetble tthe bght. n ths an many the cases t was ny the genec ve-sty ceate by a lng hsty f an ace evelment by nnseca-sts that ve a way ut.3 Lke the fmal e f the lanne sec-

tn f Basa clectvze agcutue men smle anstanaze agcultue eens f ts estence n a ak twn" fnfma actces an eeence n whch t s ultmately aastc.

Th Catchism High-Modrnist Agricultur

The me an mse f Amecan agcultual mens was ab-slutely hegemnc n the thee ecaes fm 9 t 97 t was theevang et mel." Hunes f gatn an am jectsmele ughly n the Tennessee Valey Authy (A) wee begun;many lage an hghly catalze agcultual schemes wee naugu-ate wth geat fanfae; an thusans f avses wee satche.Thee was a cntnuy n esnnel as wel as n eas. Ecnmsts en-gnees agnmsts an lannes wh ha see n theA, the . .Deatment fAgcutue the De atment f the Teasuy mve tthe Unte Natns the F an Agcltue Oganzatn USAID,

bngng the eeence an eas wth them A cmbnatn f Ame-can cal ecnc an mltay hegemny the mse f lansan assstance cncens abut wl ulatn an f sul anthe geat uctvty f Amecan agcultue mae f a egee fselfcnence n the Amecan mel that s ha t veestmate.

atmc enegy wl leve hlls an make gatn wate f seawate sateltes senss an aanes wll st lant eemcs whlehe fame sts n hs cntl twe.

At the eatna leve the ce f Amecan agcultue f e-t ncate the same funamental cnvctns. Bth the e-tes an the vast majy f the eage clents wee cmmtte tthe fllwng tuths the se techncal efcency f lagescalefams the mtance f mechanzatn t save lab an beak tech-

nca bttlenecks he suety f mncng an hybs velycng an lanaces an the avantages f hghnut agcul-tu nclng cmecal fetlzes an estces. Abve all theybeeve lage tegate lanne jects athe than ecemeamvements atly because the lage catalntensve schemes cube lanne as nealy e echncal eecses athe lke the esgn fthe vet clectve fam that was nvente n a Chcag htel m.The geate the nustal cntent f a scheme an the me ts envnment cul be mae unfm thugh cntlle gatn annutents the use f tacts an cmbnes the evelent f atels) the ess was let t chance.3 Lcal sls lcal lanscae lcal

lab lcal mlements an lcal weathe aeae t be almst -eevant t he eackage je cts. At the same tme schemes cnceve alng these lnes emhasze the techncal eetse f thelannes he ssly f cental cntl an n east a mule"that cul be ee lye t almst any lcale. F lcal eltes anust have a me shw ject ve whch they cul ese the avantages wee als bvus.

The lamentable fate f the vast may f these jects whethevate ublc s by nw a matte f ec.3 They fale n mst

ming ture 23

cass spit lavish cit subsiis an stong aministativ backing Whil ach falu ha its own pculiaitis th lvl of abstaction at which most pocts w conciv was fatal mpot faithan abstaction prvail as w shall s ov clos attntion to thlocal contt.

Mdernist Faith ersus Lca Practices

W can plo th contas btwn mpo fath an loc al cont butaposing sval tnts of th catchism of highmornist agicultu with th local pactics that appa to violat thm. An as w

shall s contray to contmpoay pctations ths pactics turnout to b scintically soun an in som cass supio to th pogamof faming bing urg o impos by th agicultual foms



Mouu ad Pouu

Nothing btt llustrats th myopic co of highmonist agiculu oiginating in tmpat zons an bought to th topics thanits naly unsh akal faith in th supioity of mono cultu ov thpactic of polycultur foun in much o f th Thi Wol.

To tak Wst ican inignous faming systms as an ampl

colonial agicultual spcialists ncount what sm to thm to an astonishngly ivs gim of polycopping wih as many as foucops not to mntion subspcis) in th sam l simultanously Aaily psntati instanc o what mt thi ys is pict ingu Th visual ct to Wstn ys was on of sloppinss aniso ivn thi visual coicaion of mon agicultual pactic most spcialists knw without th mpiical invstigationtha th appant so o h cops as a sympom o backwartchniqus; it fail th visual tst of scintic agicultu. Campaignsto plac polycultu ith pustan panting push withqual fvo by colonial ocials an af inpnnc by thi

local succssos.W hav gaually com to unstan a quit spcic logic oflac - in paticula tropical sois climat an cologythat hlpsto plain th nctions of polycultu Th ivsity of spcis natually occuring in a topical sttng is oth hngs bing qual consistntly grat than th ivsity of spci s in a tmpat stting Anac of topical fost will hav fa mo spcis of plants althoughfw iniviuals of ach spcis than will an ac of tmpat woolan Thus unmanag natu in tmpat cimats looks mo o

27 RURAL SETTLEMEN T AND PRODUCTION amng au 275

tion ensities ae low the labo equiements of etensive teacing oiigation ae uneconomic in the stict neoclassical sense of the woHee one may ecall Jane Jacobs's impotant istinction between

visual oeliness on one han an functional woking oe on theothe. The city esk of a newspape a abbits intestines o the inteioof an aicaft engine may cetainly look messy but each one eectssometimes billiantly an oe elate to the fnction it pefoms. Insuch instances the appaent suface isaay obscues a moe po-foun logic olycultue was a oal vaiant of such oe. Only a veyfew colonial specialists manage to pee behin the visual confsion toits logic One of them was Howa Jones a mycologist in Nigeia who

wote in 9o the uean the whle sheme seems laughable and idi-ls and in the end he wld babl nlde that it is meel folisht wd dieent lants tgethe in this childish wa s that the ma



. Costrctio of stck bds cross cpet gesi Sierr Leoe rice ed

ely because it is ess ivese an this may pay a oe in the visualcultue of Westenes. 5 In favoing polycultue the topical cultivatoalso imiates natue in his techniques of cultivation. oycultue ikethe topica foest itsef plays an impotant ole in potecting thin sisfom the eosive effects of win ain an sunight Futhemoe theseasonaity of topica agicultue is govene moe by the timing fains than by tempeatue Fo this eason a vaiety of poycoppingstategies allows fames to hege thei bets about the ains hoingthe soi with oughtesistant cops an intespesing among themcops that can take best avantage of the ains. Finay the ceaton ofa unifm contoe faming envionment is intinsicaly moe i-cult in a topical setting than n a tempeate one an whee popua

t wd dieent lants tgethe in this childish wa s that the mahke ne anthe et if ne lks at it me clsel thee seems a easn f eveyhing he lans ae nt gwing at andm bt have beenlanted at e distanes n hillks f sil aanged in sh a wathat when ain falls it des nt watelg the lants n des it the sfae and wash awa the ne sil . he sil is alwas iedand is neithe died b the sn n leahed t b the ain as itwld be if it wee le bae . his is bt ne f man eamles thatmight be given that shld wan s t be ve atis and thgh be-

fe we ass dgement un native agilte he whle method ffaming and tlk f the fame ae s entiely new t s that we aestngl temted t all it flish m an instintie nseatism6

Elsewhee in the topical wol a few astute obseves wee uncoveing a ieen agicultual logic A stiking eample of visua oevesus woking e was povie by Ega Aneson on the basis o fhis botanica wok in ual uatemala. He ealize that what appeae to be ovegown iotous ump heaps that no Westenewou have taken fo gaens ehibite on close inspection an e-ceptionay efciet an wellthoughtout oe Aneson sketcheone of these gaens ges an 7) an his esciptin of the

ogic he iscene in it is woth quoting at ength.hgh at st sight thee seems little de as sn as we stated maing the gaden we ealied that it was lanted in fail denite sswise ws. hee wee fit tees natie and uean in geat aietannnas heimas aads eahes ines lms a g and afew ffeebshes. hee wee giant ati gwn f thei fit eewas a lage lant f sema a lant f ue sme insettias and ane semilimbing tea se hee was a whle w f the natie dmestiated hawth whse fits like ellw dllsi e ales make a de

26 UAL SETTLEMENT AND PODUCTION

e Q.

C.

Pl-

P4

aming a 2 7

CI/

AS'"

D

Pstil

)• RS

t-:

BW



36 r Anson's rwn of ochn n Snt Lc Gtl

licious conserve. There were two varieties of corn, one well past bearing and now serving as a trellis for climbing string beans which werejust coming into season the other a much taller sort which was tasseing out. There were specimens of a itte banana wit smooth wideleaves which are the oca substitute for wrapping paper and are alsoused instead of cornhusks in cooking the native variant of hot tamales.Over it all clambered the uxriant vines of the various cucrbits. Chayote when nally matre has a large ntritious root weighing severaponds. At one point there was a depression the size of a small bathtubwhere a chayote root had recenty been excavated; this served as a

dmp heap and compost for the waste from the house At one end of thegarden was a sma beehive made from boxes and tin cans. In terms ofour American and European equivalents the garden was a vegetablegarden an orchard, a medicinal garden a dump heap a compost heap,and a beeyad. Thee was no problem of erosion thogh it was at the topof a steep slope the soil surface was practically all covered and apparently wold be dring most of the year. Humidity would be kept duringthe dry season and plants of the same sort were so isolated from one another y intervenin vegetation that pests and diseases could not readilyspread om pant to pant. he fertility was being consered in addi-

�'tak

. ' .. '·- I .Ch

\

37 In hs wn of n och n nSnt Luc, Anso n us lyphs tht ntnot ony th pnts bt so th n ct-

os. Cc yphs ct frut trs ofuopn o (pu, pch); oun, -ulr lyphs ct ft ts of Acn o-n nl). Dott ls st for cbn tbs, sll ccs fo subshbs,l strs for scclnt, n wshpus fo plns n th bn fy. h nrow ss sn t th rht of u 36 p-snts h of chchcst, shub us byth ys.

tion to the waste from the house mature plants were being bried in be

tween the rows when their sefulness was overIt is freqently said by Europeans and European Americans thattime means nothing to an Indian This garden seemed to me to be a

?ood �xamle. f ho the Indian when we look more than spercialyto hs actvtes S budgeting his time more efciently than we do.he garden was in continos production bt was takin ony a littleefort at any one time: a few weeds pulled wh en one came down to pickthe squashes corn and bean plants dug in between the rows when thelast of the climing eans were picked and a new crop of somethinelse planted above them a few weeks later.37




wastes and unlike most Western agronomists he was an avid obseer

of forest ecology and indigenous practices. Concerned above all withsoil fertility and sustainable agriculture Howard obseed that the nat

ural diversity of the forest and local polycropping practices were bothsuccessl means of maintaining or increasing soil health and fertltySoil fertiliy was a matter of not smply chemical composition but alsostructural properties: the soil's tilth (or crumb structure) its degree of

aeration its moistureholding power and the fungus bridge" (the my-corrhizal association) necessary to humus creaton6 Soe but not all

elements in this complex soil interaction could be precisey measured

while others could be recognized by a practiced observer but not readily measured. Howard undertook elaborate experiments in humus production soil structure and plant response and was able to show ed-

trial yied results superior to those achieved by standard Western

ming tur 281

hat I have tried to demonstrate however is that polyculture even on

the narrow productionoriented grounds favored by Western agron-

omy merited empirical examination as one among many agriculural

stratgies. That it was instead dismissed summarily by all but a hand- of rogue agroomsts is a tribute to the power both of imperalistideology and of the visual aesthetic of agrcultural high modernism.

The case of poyculture aso raises an issue reevant to both agri-

cutural practce and socia structure an issue that we will ponder atgreater ength in the remainder of this book the resilience and durabil-

ity of diversity. Whatever its other virtues or demerits polycuture is a

more stable more easly sustainabe form of agricuture than monocropping It is more likey to produce what economists call Hicksianincome income that does not undermine factor endowments which

will permit that income ow to continue indenitey into the future



y p ypractices His main concern however was not with how many bushes

of wheat or maize could be gotten from an acre as with the health andquality of the crops and soil over the long haul.

The case for polyculture has worked its way back to the est al-though it emains one voiced by only a tiny minoriy Rachel Carson inher revolutionary book Silent Spring, published in 92, raced the de-

structve use of massive doses of pesticides and herbicides to mono-

cropping itself The problem with insects she expained resulted fromthe devotion of immense acreage to a singe crop. Such a system setthe stage for explosive ncreases in specic insect populations Single

crop farming does not take advantage of the principes by which na-ture works it is agriculture as an engineer might conc eive it to be. Na-

ture has introduced great variey into the lands cape bu man has dis-played passion for simpliing it. . One important check is a limit on

the amount of suitable habitat for each spe cies"4 Just as Howard be-lieved that monocuture had contributed to t he los s o f sil fertility and

its corrective the growing use of chemical fertilizers (2 0 pounds peracre in the United States in 1 970), so Carson argued that monoculture

spawned the exploding population of pests and its corretive the mas-sive application of insecticidesa cure that turned out to be worsethan the disease.

For these and othe r reasons there are at leas t faint indications thatsome forms of polycropping mght be suitable for Western farmers as

well as Africans .48 This is not the place to attempt to demonstrate thesuperiorty of polyculture over mono culture nor am I qualied to doso There is no singe contextee answer to this issue for answerswould depend on any number of varables including the goals soughtthe crops sown and the microsettings in which they were planted.

Poycuture is at the same time more suppe and adaptable. That is it

is more easiy able to absorb stress and damage without being devas-tated e gant research has recently shown that at least up to a pointthe more cultivars that a given pot has the more productive and resil-

ient it is4 Poyculture as we have see n is more resistant to the insultso weather ad pests not to mention more geerous i the improvements it efects in the soil. Eve if monoculture could be shown to a

ways give superior yields in he short run polyculture might still beconsidered to have decisive longterm advantages. 5 The evidence fromforestry has some appication to agriculture as well monocroppedforests like those n Germany and Japan have led to ecological problems so severe that restoration ecology has been called to the rescue in

order to reestablish something approaching the earlier diversity (in in-sects ora and fauna) necessary to the health of the forest 5

Here it is worth noting the strong paralel between the case for di-

versity in cutiaton and forestry and the case that Jacobs made fordiversity in urban neighborhoods The more complex the neighborhoodshe reasoned the better it wil resist shortterm shocks in business con-

ditios and market prices. Divesity by the same oken provides manypotenial growh points which can benet from new opportunities Ahighly specialized neghborhood by contras is like a gamble placingall his bets on one turn of the roulette wheel f he wins he wins big; ifhe loses he may lose everything. For Jacobs of course a key pointabout the diversiy of a neighborhood is the human ecology it fotersThe variety of locally available goods and services and the complexhuman networks that it makes possible the foot trac that promotessafety the visual interest that an animated and convenient neighbor-hood providesal interact to make such a locations advantages cu

22 RURL SETTLEME NT ND PRODUCTI ON

mulative The iversit an comlexit that caus e sstems of ora tobecome more urable an resilient work at another level aarentl tocause human communites to become more nmble an satisfactor.

Pra Vr Sii Ciaio

Most West Afrcan farmers ractce some form of shftng cultva-ton.53 Varousl calle slashanburn cultvaton swienng an ro-tational bush fallow shiftng cultvation nvolves the temorar cultivation of a el cleare b cutting an burning most of the vegetaton.After beng worke for a few ears the el is abanone for a new

lot Eventuall when new growth has restore the original el tosomething like its orgnal fertilit t is cultvate again Polcroingan minimum tillage were often combine with shifting cultvaton.

Like olcroing shifing cultivaton as we shall see turns out to

mg tue 23

The ecological caution of shifting cultivation in other wors was thereason behin the aearances that so offene eveloment ofcialsRotational bush fallow ha a goo man other avantages that

were rarel arecate. It uhel the hsical roerties of ulanan hll soils whch once estroe were ifcult to restore. The rotation tsel where lan was abunant ensure the longrun stabilitof the ractce. Shifting cultivators rarel remove large trees orstumsa custom that lmte eroson an hele the soil structurebut that struck agricultural ocals as slo an unsghtl. With someexcetions swien lots were cultvate b hoe or ibble stck ratherthan lowe. To Westernize agronomsts t aeare that the farmers

were merel scratching the surface" of their soils out of a elorablegnorance or sloth Where the encountere farming sstems involvingee lowing an monocroing the believe the ha encounterea more avance an inustrious oulaton The burning of the



be a rational ecient an sustanable technique uner the soil climate an social conitions where it is gnerall ractice. Polcro-ing an shfing cultivation are almost invariabl assocate. HarolConklins earl etaile an still unsurasse account of shifing culti-vation in the Philines note that for a newl cleare lot theavrnumber of cultivars n a single season was be tween fort an sxt. Atthe same time shiftng cultivation s an excetionall comlex an

hence quite illegible form of agriculture from the ersectve of a sovereign state an its extenson agents The els themselves are fgitivegong in an out of cultvation at irregular interalsharl romisingmaterial for a caastral ma. The cultivators themselves of course areoften fgitive as well moving erioicall to be near their new clear-ings. Registering or monitoring such oulatons let alone tuingthem into easil assessable taxaers is a Sishean task 5 The rojectof the state an the agricultural autorities as we saw in the Tanzaniancase was to relace this illegible an otentiall seitious sace withermanent settlements an ermanent referabl mono croe) e ls.

Shifting cultivaton also gave ofense to agricultural moernizers of

whatever race because it volate in almost ever resect their unerstaning of what moern agriculture a to look like. Earl attituesto shifting cultivation were almost entrel negative" Richars notes.t was a b a sstem exloitatve unti an msguie."5 The nelaate logic of shifting cultivation eene on isturbing the lan-scae an ecolog as little as ossible an mimicking where it coulman of te smbiotic associations of local lants. Ths meant that suchels looke far more like unimrove nature than the neatl manicure rectilinear els that most agricultural ofcers were use to.

brush accumulate in clearing a new swien was also conemne aswasteful. Afer a tme however both shallow cultivation an burningwere foun to b highl benecal; the former resere the soil esecall in areas of high rainfall while the latter reuce est ou-latons an rovie valuable nutrients to the cro. Exerimentsshowe in fact that burning the brush i the el rather than haulingit of) contribute to better els as i a carefll time burn. 58

To someone traine to a Western ersectve the total effect of suchcultivation ractices ha backwarness" written all over itheas ofbrush waiting to be burne on unlowe halfcleare els litterewith stums an ante wth several interserse cros none of themsown in straight rows. An et as the har evience accumulate it wasclear that aearances were eceiving even in rouctionist terms. AsRchars conclues The roer test for an ractice was whether itworke in the environment concee not whether it looke avance'or backwar' Testing requires carefll controlle inutoutut trialsf shallow cultivation on artiall cleare lan gives better returnsrelative to the inuts exene than rival sstems an these results can

be sustaine over time then the technique is a goo one irresective ofwhether it was invente estera or a thousan ears ago5 Lost in theearl blanket conemnations of shifing cultivation was the realizationthat the ractice was eloe in a highl iscriminating wa b Aicancultivators. Most farmers combine ermanent bottomlan cultivationof some kin wth swien cultivation of the more fragile hillsies u-lans or forests. Rather than not knowing an better as was often assume most shifing cultivators were familiar with a range of croingtechniques among which the selecte with care.


Friir Vru Frii

The bes ferlzer on any fam s he footseps of th owne.

-Confucius

Commecia feies hae oen been toute as magica nocuations fo impong poo sois an aising yies; etensio agents haeoutiney efee to feiies an pesticies as meicine fo the soi.

The acua esus hae ofen been isappoining Two maj o easons

fo the isappointment ae iecy eean to ou age agumen.Fist, ecommenaions fo fetiie appications ae ineiaby

goss simicaions Thei appicabiiy to any partcular e is quesionabe, sinc e a map of soi casses is ikey to oeook an enomous

egee of mioaation between an within es. The conitionsune which fetiies ae appie, the osage," the soi suctue, the

f hi h h i h h i i i

amng atur 85

b�ns a puey chemica nuien pespecie wih soi cassicaion

g�s an ha eaes he paticua e fa behin is a ecipe fo inef

feceness o ee sase.

A Hio o Unauhoriz Innovaio

o most coona ocas an he successos, highmoeniscommens e them o fom inaccuae assumpions abou inige-

ous agcuue anb

.ne� them o its ynamism. Fa fom being

meess, statc, a g, genous agicutua pactices wee con

stany being eise an aape Some of his pasicity was pa of aboa epeoie of echniues that cou be ajuste, fo exame, tofeent pattens of ainfa, sois, pitces of an, maket oppouni-es, an abo suppies. Most Afican cutiatos wee ypicay utiiing

moe than oe cutiaion technique uing a season an knew many



cops fo which they ae intene, an the weahe immeiatey pioan subsequent to thei appication can a geaty inuence thei up-take an effect As Richas obsees, the unaoiabe aiation by

fam an e euies a moe openene appoach, with, i a pob-abiity, fames oing much of the neces say epeimentation fothemsees

Secon, fetiie fomuas suffe fom an anaytica naowness.

The fomuas hemsees eie fom the wok of a emakabe eman scietist, Jusus Feihe on iebig, who, in a cassic manusciptpubishe in 1 80 ientie the main chemica nutients pesen inthe soi an o whom we sti owe the cuent stana fetiie ecipeN, K) t was a biiant scientic aance, wih faeaching an

usuay enecia esuts Whee it ene to ge into toube, howee,was when it pose as impeia" knowegewhen i was toute ashe way n which a soi eciencies cou be emeieY As Howaan oths hae painstakingy shown thee ae a ange of nteening

aiabes incuing he physica stuctue of the soi, aeation, tith,humus, an he ungus bigethat geaty nuence ant nutition

an soi fetiiy.62 Chemica feiies can in fac so thooughy oiiebenecia oganic mate as to estoy its cumb stuctue an contibute to a pogessie akaiation an a oss of fetiiy. 6

The etas ae es s impotant than he age point: an effectie soiscience must not stop at chemica nutients; it must encompass ee

mens of physics, aceioogy, entomoogy, an geoogy, an tha is aa minimum eay, then, a pacica appoach to fetiies euies,simuaeousy, a genea, inteiscipinay knowege which a singe

speciaist s unikey o hae, an atention to the paicaity of a

gien e, which ony the fame s ikey to hae A poceue that

moe than oe cutiaion technique uing a season an knew manymoe that mght come hany. When entiey noe cutias om theNew W becae aiabe, they wee aopte with aacity wheeappopate Thus mae, cassaa, potatoes, chies, an a aiey of Newo uses an gous wee incopoate into many Aican ant-g egmens.4

The histoy of onfam" epeimentation, seecion, an aaptationwas, of couse, a ey o stoy inee, both in Afica an esewee.thnoboany an paeoboany hae been abe to tace in some hiso-

ca eta how hybis an aiants of, fo exampe, the a OWo gins o New Wo maie wee seecte an popagate fo ahost of ffeent ses an gowing conitions The same obseationhos tue fo hose pants that ae egetaiey popagatethat ispopagate by cuttings athe than by sees5

On a sticty spassionate ew, moe speciasts wou hae con-cue that thee wee many gouns fo consieing eey Aficanfam as somehg of a smascae epeimenta station. It stans oeason tht any community of cutiatos who must west thei iingfom a

stg

an aiabe enionment wi aey oeook the op-

pouty to mpoe thei secuity an foo sppy. The imits to ocaknowege must aso be emphase. Inigenos cutiatos kew theiwn enionmen an its possibiities emakaby we. But hey of

cose acke the knowege hat such toos of moen science as the

mc.oscope, aeia phoogaphy, an scientic pant beeing cou

pVe. They oe acke, as i many cutiatos esewhee, the techoogy o he acces to technoogy tha ake, say, agescae iigato chemes a hghy mechanie agicutue possie ke eas-ants the Meteanean Basn, China, a n na, hey wee capabe

26 RURL TTLM NT ND RODU CTION

of amagng the ecosysem e ven f low populaon enses ha husfa spae hem fom makng ths mstake. But f most ag

cultual

specalsts ha appecate how much the ngenous fam.dd know,

ha appecate he pactcal, epemental tempe an wlgness oaopt new cops an technques when they me local nee

sch spe-

calsts wo have conclue, wth obet Chambes, that genousagcultual knowlege, espe beng gnoe o oven by csu-tant epets, s the snge lagest knowlege esouce not yet moblen the evelopmen entepse

The Insttutional Anities of HighModeist Agriculure

The wllful san fo local competence shown by mos agcultualspecalss was not, I beleve smply a case of pece of the eu

t b W t t t th t ) f th

mng re 27

epes punng an spayng epets, foest epets, eceato epets maket epets, . . . [an] housekeepng epets, . . . [all of whomae ] neee fo the pupose of gvng specal avce an ecton. Baeys futue was one ogane amost entely by a manageaelte Yet we ae not o thn of socety as foune wholly on sallsepaate tacts, of famly fams, occupe by pesons who lve meelyn conentment ths woul mean tha al lansmen wou be essen-tally laboes. We nee to hol on the lan any pesons who possesslage powes of oganaton who ae manages, who can hanle affas n a bol way t wou be fata to he bes socal an sptua e-

sults f such pesons coul n no aequate oppotuntes on the lanan wee foce nto othe occupatons."n spte of these hop eful ponouncements an ntentons, f one e

amnes caefully many of the agcultual nnovatons of the twenehcentuynnovatons that seeme puely echncal an hence neutal



cate, uban, an Westene ete towa the peasanty) o of the aethetc commtments mplct n hgh moensm. athe ocal attues wee aso a mate of nstutonal pvleg e. To the egee that thecultvatos pactces wee pesume easonable unt poven othewse to the egee that specalss mght lean as much om he fameas vce vesa, an to the egee that specalsts ha to negotae wthfames as pocal equals, wou the basc pemse behn the ofcal

nstutonal status an powe be unemne. The unspoken logc behn mo s of the stae pojects of agcultual moeaton was one ofconsolatng the powe of cenal nstuons an mnshng the au-tonomy of cultvatos an the communtes vsvs those nsttuons.Evey new mateal pactce altee n some way the stng ?buton of powe wealth, an status; an the agcultual spealstsclams to be neutal techncans wth no nstutonal sake n the outcome can hay be accepte at face value. 8

The entalng effecs of S ovet collecvaton an uamaa vllages wee pefectly obvous So ae those of lage gaton oj.ectswhee athotes ece when to elease the wate h ow to stbute

t an what wae fees to chage o of agculual platatons wheehe wokfoce s supese as f t wee n a factoy setg o colonale fames the eect of such cenalaton an epetse was aacal eskllng of the cultvatos theselves. Even n the contet offamly fams an a lbeal economy, hs was n fac the utopan po pect hel up by bety Hye Baley a plant beee, aposle o� a-culual scence, an the chaman of the County fe Commssnune Theooe oosevelt. Baley eclae, hee wl be estabshen the open co unty plan octos, plant beees sol epets health

centuynnovatons that seeme puely echncal an hence neutalone cannot bu concue that many of them ceae commecal anpolcal onopoles that nevtably mnshe he autonomy of thefame. The evolton n hyb sees, patculay con, ha ths ef-fect. Snce hybs ae ethe stee o o no bee tue" the seecompany that has be the paents of the hybcoss has valablepopety n hyb see, whch t can sell evey yea unle the open-

polnae vaetes whch the fame can select hmsef. A smla but not entcal centalng logc apple to the hghyelng vaetes (HS) of whea, ce an mae evelope ove thepast hy yeas. he enomous mpac on yels an mpac that vae wely by cop an gowng contons) epene o n combnng amassve esponse o ntogen applcaton wth sho, tough stalks hatpevente logng . eal ng he potental yel eque abunantwate usually va gaon), lage applcatons of commecal fetle an he peoc applcaton of pestces echanaton of elpepaaton an haestng was also pomoe As wth hybs, heack of bologcal vesty n the els meant that each geneaon of

HS was lkely to succumb to nfestatons of fungus ust, o nsecsnecesstatng the puchase of new sees and new pestces as he nsects bult up esstance) The esultng bologcal ams ace whchplant beees an chemsts beleve that they can contnue to wn, sone that puts the cutvato nceasngy n the hans of pubc an p-vate specalsts. As wh the tuly emocatc aspecs of Nyeees polces, those elemens of eseach an polcy hat mght theaen the poston of a manageal ee tene ehe not to be epoe a a o fepoe to be selecte aanst" n polcy mpementaton



290 RURAL SETTLEMNT AND PRODUCTION

relaxing of experimenal coniions Aer isussing how he farms se-

lece for rials ough o be relaively homogeneous so ha hey woulrespon in uniform ways o he experimenal resuls, he researchers

wen on o lamen he experimenal conrol ha hey hey los by leaving he research saion. may be icul, hey wroe, o plan aall locaions wihin a few ays an almos impossible o n farm plos

of uniform soil. They coninue, Oher ypes of inteeence, such as

pes aacks or ba weaher, may afec some reamens an no ohers. This is, ichars explains, a saluay reminer of one of he rea-

sons why formal sienic research proceures on experimenal sa-

ons, wih he sress on conolling all varables excep he one or wouner irec invesigaion, miss he poin as far as many smallholersare concerne The main conce of farmers is how o cope wih hese

complex ineracions an unscheule evens From he scieniss poinof view (paricularly in relaion o he nee o secure clearcu resuls for

Iming tu 29 1

relax his resricion of focus an begin o consier a wier range ofepenenvariables (oucomes), such as soil feriliy, ineracions wihlivesock (foer, manuring), compaibiliy wih family labor spply,

an so on, he iculies of comparison rapily become inracable o

scienic mehoThe naure of he scienic problem here is srongly analogous o

ha of complexiy in physical sysems. The eleganly simple formulas

of Newons laws of mechanics make i relaively easy o calculae heorbis of wo heavenly boies once we know heir respecive massesan he isance beween hem. A one more boy, however, an he

calculaion of orbis resuling from he ineracion becomes far more

complex. When here are en boies ineracing (his is he simlifedversion of our solar sysem),83 no orbis ever exacly repea hemselves,an here is no way o preic he longerm sae of he sysem. Aseach new variable is inrouce, he number o ramiing ineracons



of view (paricularly in relaion o he nee o secure clear cu resuls for

publicaio), onarm experimenaion poses a ough challenge8To he exen ha science is oblige o eal simulaneosly wih he

complex ieracions o many variables, i begins o lose he vey characerisics ha isinguish i as moern scienc e. Nor oes he accumu

laion o many narrow experimenal suies a up o he same hingas a singl suy o such complexiy This is no, mus repea, a case

agains he experimenal echniques of moern scienic research Anyexensive, onarm research suy ha i no reuce he complexiy oineracions migh be able o show, as armers can, ha a se of pracices prouce goo resuls": say, high yiels. Bu i woul no be ableo isolae he key acors responsible for his resul. The case ha am

making insea recognizes he power an uiliy of scienic work,wihin is omain, and recognizes is limiaions in eaing wih he

kins of problems or which is echniques are ill suie

Bid Spts

Reurning once again o he case o polyculure, we can see why

agronomiss migh have scienic as well as aesheic an insiuionalgrouns for opposing polycropping. Complex orms of inercroppinginrouce too man vaiables no simulaneous play o offer muchchance of unambiguous experimenal proo o causal relaions. Weknow ha cerain polyculural echniques, paricularly hose combining

nirogenxing legumes wih grains, are quie proucive, bu we kowile abou he precise ineracions ha bring abou hese resuls . An

w n pobems n easing ou causaion een when we conne ouraenion o he single epenen variabe of quaniaive yies .82 we

o be aken ino accoun grows geomerically.I oes no srech he acs oo ar, I hink, o claim ha scienic

agriculural research has an elecive aniy wih agriculural echniques ha lie wihin reach of is powerful mehos Maximizing heyiels of puresa crops is one echnique where is power can be use

o bes avanage. Insoar as s insiuonal power has permie, agriculural agencies, like scienic oresers, have ene o simpli heir

environmens in ways ha make hem more amenable o heir sysemof knowlege. The orms o agriculure ha conorme o heir mo-ernis aesheic an heir poliicoaminisraive ineress also happene o securely wihin he perimeer o heir professiona sci-

enic vocaion4Wha of he isorer ousie he realm o he experimenal esign?

Exraexperimenal ineracions can in fac prove benecial when heysrenghen he esire eec. 5 There is no a priori reason or aicipaing wha heir efecs migh be wha is signican is ha hey liewholly ousie he experimenal moel.

Occas ional ly, however, hese eecs have been boh imporan an

poenially hreaening. A sriking example rom he years beween97 an 190 was he massive, worlwie use o pesicies, he mosinamous o whic was DDT. DDT was spraye o kil mosquio poua-

ions an hereby reuce he many iseases ha he pess carry. Theexperimenal moel was largely conne o eermining he osage

concenraions an applicaion coniions require for eraicaingmosquio populaions. Wihin is el o vision, he moe was suc-

cessful DDT ki mosquios an ramacaly reuce he incenceo enemic malaria an oher iseases.6 also ha, as we slowly be


came awae, eastatng ecologcal efects, as esues wee absobeby ogansms all along the foo chan, of whch humans ae of cousealso a pat The consequences of the use ofDDT an othe pesces onsol, wate, sh, nsecs, bs, an fauna wee so ncae that we haeno ye goten he botom of them

Wak Pa Vo

Pat of the poblem was tha he se efecs wee consanly amng. A stoe effectsay, he eclne o sappeaance of a local

nsect populaton le o changes n oweng plans, whch changethe haba fo othe plans an fo oens, an so on. Anothe pat ofhe pobe was tha the efects of pesces on ohe speces wee examne only ne expemenal conons Yet the applcaon ofDDT

was une contons, an as Cason pone ou, scentsts ha

"

aing at 293

poltcal capacty, n the shot un at least, to ma ke cetan that they aenot hel economcaly esponsble fo the age exam" conse-quences of he logc. The patten n agcultue n the Unte Sateswas clealy outlne by a ogue economst estng o Congess n97

nly n the past eae has seous attenton been gen to the ft thatthe lage agltal s . able to achee benets by extenalng etan costs he saantages of lage sale opeatonfall lagelyotse the ecsonakn fameo of the lage fam m Poblems of aste sposal, pollton ontol, ae bens on pblc see eteoaon o ual socal stctes, mpament of the taxbase an the poltcal onseqences of a oncentaton of econompoe hae typcally not been onsee as oss of lage scale by them. hey ae nquestonably costs to the lae ommnty

n theo lage sale opeaton sho enable the m to bng a weange of both osts an benets thn ts nteal ecsonmakngf h l l h



no ea what he neace efecs of pestces wee when they weemxe wh wate a so an acte upo by sungh.

That awaeness of these neacton efecs came fom ots thescentc paagm self s both neesng an, I hnk, agnostc. I began, n pacula, when people gaually came o ealze ha hesongb populaton ha sufee a acal eclne Publc alam at

wha wasot

happenng anymoe ouse he kchen wnows le,eentualy hough scentc eseach, to a tacng of how DDT concenaons n the ogans of bs le o fagle eggshells an epouce falue Ths nng n tun stmulae a host of elae nquesno he efects of pestces an ultmately to legslaton annng theuse of DDT. n ths case, as n othes, the powe of the scentc paagm was achee patly by ts excluson of exaexpemental aables hat hae ofen ccle back, as t wee, o ake he eenge.

The logc of agoeconomc analyss of famng ecency an potsalso wns ts powe by a compaable escon of the el of focus. Isools ae use to best aantage n examnng he mcoeconomcs ofthe fam as a m. On the bass of s necessay smplng assumponsabout facto coss, npus, weahe, labo use, an pces, t can shohow potable o unpotable t mght be to use a pacula pece ofmachney, to buy gaton equpment, o to ase one cop athethan anothe. Stues of ths kn an also of maketng have tene oemonstae he economes of scale acheable by lage, hghly capalze, an hghly mechanze opeatons. Outse hs aow pespectve ae hunes of conseatons tha ae necessaly backete,n a mane smla o tha use n expemental scenc e ut hee, nagoeconomc analyss, he human agens aopng ths ew hae the

famewo n patce the econom an poltcal powe that ccompanes lae scale poes constant temptaton to the lage m totake the benets an pass on the ost

In ohe wos, alhough the busness analysts of he agculual mshae weak pepheal son, the poltcal clou that such ms possessboh nually a collectely can help the m ao beng blnse

Sott

Nealy all stues pupotng to ealuae ecsons of ntees tofames ae expements that last one o at most a few seasons. mplc-tly, the logc behn a e seach esgn of ths kn s th a the longunefects wll not contact the shotun nngs. The queson of thetme hozon of eseach s ectly elean een to hose fo whomthe maxmzaton of yels s the holy gal Unless they ae excluselyneesten meae yels, no mate what the consequences, theatenton must be ece to the ssue of sustanably o o Hcksanncome. Pehaps the most sgncant pactcal son s thus no be-tween hose who woul esgn agculual polcy wth cultual ansoca l goals n m n suc h as the peseaton of the famly fam, thelanscape, o esty an those who wan to maxze pouconan pot, bu athe between pouctonsts wth a shot ew anpouctonsts wth a long ew Afte all, concen abou sol eosonan wate supply was motvae less ofen by ega fo the envon-men than by ega fo he susanablty of cuen poucon

The elately shoun oentaon of co stues a n fam economcs woks to exclue een hose longun esults of neest to the

24 RURL SETTLE MENT ND RODUCTI ON

prouctionists Many of the claims for polyculture for example assert

its superiority over the long haul as a system of prouction. A polycropping trial of twenty or more years as Stephen Marglin has sug

geste might well reach conclusions that are quite ifferent from

those erive om a trial that lasts a season or two. 88 t is not at al l im-plausible that the process of open pollination an selection by farmersas oppose to hybriization might have evelope cultivars roughlyequal in yiel to the best hybris an superior to them in many other

respects inc luing protability.8 The paper prots of scientic monocroppe forests we now realize were ac hieve at consierable cost tothe longterm health an prouctivity of the forest. One woul have

suppose that since most farms are family enterprises there woul

have been more stuies of cropping an rm economics that took as

their analyical unit of time the entire family cycle of one generation .

Nothing in the logic of the scientic metho itself seems to require

amng aur 25

ities as a grain oce harveste. n some cultures certain varieties ofrice are grown for use in certain istinctive ishes; other varieties of

rice may be use only for specic ritual purposes or in the settlement

of local ebts. Some of the complex consierations that go into istinguishing one rice from another in terms of their cooking properties

alone ca n be appreciate from Richarss observations about how the

consierations are weighe in Sierra Leone.

A hrase like it cooks bady is o a cathal for a rag of rories oected wih storage rearatio an consumtio goig welbeyod sbtive stios of taste s th variety cored wll-adatd to local food roessig tehius s it readily eeld

milled ad oded How mh water and el does it rir incookig How log dos it kee rior to ookig and o ookedMend wom claim that imroved swam ris are much ss alat-able han the hader lad ris wen servd u a seod tim it te right kid of ic it is ossible to ut dow te mber o



that a shorrn perspective prevail; rather such a perspecive seems tobe a response to institutional an perhaps commercial pressures. Onthe oher han the nee to isolate a few variables while assuming every

thing else constant an the bracketing of interaction effects that lieoutsie the experimental moel are very enitely inscribe in scien-tic metho. They are a conition of the formiable clarity it achieveswithin its el of vision. Taken together the parts of the lanscape oc

clue by actual scientic practicethe blin spots the peripheryan the ong viewalso constitute a formiabe portion of the realwor.

The Simplifying Practice of Scientic Agriculture

So Yi Ar Mor Equa Tha Ohr

Moern agricultural research commonly procees as if yiels per

unit of scarce inputs were the centra concern of the farmer. The as

sumption is enormously convenient; like the commercial woo of sci-

entic forestry the generic homologous uniform commoities thuserive create the possibility both of quantitative comparisons be-tween the yiel of iferent cultivation techniques an of aggregate sta-

tistics. The familiar tabulations of acres plante yiels per acre antotal prouction from year to year are usually the ecisive measure ofsuccess in a evelopment program.

But the premise that all rice all corn an all milet are equal' how

ever usefu is simpy not a plausible assumption about any crop unlessit is rly a commoity for sale in the market. Each subspecies of

grain has istinctive properties not just in how it grows but in its qual

times it is essary to ook drig bsy eriods o th arm. Siookig sometims taks to 3-4 ors er day icudig te timeak o usk ic reare a re ad ollet wate) tis is a ator o osmall imortae w labor is sot.2

So far we have consiere only the huske grain. hat if webroaen our view to take in the rest of the plant At once we see that

there is a great eal more to be harveste from a plant than its see

grai ns. Thus a entral American peasant may not be intereste only in

the number an size of the corn kernels she hareste. She may also beintereste in using the cobs for foer an scrub brushes; the husk an

leaves for wrappers thatch an foer; an the stalks as trellises forclimbing beans as foer an as temporary fencing. The fact that

entral American farmers know of many more maize varieties than o

their counterparts in the orn Belt of the Unite States is partly relate to the uses to which iferent varieties are put. Maize may als o be

sol in the market for any of these purposes an thus prize for qualities

other than its keels. The same story coul of course be tol abou vir

tually any wiely grown cultivar. ts various parts from various stagesof growth may come in hany as twine vegetable yes meicinal poul

tices greens to eat raw or to cook packaging material being or

items for ritual or ecorative purposesEven from a commercial point of view then the pant is not simpy

its grain. Nor are all grains of all subspecies an hybris of maie an

rice equa The yiel of sees by weight or volume may therefore be

only one of many ens an perhaps not the most important onefora cultivator. But once scientic agriculture or plant breeing begins to

introuce this enormous rage of value an uses into its own calcula

296 RURAL STTLMNT AND PRODUCTON

ins, i is nce again in e Newnian iemma e en eaenybies. An een i i wee abe epesen sme is cmpexiy inis mes, ese usages ae subec cange wiu nice.

xrmntal Plot Vru Atual Fld

A eninmens, as we ne eaie, ae inacaby ca Tee isaways wa we mig ca e ansain pbem in ceing egeneic, sanaize Hg Cuc Lain wic emanaes m absan expeimena sains in e enacua e ca pais . San

aize suins e pepaan, paning sce ues, an fe-ize equemens aways ae be ause wen ey ae appe ,say, a sny, wying, nfacing e wic as us gwn wcps f as. Agicuua scieniss a esea sans an exensinagens ae ey muc awae f s ansan pbem as ae spe

i i T i

amng au 297

us e aser any pssie suins, ne i e use under ressure and ap i ski in e ig pae a erig ie.

Si, aug i is n as capiciusy aiabe ay by ay as eweae, is en exepinay aiabe wiin e same e. Te essenia simpiains agicuua science eque, st, a si bese in a sma numbe f caeges base n aciy, nigen e-es, an quaiies. F anayzing e s f a singe e, e pac-ce is gae bis f si m seea pas f e e an cmbine em n e sampe be anayze s a i w epesen an

aeage. Tis pceue impicty ecgnzes e subsania aatnin si quay e a gien e. Te ecmmene eze appica-n may eefe n be ig f an pa f e e, bu cmpae appicans ee m e fmuas, w be ess wng, naeage, f e e as a we . Once again, ey cauns us agains



caiss n any appe scie nce. T e quesn s aways w iscean cney nings s a ey w be epu fames. As ng ase nings suns ae n smpy impse, e fame mus ecie ey mee is nees.

Like caasa maps, e expeimena ps f agcuua eseac satins cann begn epesen e esy an aabiiy

f fames' e s. Te eseaces mus peae n e bass sana,nmaange assumpins abu s, e pepaan, weeing, ain-a, empeaue, an s n, weeas eac fame's e is a unquecncaenain f ccumsances, acns, an eens, sme wic aekwabe aance si cmpsin) a sme f wc ae u anyne's ans e weae). Te intratons amng ese an eaiabes ae a eas as mpan as e saus f eac ; us e eecsf an eay mnsn n cky si a as us been weee ae if-een fm se an eay mnsn n waegge an a asn bee weee.

Te aeages an nmazans f expeimena wk bscue e

fac a an aeage weae yea a sana si is a saisica cin As Wene ey pus ie induia erin agriuure a i a aing ring eer annua, er nd er again, e ae eie be, eac ne ee a e sae geneazed suin, anderee, a indusry uin an e i and ae uued i suin Bu a ae. n a gd a, eause eaerand e aed aiae, neier e annua ere pre nan e re indiidu i eer uie e ae ears running e gd arer ike e ar, e uarerak e aean

ese geneaizatns Mst ams, een ms es, ae mae up f i-een kins si paens an si sense. fames ae awaysknwn s an ae use e an accngy ey ae been caeusuens f e naua egean, si ep, an sucue, spe ananage. Tey ae n appies f geneaizans, eeica megca mecanica' Wen, e cmpexiy an aiain

e s cniins, we a e pacce pycuue, e bsaces a successu appicain f a genea mua becme iuay nsu-munabe. Te knwege we ae f e mis n sme pans' -eance empeaue an msue es n ensue a ey wi nec-essay e wiin ese im s. Te ypica pan is awuy nckyabu us wee an wen wi gw, une exacy wa cninsi w gemnae, as Ega Anesn expans. Te asy me ni-cae business f ic pans ey wi an wi n eae as neg-bs an une a cnins, as nee been ke in excep ina peminay way f a few specie s.5

nigenus fames ae excepinay ae mcfeaues f e

ain an ennmen a ae impan cuan. Tw exampesfm cas's anaysis f Wes Afca wi see iusae e smaeais a ae simpy minue be isbe wiin a sanaiznggi Amng e bewieing aey f smascae, ca igan pacces, icas assies a eas eeen ifeen kns, sme wi sub-aiains. A epen iecy n cay specc eas pgapy,s, ng, ainfa, an s n, wi e pe f igain use epening n wee e aea is a seanay e ea, saucesapeepessinwi p anage, an inan aey swamp. Tese sma

29 RURAL SETTLEMENT AND RODUTION

schemes which take advantage of the existing possibilities of thelandscape ae a fa cy fom vast engineeed s chemes in which no effot is spaed to modi the landscape in confomity with the engi-neeing pan.

chadss second example shows how West Afican fames used aathe simple but ingenious choice in what stain of ice to plant to helpthem cope with a local pest Mende fames on one aea of Siea Leonehad agaist the textbook advice on the vaieties of ice to be pefeedselected a vaiant of ice with long awns bead o bistles and glumesbacts. The textbook easoning was pobably that such vaieties wee

lowe yieding o that the awns and glumes would simpy add moecha that would have to be winnowed afe theshing. The fames ea-soning was that the long awns and glumes discouaged bids fom eating the bulk of thei ice befoe it eve made it to the theshing oo.These details about micoiigation and the damage caused by bids ae

it l f l l lti t b t h d t il d t d t

rI

amng aure 29 9

But Howad and othes it seems to me miss the most impotantabstaction of expeimental wok in scientic agicultue How can wedene how useful this eseach is until we know the ends to which cul-tivatos will put it Useful fo what t is at the level of human agencywhee scientic agicultue constucts its geatest abstaction: the ceation of a stock chaacte the Eveyman cultivato who is inteestedonly in ealiing the geatest yields at the least cost

Fa Fam Vu Ra Fam

Not only ae the weathe the cops and the soil complex and vai-able; te fame is too Season by season and fequently day by day mil-lions of cultivatos a pusuing an innumeable vaiety of complicated goals. These goals and the shifting mix between them de anysimple model o desciption

P t bl d cti f j c th l t



vital fo local cultivatos but such details do not and cannot appea onthe highying mapping of moden agicultual panning.

Many citics of scientic agicultue have claimed not only that ithas systematically favoed lagescale poductionoiented monocultue but that its eseach ndings ae of at best lmited use since allagicultue is local Howad agued fo a fundamentally dieent pac

tice basing it on two pemises. The st was that expeimental plotscould not yied he lpful esults

mall plot a fam ae very ieet thing. t i impoible to manage a mall lot a a elfcotaine it in he ame wa a a goo fami oute he eeial eaio betwee ivetok an he lan ilt thee ae mea of mataiing the fetiit of the oi b it-abe otati a i the le i go famig. he lt a the fam arebvl t f relatin he plt e t eve ereet the el inwhih it our. A lleti f e lts ant eeent the agil-ural prblem the et t t nvetigate . . hat pble avatagetherefoe a be btaie b the a lation f highe mathemat ta tehnie whih i ametall o6

Howads second pemise s that many of the most impotant indications of a fam and a cops health ae quaiaiv Can a mutuallyinteactig system like the cop and the soil fo example dependent ona multitude of factos which ae changing fom weektoweek and yeatoyea eve be made to yield quantitative esults coesponding to thepecisi on of mathematics" As Howad sees it the dange is that thenaow expeime ntal and exclusivey quantitative appoach will succeed in completely diving out the othe foms of local knowedge andjudgment possessed by most cultivatos

Potable poduction of one o moe majo cops the usual stan-dad of agicultual eseach is obviously one pupose shaed by mostcultivatos t is instuctive nevetheless to obse e how deeply medi-ated this goal s by othe puoses tha t may indeed usup it altogetheThe complexities suggest below meely scatch the suface.

Each fam famly has its unique endowment of land skills tools

and labo which geatly constain how it fams. Conside only one aspect of labo supply: a laboich" fam with many ablebodied youngwokes has options i n gowing labontensive cops in planting sched-ules and in developin g atisan sdelines that ae not easily available tolabopoo" fams Futhemoe the same family fam will go thoughseveal stages i n the couse of a family cycle of development. Fameswho migate out fo wage wok duing pat of the yea may pantops of ealy o late matuity o cops equiing little cae in ode toaccommodate thei migatoy schedule.

As we saw ealie a paticula cops pot may be tied t moethan just its yield in gain and the cost of poducing it. The stubble of

a cop m ay be cucal as fodde f ivestock o watefowl. A op maybe vital becaus e of what it does to the soil in otaton wth othe copso how it asssts anothe op with which it is inteplanted. A op maybe le ss impotant fo its gain that fo what it supplies in aw mateialfo atisanal poduction whethe that mateial is sold n the maket oused at home. Families who live close to the subsistence line maychoose thei cops not on the basis of thei potability but on thebasis of how steady thei yields ae and whethe they can be eaten ifthei maket pie plunges.

The omplexities thus fa intodued could at least in piniple be

300 RURL STTL MNT ND PROD UCTON

accmmate within a astically mie neclassical ntin fecnmic maximizatin even thugh it wul be t elabate tmel easily. nce we a such cnsieatins as aesthetics itualstaste an scial an plitical cnsieatins this is n lnge tecase Thee ae any numbe f pefectly atinal but nnecnmiceasns f wanting t gw a cetain cp in a cetain way whethebecause ne wishes t maintain cpeative elatins with neighbs because a paticula cp is linke t gup ientity. Such cultualhabits ae pefectly cmpatible with cmmecial suc cess as the expeience f the Amish Mennnites an Hutteites emnstates. As ng

as we ae pinting t the high level f abstactin f the fam family"f whm scientic agicultual eseach es its wk we shulnte that in much f the wl an unestaning f the pactices inuse n almst any fam will equie istinguishing the p upses f thevaius membes f the family Each family entepise is n clse inspectin a patneship albeit typically unequal with its wn in

amg au 30 1

on sicks an carrots. But over the long haul such a powerfl grid can, and does, change the landscape.

Two Agriculural Logics Compared

If the lgic f actual faming is ne f an inventive pactice espnset a highly vaiable envinment the lgic f scientic agicultue isby cntast ne f aapting the envinment as much as pssible t itscentalizing an stanaizing fomulas. Thas t the pineeing wkf Ja Duwe va e leg i is pssible spell u hw his lgic

wks f ptat cultivatin in the Anes. Van e leg calls inigenus ptat cultivatin in the Anes aca." The cultivat begins with an exceptinally ivese lcal eclgy an aims at bh successlly aapting t it an gaually impving it. Anean fames skills have allwe them t achieve esults hatae quite espectable in tems f naw puctinist gals an ex



spectin a patneshipalbeit typically unequalwith its wn intenal plitics.

The units f fame" an fam cmmunity" ae nally evey bitas inticate an ui as the weathe si an lanscape. Mappingthem is even me pblematic than say analyzing the sil. The easn I think is that while the fames expetise may ccasinally failhim in assessing his wn sil we will nt ubt the fames expetisein knwing his wn min an inteests.

Just as the buzzing cmplexity an plasticity f custmay lantenue pactices cannt be satisfactily epesente in the staitjacketf men feehl ppety law s the cmplex mtives an gals fcultivats an the lan they fam cannt be effectively ptaye bythe stanaizatins f scientic agicutue. The schematic epesentatns s imptant f expeimental wk can an have puce imptant new knwlege which suitably aapte has been incpate int mst agicultual utines. But such abstactins again likethse f feehl tenue ae pwel misepesentatins that usuallycicle back t inuence eality. They peate at a minimum t geneate eseach an nings mst applicable t fams that meet the esciptin f thei schematizatin: lage mncppe mechanizecmecial fams pucing slely f the maket. In aitin thisstanaizatin is ypicaly linke t public plicy in the fm f tax incentives lans pice suppts maketing subsiies an signicantlyhanicaps impse n entepises that nt t the schematiatinwhich systematicaly peate t nuge ealiy twa the gi f its bsevatins. The effect is nthing like the shck theapy f the campaigns f Sviet cllectiviatin ujamaa villages which elie me

ae quite espectable in tems f naw puctinist gals an extainaily s in ems f eliabiliy f yiels an sustainability

The typical fame cultivates anywhee fm twelve t een istinct pacels as wel as the pls n a aing basis. iven he geatvaiey f cnitins n each plt altitue sil histy f cultivatnslpe ientatin t win an sun) each el is unique. The vey iea

f a stana el" in this cntext isa

empy abstactin. Sme elscntain nly ne cultiva thes between tw an ten smetimes inteplante in he same w with each in its wn w." 3 Each cultiva is a wellplace bet in its niche. The vaiety f cultivas makes flcal expeimentatin with new csses an hybis each f which isteste an exchange amng fames an the many lanaces f ptates ths evelpe hae nique chaacteistics hat becme weknwn. Fm the ap peaance f a new vaiey t its substantial use inthe els takes at least ve six yeas Each seasn is the ccasin fa .new un f pent bets with last seasns esults in tems f yielsease pices an espnse t change plt cnitins havng beencaelly weighe These fams ae maketiente expeiment sta

ins with g yiels geat aaptabili an eliabiliy ehaps memptant they ae nt just pucing cps; they ae epucingfames an cmmunities with plant beeing skills exible stategeseclgical kwege an cnseable selfcnence an aunmy

Cmpae this aftbase ptat puctin with the inheentlgic f scientic agicultue. The pcess begins wth the enitin fan ieal plant ype. Ieal" is ene mainly but nt nly n tems fyiels. fessnal plant beees then begin synthesiing the stainsthat might cmbine t fm a new gentype with the esie chaac

2 RURAL SELEME AD PRODVC IO

teristics. Then an d ony then are the plant strains grown in experimental plots in order to determine the conditions under which the potentialof the new genope will be realized The basic procedure is exactly thereerse of Andean craf production where the cultiator begins withthe plot ts soil and its ecology and then selects or deelops arietiesthat will likely thrie in this setting The ariety of cultiars in such acommunity is in large pa a reection of the arie of both local needsand ecological conditions I n scientic potato growing by contrast thepoint of departure is the new cultiar or genotpe in service of whicheery eort is made to transform and homogenie eld conditions so

that the ed meets the genope's specic requirementsThe logic of beginning with an ideal genope and then transformingnature to accord with its growing conditions has some predictable consequences Extension work essentially becomes the attempt to remakethe farmers eld to suit the genope This usually requires the appli-

i f i f ili d i id hi h b h d

Taming Natur 303

been trying to improe local practice so that it would conform to abstract standards06 It is little wonder that scientic agriculture tendsto faor the creation of large articial practices and enironmentsirrigation schemes large and leeled elds, the application of fetilizerb fo:mula greenhouses pesticidesall of which allow a homogezatn and control of nature within which "ideal experimental conditions for its genopes can be maintained

There is I think a larger lesson here An explicit set of rules willtake you furter when the situation is cutanddried The more staticand onediensional the stereotype the less the need for creatie in-terpretation and adaptation In the Andes an der Ploeg implies the"rules attached to the new potato were so restrictie that they culdneer be successly translated to the great ariety of local farming er-naculars One of te major purposes of state simplications collec-tiization assembly lines plantations and planned communities alikeis to strip down reality to the bare bones so that the ules will in fact



cation of nitrogen fertilier and pesticides which must be purchasedand applied at the right moment It usually also requires a wateringregimen that in many cases only irrigation can possibly satis104 Thetiming of all operations for this genotype (planting cultiating fetilizer spreading and so forth) are spelled out carelly The logic of theprocessa logic not een remotely realized on the groundis to trans-

form the farmers into "standard farmers growing the required genotype on similar soils and leeled elds and according to the instruc-tions printed right on the seed packages applying the same fertilierspesticides and amounts of water It is a logic of homogeniation andthe itual elimination of local knowledge To the degree that this ho-mogenization is successful the genoe will l ikely succeed in terms ofproduction leels in the sho run Conersely to the degree that suchhomogeniation is impossible the genotype will faiL

Once the job of the agricultural specialist is dened as one of raising all farmers plots to the uniform condition that will relize the newcultiars promise there is no fther need to attend to the great arieof conditionssome of which are unalterableon actual farmerselds Rather than hae the facts on the ground muddy a simple unitary reseach issue it was more conenient to try to impose a researchabstraction on the elds (and lies) of farmers Gien the intractableecological ariety of the Andes this was a nearly fatal step Rarelyhae agricultural specialists asked themseles as did the Russian S PFridolin well before the reolution whether they might not be workingfrom the wrong angle: "He realized that his work was actually harm-ing the peasants Instead of learning what local conditions were andthen making agricultural practice t these conditions better he had

is to strip down reality to the bare bones so that the ules will in factexp lain more of the situation and proide a beter guide to behaior Tothe extent that this si mplication can be imposed those who make therules

.can actually supply crucial guidance and i nstuction. This at any

rate what I take to be the inner logic of social economic and produc-tie deskilling If te enironment can be simplied down to the p ointwhere the rules do explain a great deal tose who formulate the rules

and techniques hae also greatly expanded their power They aecorrespondingly diminished the power of those who do not o the de-gre that th�y do succeed cultiators with a high degree of autonomys�lls experence slfcondence and adaptability are replaced by cultators following instuctions Such reduction in diersity moementand life to recall Jacobss term represents a kind of social "taxidermy

The new potato genope as an der Ploeg shows usually fails ifnot immedi ately within three or four years Un like the ens emble of in-digenous arieties the new cultiar thries within a narrower band ofenironmental conditions Man things in other words must go rightfor the new cultiar to produce well and if any of these things goes

wrong (to o uch hot we ather late deliery of fertilizer and so forth)the yields suffer drmaticaly Witin a few years the new genotypes"become incapable of generating een low leels of production7

In pactice howeer the ast ajority of Andean cultiators areneiter purely traditional cultiators nor mindless followers of the scientic specialists Tey are instead crafing unique amalgams of strategies that relect their ais teir resources and their loca conditions Where the new potatoes seem to t their purposes they may plantsome bu t they may interplant them with other cultiars and may sub

304 RURAL SETTLMNT AND RODUTON

sttute ung, o plow n geen manue alfalfa, clove), athe thanapply the stana fetlze package They ae constantly nventngan epementng wth ffeent otatons, tmng, an weeng technques. But because of the vey patculay of these thousans of nel epements" an the specalsts stue nattenton othem, theyae llegble, f not nvsble, o scentc eseach Fames, beng polythests when comes to agcultual pacce, ae quck to seze whateve seems usefl fom the epstemc wok of fomal scence But theeseaches, tane as monothests, seem all bu ncapable of absobng the nfoma epemena esults of pactce.

Coclusion

The geat conence that hghmoenst agcultue has nspeamong ts pacttones an patsans shoul not supse us t is assocate wth unpaallele agcultua pouctvty n the West anwth the powe an pestge of the scentc an nustal evolu

i u 305

clea that the ecolo gcal logc that seem s to wok well on a sngle famove the long haul wll at the same tme pouce sustanable aggegateesults fo an ente egon

That sa, t s also the case, howeve, that West can cultvatoshave at the sposal a lfetme of caeful, local obsevaton an thenegane knowlege of the localty that no eseach scentst canhope to uplcate fo the same tean An let us not fal to note whatkn of epementes these ae The lves an the lves of the famles epen ectly on the outcomes of the el epements. venthese mpotant postonal avantages, one woul have magne thatagcultual scentsts wou have pa attenton to what these fames

know. t wa the falue to o so, Howa clams, that consttutesthe geat shotcomng of moen scentc agcultue The appoachto the pobems of famng must be mae fom the el, not om theaboatoy. The scovey of the thngs that matte s thee quates ofthe battle. n ths the obsevant fame an laboue, who have spentthe ves n cose contact wth natue, can be of geatest help to he



wth the powe an pestge of the scentc an nustal evolutons. Ltle wone, then, that the tenets of hgh moensm, as talsmans of the tue fath, shoul have been cae thoughout the wolunctcay an nee wth the convcton that they lghe the way toagcultual pogess OB beleve that ths unctcal, an hence unscentc, tust n the atfacts an technques of what became coe

as scentc agcutue was esponsble fo ts falues. The logcalcompanon to a compee fath n a quasnustal moel of hghmoenst agcultue was an oen eplct contempt fo the pactcesof actual cultvatos an what mght be leane fom them. Wheeas ascentc spt woul have counsele skeptcsm and spassonate nquy nto these pactces, moen agcultue as a bln fath peachescon an summay smssal

Actua cultvatos n West Aca an elsewhee shou moe accuately have been unestoo as lfelong epementes conuctng ne seasonal tals, the esults of whch they ncopoate nto theeveevolvng epetoe of pactces nasmuch as these epementes

wee an ae suoune by hunes o thousans of othe local epemenes wth whom they shae eseach nngs an the knowlege o f geneatons of eale eseach as coe n folk wsom, theycoul be sa to have nstant access to the popua equvalent of an mpessve eseach lbay. Now t s aso unenably the case that theycay out most of the eseach wthout the pope epemental contols an ae theefoe pone to awng false nfeences fom thenngs They ae also lmte by what they can obseve mcopocesses only vsbe n the laboatoy necessay escape them No s t

the ves n cose contact wth natue, can be of geatest help to henvestgato The vews of the peasanty n al countes ae wothy ofespect thee s always goo eason fo the pactces n mattes lkethe cutvaton of me cops they themseves ae stll the ponees "Howa cets most of hs own nngs about sol, humus, an ootacton to a caefu obsevaton of ngenous famng pactce An he

s athe sanfu of agcultual specalsts w ho o not have to takethe own avce"that s, who have neve ha to see the own copthough fom plantng to havest.

Why, then, the unscientic sco fo pactcal knowlege Thee aeat least thee easons fo t, as fa as can tell The st s the pofessonal" eason mentone eae the moe the cultvato knows, theless the mpotance of the specalst an hs nsttutons The secon sthe smpe ele o hgh moensm: namely, a contempt fo hsoyan past knowege. As the scentst s always assocate wth the moen an the ngenous cutvato wth the pas that moensm wlbansh, the scentst feels that he o she has lttle to ean fom that

quate The th eason s that pactca knowlege s epesentean coe n a fom uncongenal to scentc agcultue Fom a naow scentc vew, nothing s known untl an unless t s poven n atghty contolle epement. nowlege that aves n any fom othethan though the technques an nstuments of fomal scentc poceue oes not eseve to be taken seously The mpeal petenseof scentc moensm amts knowlege only f t aves though theapetue that the epemental metho has constucte fo ts a msson. Tatonal pactces, coe as they ae n pactce an n olk

306 RUR SETTEME NT ND PRODU CTON

aying ae een peumpively a no meiing aenion, le aoneveicaion.An ye, a we have een, culivao have evie an pefece a

ho of echnique ha o wok, poucing eiable eul in coppoucion, pe cono, oi peevaion, an o foh By conanlyobeving he eul of hei e expeimen an eaining hoemeho ha uccee he fame have icovee an ene pac-ice ha wok, wihou knowing he pecie chemica o phyica ea-on why hey wok. In agicuue, a in many ohe e, paciceha long pe cee heoy. 1 1 1 An inee ome ofhee pacicaly ucceful echnique, which involve a age numbe of imuaneouly in

eacing vaiabe, may neve be fuly uneoo by he echnique ofcience . We un hen, o a cloe examinaion of pacic knowege,a kin of knowege ha high moenim ha ignoe o i peil

Part

The Missing Link



9 Thin Simplications andPractical Knowledge:Mtis

No blTuio Boodio o Auslizaks plc as hos who pladi icipd. Th s ssnil condon.Tolsoy War a n Peace



We have e peately osee the natual an social failues of thin, fomulaic simplications mpose hough he agency of sate powe.The ulaan commecial an scal logic hat le o geometc, mono-coppe, sam eage foests also le to sevee ecologcal amage. Wheethe fomula ha een apple wih the geaest go, t eventually e-

came necessay to aemp to estoe much of he foess oignal -vesty an completyo ahe, to ceae a vtual" foes hawoul mmc the ousness an uailiy of he pescentc" foes.

The panne scientc ciy," a o accoing o a small neof aonal pncples, was epeience as a socal failue y mos of tsnhaians Paaoically, the faile of he esgne cty was oftenavete, as was the case in Basla, y pactca mpovsations an -legal acs ha wee eney ouse he plan Jus as he stippeownlogi ehin the scenc foest was an inaequae ecpe fo a healhy,successf" foes so wee he thin uanpanning schemata of LeCouse an naequae eci pe fo a satisacoy human community.

Any age soca pocess o event will inevialy e fa moe comple han he schemaa we can e vise, pospecively o etospecvely,to map i. Lenin h evey eason, as a wole hea of he vangapaty, o emphasize mltay scpline an hieachy in the evoluonay poect. Afe the Octoe Revoluion, he B olshevk sae authoites ha evey eason, once again, to eaggeate he cental, all-seeing ole of he aty n inging the evoluton aou. An ye weknowan Lenin an Luemug knewtha he evolution haeen a close call, elyng moe on he impovisaons, missps, an

30

30 T MISSIN LINK

skes f ck ha Tlsy escbe n War an eace han n he pecsn f a paaegn .The hn smpcans f agcal cecvzan an cen

aly planne pcn have me a cmpaabe fae whehe n heclecve fams f he fme Sve nn n he amaa vlages fNyeees Tanzana. Hee agan he schemes ha n capse agehe manage svve hanks lagey espeae meases ehen envsage ese expessly phbe by he plan. Ths an nf-mal ecnmy evelpe n ssan agclue peang n ny pvae pls an an he hef" f me eqpmen an cmmes mhe sae sec an supplyng ms f he ay pucs fu veg

eables an mea n he ssan e. ! Ths he fcbly esele Tanzanans sccessfuly esse clecve pucn an fe back ses me suable f gazng an culvan Ames he pce f anunyelng mpsn f sae smplcans n agaan lfe an p-ucnSaln's fce cllecvzan Chna's Gea eap -wawas famne. As fen as n hweve sae cals ecle be-

il wledge 3 1

es spece by he engnees knwng hey w cs he cmpanyvalabe me an qay ahe han cnnng he me expespacces hey ha ng ag evse n he b. They wee eyng nhe ese assmpn ha wkng sclyby he bk s necessalyess pcve han wkng wh nave.

Ths pespecve n scal e s ess an analycal nsgh han asclgca sm es e hweve a valuable p n f epauef nesanng why auhaan hghmes schemes ae penally s escve. Wha hey gnean fen suppessaepecsey he pacca sklls ha newe any cmplex acvy Myam n hs chape s cncepalze hese paccal sklls vausly

calle knwhw savoir faire ars e faire) 3 cmmn sense expe-ence a knack tis. Wha ae ese sklls Hw ae hey ceaeevepe an manane Wha s he elan fma epsemcknwlege hpe shw ha many fms f hgh mensm haveeplace a valuable cllaban beween hese w alecs f knwege wh an mpeal scenc vew whch smsses paccal knw



a as a e. s e as e e sa e a s e e befe he abyss an came leae f n cnne a hs f nfmalpacces ha n fac unewe he suvval f he fcal scheme.

These ahe exeme nsances f massve saempse scal e n-gneeng llsae I hnk a lage pn abu fmally ganze s-cal acn. n each case he necessaly hn sche mac mel f scal

ganzan an pucn anmang he plannng was naequaeas a se f nscns f ceang a sccessful scal e By hemselves he smple ules can neve geneae a fncnng cmmny cy ecnmy. mal e be me explc s always an sme cnseable egee paasc n nfmal pcesses whch hefmal scheme es n ecgnze wh whch cul n exsan whch alne cann ceae manan.

Ths hmely nsgh has lng been f gea accal vale geneans f ae nnss wh have use as he bass f he wkule ske n a wk le acn he ench call rve u zle)emplyees begn ng he bs by meclusly bsevng evey ne

f he ules an eglans an pefmng nly he es sae nhe b escpns. The esul flly nene n hs cas e s ha hewk gns a hal a leas a snals pace. The wkes achevehe paccal effec f a walk whle emanng n he b an fllw-ng he nscns he lee. The acn als llsaes pnelyhw acal wk pcesses epen me heavly n nfmal nesanngs an mpvsans han pn fmal wk les. n he lngwkle acn agans Caeplla he lage eqpmen manufac-e f example wkes evee fllwng he necen pce

ege wh an mpeal scenc vew whch smsses paccal knwhw as nsgncan a bes an as angeus spesns a ws.The elan beween sc enc knwlege an paccal knwlege sas we shall see pa f a plcal suggle f nsunal hegemny byexpes an he nsuns. Taylsm an scenc agculue aen hs eang n s saeges f pcn bu als saeges f

cnl an apppan.

Ms: The Conours of Practca nowedge

llwng he llumnang sues f Macel eenne an eanPeeVenan we can n n he Geek cncep f ms a means f cmpa-ng he fms f knwlege embee n lcal expeence wh heme geneal absac knwlege eplye by he sae an s echn-cal agences .4 Befe elabang he cncep an s se we wll n a bef example n e llsae he venacla chaace flcal knwlege an gun he scussn ha fllws.

When e s Epean seles n Nh Ameca wee wnengwhen an hw plan New Wl clvas sch as maz e hey e he lcal knwege f he Nave Amecan neghbs f help.They wee l by Sqan accng ne lege n Chef Massasaccng anhe) plan cn when he ak leaves wee he szef a sqel's ea.5 Em bee n hs avce hweve flklc s ngay s a nely bseve knwlege f he successn f naualevens n he New Englan spng. Nave Amecans was hs or-ey sccessn say he sknk cabbage appeang he wlws be

312 TE MISSIN LINK

ginning to eaf he rewing backbir reurning an the rst hatchof he mayy that provie a reaiy observabe caenar of spring.Whie the timing of hese evens might be earier or aer in a given yearan whe he pace of their succession migh be more rawn out or acceerate he sequence of he evens was amos never vioate. As arue of thumb it was a neary fooproof formua for avoiing a frost.We amost cerainy istort Squano's avice as he co oniss perhapsi by recing i to a singe observaion. verythng we know aboutingenous technca knowege suggests tha i reies on an accumu-ation of many pary reunant signas. f other incaons i notconrm the oakeaf formua a pruen panter mght eay further

Compare this avce o ha base on more universasc unts ofmeasurement. A typica oca eition of he arers Alaac is a casein poin. t may suggest panting corn afer he rs fu moon in Mayor afer a spece ae such as May 20. In New ngan a any ratehis avice wou require consierabe ajsment by atitue an a-iue. A ate hat wou serve for souhern Connecicu wou no sui

rccl owldg 3 1 3

temperaure since the ast fros ae up to 2C) square" Kow-ege this certainy is Given the echniques for making the requireobservaions t is probaby quie accurae. Bu t is hary pracicaQueteets payfu formua aers us to a hamark of mos pracicaoca knowege: i is as economica an accurae as i nees o be nomore an n o ess for aressing he probem a han.

One hesitaes be fore introucing yet another unfamiiar term s uchas mis" no this iscussion. n his case however mis" seems obeer convey he sors of pracca skis that have in min than osuch pausibe aernaives as inigenous echnica knowege" fokwisom" practica sks" echne an so on.8

The concep comes to us from the ancien Greeks Oysseus was fre-queny praise for having mtis in abunance an for using it o ouwithis enemies an make his way home Mis is ypcay ransate intongish as cunning" or cunning inteigence" Whie no wrong thsransation fais o o jusice to the range of knowege an skis repre-sene by mtis. Broay unerstoo mtis represens a wie array of



Vermont; a ate hat worke in he vaeys wou not be rgh for hehis especiay he norhfacing sopes) a ae ha worke near thecoast wou not work inan. An the amanac's ae is amos cerainya faisafe ate since he wors hing ha cou happen to an amanacpubisher wou be o have his or her avice ea o a crop faiure As a

resu of hs commercia caution some vauabe growing ime mayhave been os n he inerest of cerainyThe Nave American maxim by contras is vernacuar an oca

keye o common features of the oca e cosystem i inquires abou oakeaves in this place, an no oak eaves n genera. Despie is speciciyit raves remarkaby we. can be epoye successfuy anywhere nemperae Norh America where here are oak trees an squirres. Theprecision provie by he observe sequence amos certainy gains afew ays of growing ime whie not appreciaby raising the risk ofpanting before a har fros.

racica knowege ike Squano's can of course be ransate

into more unversaistic scenic erms. A botanis might observe hathe rst growth of oak eaves is mae possibe by rising groun anambien temperatures which aso assure tha maize wi grow an hatthe probaiity of a kiing frost is neggibe The mean soi tempera-ture a a given eph might o just as we. Aong hese ines the earynineteenhcentury mathematician Aoph Queteet ue his scientic eye o the munane probem of when he iacs wou boom inBrusses. He concue afer much rigorous observaion hat he iacs burst no boom when the sum of the squares of the mean aiy

y y p ypractica skis an acquire ineigence in responing to a consantychanging naura an human environmen Oysseus's mis was n evi-ence no ony in his eceiving of Circe the Cycops an oyphemusan n bining himsef to the mast to avoi he Sirens but aso in hong his men ogether in repairing his ship an in improvising acics

o ge his me n out of one gh spo afer another The emphasis i s bothon Oysseus's abiiy to aap successfuy o a consany shifing situaion and on his capaciy to unersan an hence outwit his humanan ivine aversaries.

A human acviies requre a consierabe egree of mis busome activiies require far more To begn with skis hat require aap-ing to a caprcious physca environmen he acquire knowege ofhow o sai y a kie sh shear sheep rive a car or rie a bicyce re-ies on he capacity for mtis. a ch of these skis requires haneye coorination hat comes with practice an a capaciy o rea" the wavesthe win or the roa an to make he approprae ajusmens One

powerfu inication tha they a require mtis s tha hey are excep-ionay icut to each apart from engagng in the activiy isef Onemigh imagine ryng o write own expici insructions on how to riea bicyce bu one can scarcey imagine that such insrucions wou enabe a novice o re a bicyce on the rst ry. The maxim racticemakes perfect" was e vise for such aciviies as this inasmuch as theconinua neary imperceptibe ajustments necessary for riing a bicyce are bes earne by havng o make them Ony hrough a ac-quire fee" for baance motion o he require ajustments become

3 4 TE MISSIN LINK

automatic N o woe that most cats a taes equii a toucho fee fo implemets a mateials hae taitioally bee tauht bylo appeticeships to maste cafsme.

Thee is o oubt that some iiiuals seem to et the ha of apaticula sill a maste it moe quicly tha most othe people.But beyo this ieable ieece (which ofe spe lls the ieecebetwee competece a eius) ii a bie saili shi sheai sheep a so o ca be leae thouh pactice. Sice ee oawi steam a sheep is ieet a cotiually chai the bestpactitioe lie Oysseus will hae ha expeiece ue may ieet coitios f you life epee o you ship comi thouh ouh

weathe ou woul suely pefe a successful captai with lo expei-ece to say a billiat physicist who ha aalyze the atual laws ofsaili bu who ha ee actually saile a essel .

Those specialists who eal with emeecies a isastes ae alsoexemplay of mtis. Fiehtes escue squas paameics mie-isasteteams octos i hospital emeecy ooms cews that epai

racica owedg 3

esies o estues of othes. Boxi westli a feci equieistat quasiautomatic esposes to a oppoets moes which cabe leae oly thouh lo pactice of the actiiy itself. Hee the el-emet of eceptio etes as well The successful boxe will lea tofeit a moe i oe to pooe a espose of which he ca th e taeaatae f we moe fom physical cotests to such coopeatie actiities as aci music o loemai a simila pactice esposieess bo of expeiece is ess etial. May spots combie both thecoopeatie a the competitie aspects of mtis. A socce paye mustlea ot oly the moes of his o he teammates but also which tam

moes a faes wil eceie thei oppoets. Such sills it is impo

tat to ote ae both eeic a paticula; while each playe may bemoe o less sille at ieet facets o the ame each tam has itspaticula combiatio of sills its chemist" a each cotest witha opposi team epesets a challee that is i some ways uique.

O a much bie hihesaes caas wa iplomacy a politics moe ee ally ae mtislae sills. Th e successful pactiioe



a s s sp a y s s a paowe eectical lies eams that extiuish es i oil ls a aswe shall see fames a pastoaliss i pecaious eiomes mustespo quicly a ecisiely to limi amae a sae lies. Alhouhthee ae ules of humb that ca be a ae tauht each e o acci-e is uique a half the battle is owi which ules of thumb to

apply i which oe a whe o thow the boo away a impoiseRe Aais team which has bee hie wolwie o ca p well-hea es was a stii a iaosic case. Befoe the Gulf Wa of1 990 his was the oly eam with ay appeciable cliica" expeiecea he coul set his ow pice. Each e pesee ew poblems aequie a ispie mixue of expeiece a impoisatio. We caimaie a almos opposite es of a spectum Aai o oe ha aa mio cle pefomi hihly epeiie steps o he othe. Aaisjob caot by eiio be euce to a ouie He must bgin withthe upeictablea acciet a ea the eise the techiquesa equipme (om a exisi epeoie to be sue but oe i-

ete laely by him) equie o extiuish tha e a cap thatwell. The ce by cotast e als with a peictable outiize e-iome tha ca ofe be oee i aace a ow o the small-es eail Aai cao simpli his eiomet i oe o apply acooiecute soluio.

The exampes hus a itouce hae bee mostly cocee wthhe eatio betwee people a thei physical eiome. But misequally applies to huma ieacio Thi o the complex physicalactiities that eqie costat austmet to the moeme values

i each cas e ties to shape the behaio of pates a oppoets tohis ow es. Ulie the saio who ca ajust to he wi a thewaes but ot iuece hem iectly he eeal a the politiciaae i costat iteactio with thei couteas each of whom isi to oufox he othe. Aapti quicly a well to upeicable

eesboth aual eets such as the weathe a huma eessuch as the eemys moea mai the bes ou o limie esouces ae the is of sills hat ae ha to teach as cuaieisciplies.

The ec essaily implicit expeietial aue of mtis seem s ceal.A simple expeimet i implicit eai coucte by he phiosopheChales Peice may help o coey somethi of he pocess. Peice hapeople lif two weihts a jue which of he wo was heaie. A shei iscmiatio was athe cue. Bu as they pactice o lopeios hey became abe to istiuish accuaey quie miue ieeces i weih They coul ot pipoit wha i was ha they sese

o elt bu thei acual capaciy to iscimiate ew eomously. Peiceoo he esults as eiece o a i of sublima commuicatioia fait sesatios" be twee people Fo ou puposes howee i illustates a uimeta i of owlee that ca be acquie olyby pactice a hat al but ees bei commuicate i wite ooal fom apat fom actua pactice.

Suveyi he ae of examples hat we hae ouche o w e caetue some pelimia eealizaios abou he atue o misa abou whee it is eleat. Mis is most applicable to boaly sim

31 6 T MISSIN LINK

a bu neve pecisey iencal siuaions equiing a quick an pacice aapaion ha becomes amos secon naue o he paciioneThe skills o f mtis may well invove ules of thumb but such ules aelagely acquie though pactice oen in fomal appenticeship) ana evelope feel o knack fo stategy Mts esists simplca tion intoeuctive pincipes which can successfuly be tansmitte thoughbook leaning because the envionments in which t is execise ae socomplex an nonepeatable that foma poceues of atonal ecision making ae impossible to apply n a sense mts ies in that lagespace between the ealm of genus to which no fomua can appy anthe ealm of coie knowlege which can be leane by ote

The A f h a

Why ae the ules of thumb that can be eive fom any skillecaft stil woefuy inaequate to its pactce? Atists o cooks MichaelOakeshott has note may in fact wite abouthe at an ty to boil it t h k l b t h h t h

acica owdge 3 1 7

he fac ha navigaion on he open sea a moe absac space) is hemoe geneal skl while piloing a ship hough ac in a pacuapot s a highly conextua skll We might call the at of piloing a localan situate knowege What the piot knows ae local ties an cu-ents along the coast an estuaies the unique featues of loca winan wave pattes shiing sanbas unmake eefs seasona changesin micocuents local tac conitions the aiy vagaies of win pattens of healans an along staits how to pilot in these wates atnght not to menton how to bing many feent ships safely to bethune vaiabe conitions Such knowlege is paticula by eni-tion it ca n be acquie ony by ocal pactice an expeience ike a

bi o an insect that has aapte billiantly to a naow ecoogicaniche the piot knows one habo Much of his kno wlege woul be ielevant if he wee suenly tanspose to a ifeent pot 16 espitethe athe naow context of this knowlege it is agee by captainshabomastes an not least those who insue maitime commeceaganst osses th a the pilot's knowlege of a paticula pot mus pe-

il Th il ' i i i h l f



own o technca knowlege but wha hey we epesents no muchof wha hey know but athe only tha small pat of hei knowlegetha can be euce to exposition Knowing a ca's shothan ules isa vey long way fom its accomplishe pefomance: These ules anpinciples ae mee abigements of he aciviy isef hey o not exist

in avance of the acivity they cannot popey be sai to goven it anthey canno povie he impeus of he aciviy A complee mastey ofthe pinciples may exist alongsie a compete nability to pusue theacivity o which they efe fo the pusui of he activity oes not consist in the application of hese pncples an even if it i he knowlege of how to appy them the knowlege of acually pusuing the activity) is not given in a knowege of hem13

Knowing how an when o apply the ules of humb in a concreeiuaion is the essence of mtis The subtleties of applicaion ae impotan pecisely because mtis is most valuable in settings hat aemutable ineeminant some facts ae unknown) an paicua

Alhough we shall etun o the question of ineeminacy an changehee want to exploe futhe the localness an paticulai of mtisn seamans hip the iffeence beween he moe geneal knowlege

of navigaion an the moe paticua knowlege of piloing is instuc-tive When a lage feighe o passenge lne appoaches a majo potthe captan typicaly uns the contol of his vessel ove o a local pilotwho bings it into he habo an o its beth The same poceue isfollowe when he ship leaves is beth unl i s safely ou nto the sea-lanes This sensible poceue esgne o avoi accients elecs

vail The pilo's expeience is ocay uperior to the geneal ues ofnavigation

Mak Twains classic Lfe on he i iipp elects at gea e nghon the knowlege acquie by iveboa pots Pa of that knowegeconsists of ules of humb abou suface feaues tha may signal shal-

lows cuens o othe navigational haas Much of it howeve con-sists of a quie specic familiaiy wih hei paticua stech of theMssssippi a ieen seasons an wae evesknowlege hat coulhave been gaine in that paticua place only hough expeience Al-hough thee is somehng ha migh popely be calle a knowegeof ives in geneal it is a quie hin an unsatisfactoy knowlege wheni comes o making a paticua tip on a paticula ive A native pilots no ess necessay on a given ive than a native tacke fo a givenjungle o a loca guie in Buges o in the meina of an ancien Aabciy

The pacice an expeience elece in mis is almost alwaysoca.

Thus a guie on mountain climbing may be best at Zemawhich she has scale oen; an aplane pilot best on Boeing 77s onwhich he was taine; an the othopeic sugeon best at knees wheehe sugical expeience has given he a cetain expetise is not enely clea how much o f hese expes mis woul be tansfeable ifhey wee sueny shifte to Mon Blanc Cs an hans

Evey insance of the application of a given sk will equiespecic ajustments fo local coniions Fo a weave each new supply of yan o thea hanles iffeently Fo a pote a new suppy of

3 TE MSSN LNK

cla y woks" ierently Long eperience with ierent mateials willhave he eect of making such ausmens quasiauomatic The speciciy of knowlege goes even eepe, in he sense ha each loom opottes wheel has its own isincive qualiies, wh ich an atisan comeso know an appeciate o work aoun. Evey geneal knowegeha is acualy applie, then, equies some imaginative translation. Aconsummae knowlege of looms in geneal oes no ranslate iectlyinto he succes sf operaion of this particula loom wih its peculiarities of esign, use, woos, an epais. To speak of the a of one loom,the art of one ive, he art of one actor, o the ar of one automoileis no peposeous i is to poin to he size an impoance of the gap

eween general knowege an siuae knowlege.We might easonay hink of situae, ocal knowlege as eingpartsan knowlege as oppose o geneic knowlege Tha is, he holerof such knowlege typicaly has a passionae ineres in a particular outcome. An insurer of commercial shipping fo a arge, highly capitalize maritime rm can aor to rey on proailiy isriutions foracciens Bu for a sailo or captain hoping for a safe voyage i is the

racica owede 3 9

eral rles of thum an mis. Mis is no meely he specicaion oflocal values such as he local m ean tempeaue an ainfall mae inorer to successflly apply a generic formula o a local case. Taking language as a paralel, eieve that the rule of thum is akin to fomalgamma, wheeas mis is more ike actual speech Mtis is no more e-ivaive of general ues than speech is erivaive of gamma Sp eecheveops from the cale y imitation, use, ia an eor Learning amother tongue is a sochasic processa process of successive, sef-coecing approimations We o no egin y leaning the alphaet,iniviual wos, parts of speech, an rles of grammar an then ty-ing o use hem all in oe o prouce a gammaicaly coect sen-

ence. Moreover, as Oakesho inicaes, a knowege of the ules ofspeech y hemseves is compatile wih a complete inaility to speakinelligie sentences. The asserion ha he rules of gammar ae erivative of the practice of actua speech is neare r to he ruth. Moe rnlanguage aining ha aims a competence in speaking recognizes thisan egins wih smple speech an rote repetiion in oer o imprint

hil l i h l f i i i l



acciens Bu for a sailo or captain hoping for a safe voyage, i is theoutcome of he single event, a singe rip, hat maters. Mis is theaility an eperience necessay to inuence the oucometo impove he osin a particular instance.

The sae simplicaions an utopian schemes we have eamine in

earlier chapers all concern activities that are carrie ot in spatiallyan temporally niqe setings While somehing can inee e saiaou foresy, revolution, uran plan ning, agicu ure, a n ral set-temen in general, this will ake us only so far in unersaning thsfoes, ths revoltion, ths fam. All farming takes place in a uniquespace els, soil, cops an a a unique ime weaher paen, sea-son, cyce in pes popations an fo niqe ens his family with itsnees an tastes. A mechanical application of generic les hat ig-noes these particlariies is an inviation to pacica aile, socialisiusionmen, or most likely oh. The generic fomla oes no ancannot spply the local knowlege hat will alow a s ccessful ansla-ion of he necessaily cre genera unersanings to sccessfl, nu-ance, ocal applications. The moe geneal the les, the more theyreqire in he way of translation if they ae o e locally successful.Nor is i simply a mater of the captain or navigao reaizing a whatpoin his rles of hum are infeior o the inimae ocal knowlege ofhe pilo. Rather, i is a matter of recognizing ha he rles of thmthemselves are lagely a coicaion eive from he actal practicesof sailing an piloting.

One as analogy may help o clari the elationship etween gen

pttern an accen while leaving the rles of gamma impici, or elseintoucing hem later as a way of coiing an summarizing pracical mastey.

Like language the mis or ocal knowlege necessay o the suc-cessf practice of farming or pasoralism is proaly est earne y

aily practice an eperience. Like serving a long apprenticeship,gowing up in a househo whee tha craft is continually practiceofen epesents the most satisfactoy preparation fo its eercise. Thiskin of socialization to a rae may favor the conservation of skillsrather than aring innovation B any formua that ecues o sup-presses the eperience, knowlege, an aaptaility of mtis isks inco-herence an failue; earning to spea k coheren sentences involves famoe than merely eaning the rules of gramma.

Th Raon wh Ep a Th

Fo the Greeks an particlary for Plato episteme an techne rep-resente knowlege of an orer completely ieent from misTechnica knowlege, or techne, col e expresse pecisely an com-prehensively in the form of haranfast ules not ues of hm,pinciples, an proposiions A its most igoous, techne is ase onlogical ecion from sefevient rst pinciples. As an ieal type, itraically iffers fom mis in erms of how it is organize, how it iscoie an aught, how i is moie, an the anaical pecision itehiits.

320 T MSSIN LINK

Whee mts s cntextual an patcula, techne s univesa In thegc f mathematics, ten mutplie by ten equas ne hune evey-whee an eve; n Euclean gemety, a ight angle epesentsnney egees f a ccle; in the cnventins f physics, he feezngpnt wate s always ze egees centgae 8 Techne is settleknwlege Aistte wte that techne came int beng when fmmany ntns gane m expeence , a univesal ugement abut agup simla things ases" The unvesay techne aises mthe act that t is ganze analytcaly int small, explicit, gical stepsan s bth ecmpsable an veable Ths univesality means thatknwlege in the fm f techne can be taugh me less cmpletelyas a fmal scipline The ues techne pve theetica knwl-ege that may may nt have pactica applcatns Fnaly, techne ischaacteize by impesnal , ften quantitatve pecisn an a cnce nwth explanatin an vecatin, wheeas mts s cncene wth pe-sna skil, tuch," an pactcal esuts

If he esciptn techne as an eal typcal sysem f knwl-

raccal owldg 32 1

The supeiity f pue easning, especay scentc an mathematca lgic, lay n the fac that t was pue f pan, maxmaly sta-be, an ecte at the tuth" The bects such easn ng ae ete-nally what they ae egaless f what human bengs an say" What ne lve, shoud lve, at claime, was nt the belve himself bt athe the pue fms f unallye beauty electe n thebelve Only in his way cul lve eman staght an atnal, eef the appetites

The sphees f human eneav that ae feest f cntngency,guesswk, cntext, ese, an pesnal expeence an thus fee mtishenc e came t be peceve as mans hghest pusuts They aethe philsphe s wk One can see why, n the stength such citeia, Eucliean gemety, mathematics, sme selfcntaine fms anaytca phlshy, an pehaps music ae cnsee t be amngthe uest f pusts nke the natual sciences an cncete ex-peimens, these iscipines exist as ealms f pue thught, untucheby the cntingences the matea wl They begn in the m n



If he esciptn techne as an eal typcal sysem f knwlege esembles the selfmage f men scence, that is n accentThe actualpctice science, hweve, s smething else again Theules f techne ae the speccatin hw knwege is t be cie, expesse, an veie, once it has been scvee N ues ftechne episteme can expan scientic inventin an nsight Dis-cveng a mathematcal theem equies genius an pehaps mtsthe p the theem, hweve, must fllw the tenets f techne Thus the systematic an impesna ules f techne acliate the p-uctin knwlege that can be eay assemble, cmehensvelycumene an fmally taught, bu they cannt by hemselves a tthat knwlege explan hw t came int be ng

Techne s chaacteistic, abve al, selfcntaine systems f ea-snng in which the nings may be lgcally eve fm the nitiaassumptins T the egee that the fm knwlege satises thesecnitins, t that egee is it impesnal, univesal, an cmpletely impevius t cntext But he cntext mtis, as Detienne an Venanemphasize is chaacteistically situatins which ae tansient, shiting, iscnc eting an ambiguus, stuatins which nt len them-selves t pecise measuement, exact calculatin, gus gic"Nussbaum shws cnvincngy hw at attempte, espec ialy n theepubic t tansfm the ealm f lvea eam that amst by enitin s ne cntingency, esie, an impulseint a ealm ftechne episteme lat egae munane ve as subject t thelwe appetites, an he hpe t puge it f these base instincts s thatit cu me clsely esembe the philsph es pue sea ch tuth

by the cntingences the matea wl They begn in the m n n a blank sheet f pape The ythagean theem, a + b = , stue f all ght tangles eveywhee an feve

A ecuent theme f Wesen phlsphy an sc ence, nclung s-cia sc ence, has been t he attempt t efmulate systems knwlegein e t backet uncetanty an theeby pemt the kin f lgicaleuctve ig pssesse by Eucliean gemety8 In the natua sci-ences, the esuts have been evlutinay Whee phlsphy an thehuman scie nces ae cncene , the efts have been just as pesistentbut the esults a me ambiguus Descatess famus episteme Ithnk, theefe I am" mimicke the st step in a mathematical pfan was an answe t the se that theatene t un scety The am Jeemy Bentham an the utitaans was, thugh heicalculus f pleasue an pain henism), t euce the stuy f ethicst a pue natual scien ce, t an examinatn f evey cumstane bywhich an nvial can be nluence, beng emake an nvent-ie, nthng e t chance, capice, unguie iscetin, evey-thing being suveye an set wn in imensn, numbe, weight, anmeasue"

Even chance uche) itself, which techne was esigne t mastewas eventualy, thanks t statistics an pbability they, tansfment a singua act that might ente the mulas f techne Risk, pving it cul be assigne a knwn pbabiliy, became a act like anythe, wheeas unceainy whee the unelying pbabilities ae ntknwn) still lay utsie technes each The intellectual caee" isk an unce tainty is inicative f many els inquiy in which the

322 TE MISSIN LINK

ealm of analysis was eomulae an naowe o exclue elemensha coul o be quanie an measue bu coul only be juge.Bee pu echniques wee evise o isolae a omesicae hoseaspecs of key vaables ha mgh be expesse in umbes a naonswealth by goss natioal pouct public opon by poll numbes values by psychological inventoies). Neoclasscal ecoomics fo exam-ple has unegone a tasfomatio along these les. Consume pef-eeces ae st take as a gven an then counte in oe to backettaste as a majo souce of uncetaiy. Iveto an entepeneuial ac-tvity ae teate as exogenous a cast outsie the pemete of theisciplie as too intactable to submt to measuement an peicton.3The sciple has ncopoae calculable sk while ex lig those topics whee genuine uncetainty pevails ecologcal anges shfs intaste).33 As Stephen Maglin shows the emphasis o selfnteest calcu-lation an maxmization n ecoomcs ae classical examples o sel-eve posulates an elect moe an eological commitme o thesupeoity of epsteme tha a seous attempt to uavel he complex

l wledge 323

aciviy o philosophy belonge moe o mis han o episeme oechne. A wien ex even if i akes he fom of a philosophical ialogue is a cuane se of coie ules A oal alogue bycoas is alve an esponsive o he muualiy of he pacpanseaching a estinato that cannot be spece avace. Socatesevietly believe that the nteactio betwee teache an stuentsthat we ow call the Socatic metho an not the esultg text is

phlosophy.38

Praia Kwg Vrus Sii Eaai

Only by gaspg the potential achievemet a age of mts is itpossble to appecate the valuable kowlege that higmoeistschemes epive themselves of when they smply mpose thei plas.Oe majo eason why mts s eigate paculaly the hegemonc impeium of scentic kowlege is that its nin gs ae pac-tcal oppotue an contextual athe than tegae nto the gen



supeoity of epsteme tha a seous attempt to uavel he complexites a mystees of human motivaton a behavio.34

The logc of such efomulatios is analogous o he expementalpactce a selfimpose bouaies of moen scietic agicultue.By costictg its el of nquiy gaine enomously n pecsoa scientic powe at the possible expense of ielevance o upleas-ant supses om beyon its atcal peimetes.3 5 Techne s most sui-able to activites hat have a singula en o goal a e that is speciable apa fom the actviy itself a one susceptible o quataivemeasuemet.36 Thus the poblem mos successfully aesse by sci-entc agculue is how to gow the lages umbe of bushels of acop at the least cost pe ace as eveale though onevaiableata-me tals coucte o expemental plots. Issues of famg life acommunity famly ees logtem soil stucue ecological ivesyan sustanabiliy ae eithe icult to incopoae o exclue alto-gethe. Fomulas of efcecy poucton fuctons a atoal ac-ton ae specable only whe he es sought ae smple shaplyene a hece measuable.

The poblem as Astole ecognze is that cetai pacical choicescao even i pincple be aequately a completely captue i asystem of uivesal ules'3 He sgle out navgatio an mecne astwo activies in whch the pactcal wisom of long expeience s nispesabl o supeio pefomace. They wee mtslae acvtesi whch esponsiveness impovisatio a skllfu successve appox-imatons wee equi. If lato ca be ceit Socates ebeatelyefaie fom witig own his teachings because he believe tha he

eal conventions of scientic scouse.We have s een he iosyncacies of mts at wok n the hsoical

venaculas of measuemet of aea weght a volume. The am wasalways to achieve a loc al pupose o to expess an impoant local featue such as a fam of two cows) athe tha to accommoate some

uvesal un of measuement. ke Squato's maxm such veaula measues appaetly ofe conveye moe infomao tha a absact measue coul. They cetaly conveye fomaon that wasmoe ay elevant. I t was ust hs local pactical iex whch vae fom place to place that ensue that mis woul be cofusing ncoheet a unassimlable fo puposes of statecaf.

The classicato of loa ollows much he same logc amog ingeous people. What mates is local use a value. Thus the categoes to which vaous plants ae sote follow a logc o pactical use:goo fo making sou p goo fo making twne helpful n healing cutseectve fo setlig a upse stomach posonous fo cattle useful fo

weavg ou cloth favoe by abbts as foo goo fo making fecesa so on . Ths knowlege s neve statc howeve; t s costantly begexpae hough pactical expemenatio. A the categoes itowhch oal ealty s vie ae clealy not the occ asoally ivisibleinaean botanical categoies favoe by scientic eseaches.3

The litmus test fo mts is pactical success. D the avgato makehe ip safey D Oysseuss saagems outwt he Cyclops D thepoultce cue he bol Was the fame's havest abunat If a echnique woks eectively an epeately fo the pupose ntee the

324 TE MSSN LNK

paciions of mis o no paus ong o as k why an how woko n h pcis mchanism of caus an ffc Thi nn isnoto conibut o a wi boy of knowlg but o solv th concpoblms hy fac This os no man ha th paciions of miso no invnt nw solutions. Thy most cily o Ui qui cnly vitually al th impovmns in agiculu hav com om hl ah han om inusty o scinc Wha i os man howvis that th nnovations of mtis will typically psn a combinaionbricolage o us LviStauss's m)4 of xisting lmnts fams ino invn th acto to solv thi poblms of acion pow.4 By thsam okn h bicoag of pacical kowlg has ofn pouc

compx chniqussuch as polycopping an soilbuiling stat-gistha wok amably but tha scinc has not y) unsooTh pow of pacical knowlg pns on an xcpionally

clos an asut obsvation of h nvionmn shou by now bah obious why taitional culiaos lik S quanto a such consummat obsvs of hi nvionmnt but h asons ba pa-ing in h conxt of a compaison wth scintic kowlg Fis ths

atal owldg 325

Th xpimna tmp of pscnc pops ofn impby mota thas sul in many impotan fcacous iscovisSouh Amican nians iscov tha chwing h bak of h cin-chona was an fctiv my fo maaia wihout knowng hais aciv ingin was quinin o why it wok Wsns knwtha ctain foos c onsum in h aly sping such as hubab coullv h symptoms of winttim scuvy withou knowing anyhingabout Vitamin C Th mol fom ctain bas was us o stm ifc-tions long bfo th isolation of pnicil lin 43 Accoing to Ani uptaoughly thquas of th mon phamacopoia a ivativsof tationally known micins.44 vn in th absnc of mis

popl ofn knw wha masus woul lssn hi chancs of con-acting a a conagious is as Th Lonons in Danil DfosJoual of the lague Year knw that moving o h couny o failinghat saling onsf up in on's ooms vasly impov on's chancs ofsuviving h bubonic plagu of .45 Knowing as w now o hatth vctos of th plagu w th as cai by as w can app-ciat why ths statgis ofn wok but Dfo's conmpoais hi



ing in h conxt of a compaison wth scintic kowlg Fis thsculivatos hav a vital ict sak in th suls of clos obsvaionUnik h sac scintis o xtnsion agn who os no hav otak h own avic th pasan is h immia consum of hisown conclusions Unlik th typical monay fam th pasan

has no outsi xps to ly on byon his xpinc ighbos; hmus mak cisions bas on wha h kowsScon h povy o maginal conomic status of many of ths

cultivatos is itslf woul agu a powful impus o caful obs-vation an xpimntation Consi h hypohical cas of twoshmn both of whom must mak thi living fom a i. Onshman livs by a iv wh h cach is sabl an abunan. Thoh livs by a iv wh th cach is vaiabl an spas affoingonly a ba an pcaious subsisnc. Th poo of th wo willclaly hav an immia lifanath ins in vising nwshing chniqus in obsving cosly th habits of sh in th caful

siing of taps an ws in th timing an signs of sasonal uns ofifn spcs an so fothNo shoul w fog that th pasan culivato o pastoalis livs

ya in an ya ou in h l of obsvaion. H o sh wil liklyknow hngs ha nih an absn cuivao no a sach scintistwou v notic.4 Finaly as mnion in h pvious chapt sucha cuivao is always a mmb of a communiy tha svs as a livingoal fnc libay fo obsvaions pacics an pimnts aboy of knowlg hat an iniviual coul nv amass alon

ciat why ths statgis ofn wok but Dfo s conmpoais hion hs ffciv solutions vn hough hy hought ha th plaguwas caus by vapos

A most siking illustaion of pacic pcing scinc is hwispa us of aioaion o chck th spa of smallpox long b-

fo Si Wiliam Jn's hal vlopmnt of vaccinaion in 9 .Th soy which Fiqu Apfl Magln analyzs in impssiv -ail is valuabl b caus it monsats how puly mis skills l toa fom of inoculation hat mimick o psag what is ustiablysn as a gat milston in scinic micin.46 L m mak i clatha th las thing ntn h is a fns of taitional micin vis -vs mon mical sach an xpimntal mho What hisaccoun os highigh howv is how fquntly local knowlgial an o o wha w migh mo gnously call h stochasicmtho hav pouc pactical solutions wihout bn of scinicmtho.

By at las th sixnh cntuy th chniqu of vaiolation waswiy pacic i nia th Mil Eas uop an China. Thpactic consis o f using human smallpox mat scach ino hskin o inhal which gav th cipin a mil aly fatal cas ofsmallpo Fsh smallpo mattfom h pustuls o scabs ofsomon with an aciv infcion contac in th usual waywasnv us. Th inoculation was typically ma wih atnuat masav fom thos who ha ha mil cass uing as ya's pim ico wih mat takn fom th pustuls of thos who ha bn inocu

326 T MISSING LINK

late he evious yea. Dosage coul be egulate accong to thesize an age of the atenThe nce behin vaoaon the sam e incile hat fomshe

basis of homeoathy eece a much oe actce noculaton none fom o anothe was wely actice wel befoe he ise of mo-en meicne n nia vaiolaton was cae ou by tual secalissan was hooughly inegae wh he woshi of he goessSihala. n ohe socieies its culua seting was no oub eenahough the actual oceues wee emaaby aae

Jenne 's scovey of vaccinaion using cowox mate was heefoe no entely novel. A young gil ha tol him ha she was o-

ecte agains smaox because she h a aleay ha cowox Je nnefoowng hs lea inoculate his own chen wih cowox matean obseve ha they showe no eacion o a subsequen smalloxvaccinaion. Vaccnaon was of couse a gea avance ove vaiolaon. B ecause it use live smallox mate va iolaon inuce a milbu acive case tha was conagious an 1 o ecent of hose soteate ie fom he eatmen a aio tha noneheless comae fa

rtl owlege 327

sibilities an the ime necessay fo ta an eo i not oucemany novel solutions o acical oblems. The vaoatos befoeJenne wee not unlie he olycoing culivatos escibe by PauRchas They ha evise not just stumble uon somethng thatwoe whout quie nowng exactly why i woe. While hs in-cease thei s of awing false infeences fom what hey saw i no mnish the actical achievemens of thei bcoage

Mts wth the emium t laces on actca nowege exeence an sochasc easoning s of couse no meey he nowsue-see ecuso of scientic nowlege. is he moe of easonngmos aoate to comlex mateal an socal ass whee the un

cetantes ae s o aunng tha we mus tust ou exeience) inu-iion an feel ou way. Abet Howa's escion of wae manage-ment n Jaan oes an nstcve examle Eosion conol n Jaans e

a game of chess. The foest enginee afte suyng his eong

valley maes his s move ocatng an builing one o moe checams. He waits o see what Natues esonse s This eemines hefoest engnees next move which may be anothe am o wo a in



teate ie fom he eatmen a aio tha noneheless comae favoaby wih he one o wo in six who eishe in an ee mic Je n-nes echnique use lle vus thu s avoing conagion an his vac-cnation ha a emaably low iatogenic ate ony one i n a thousanie of he vaccinaion iself. Hs achevemen s ghy celebate

but s imoant to ecognize hat Jenneian vaccinaton was notan abut bea wh he ast but he iect escenan an he ofinocuation.

Vaolaion though haly o be efee o vaccnaion was animessve accomshmen of acical escienic meicne. Theincile of noculation ha long been gase an one magnes agea many acttiones n afece communtes wee ying o e-velo a succes sful echnique. Once he e cacy of a new teatmen wasesablshe he news must have avele faste than any eemic anqucly slace less successfl evenatve measues. Thee is nomagc hee The ingeents of such accal nowlege ae sme aessing nee n hs case a mae liteally of life an eah) a fewomising leas ha woe in analogous conexts noculation) avas amy of feelance exemenes wllng o y amos anyhingme to smme " as the exemenes an he clens obseve theesults of aous saagems though successive eemc s) an heshang though chains of communicaon) of he exeimenal e-suts As long as in't eque an elecon mcoscoe t woul infac be susng f such a combnaion of assonate eest closeobsevation lage numbes of amaeu secialss yng ifeen os

foest engnee s next move which may be anothe am o wo a incease in he fome am o he constucton of sie eaining walls.Anothe ause fo obsevation he nex move is ma e an so on uneoson s checmae The oeatons of naual foces such as seimentaon an evegeaion ae guie an use o the bes avan

tage o ee own costs an o obain actcal esusNo ore i at

tempted than Nature ha alrad don in the rgion." The enginee nHowa's account ecognzes mlicy tha he s ealing wth an atof one valey." Eac uent small ste base on io exeieceyiels new an no comlely icabl effecs hat become the onof eatue fo the next se. Vtualy any comex tas involvngmany vaiables whose values an ineactions canno be accuaelyfoecas belongs o this gene builing a house aiing a ca e-fecting a new jet engne sugicaly eaing a nee o faming a lotof lan 5 Wee the inteacions invove no jus he mateal envion-ment but social nteaction as wellbuilng an eoling new vil-

lages o cites oganzg a evoluionay seizue of owe o collec-tivizing agiculue the min bogg es a the mulitue of neaconsan uncetanes as snc fom calculabe iss).

Moe than thtyve yeas ago in ecogntion of the efactoycomlexty of ambtious socal olicy Chales Linbom coine thememoable exesson the science of muling hough."5 The hasewas meant o catue he sit of a actical aoach o lagescaleoicy oblems tha coul no be comletely unesoo let alonecomehensively aesse. Moes of ublc aminisation Lin

328 THE MISSING LINK

blom complained, implicitly assumed a synoptic mastery of a policyinitiative, when in practice, knowledge was both limited and fragmentary, and means could never be neatly separated from goals Hischaracterization of actual policy practice empha sized a piec emeal approach of limited comparisons, a sequence of trials and errors followed by evised trias, reiance on past experience, and " disointed in-crementalism.54 Albert Hirschman has made the same point, rathermore metaphorically, by comparing social policy to house building"The architect of social change can never have a reliable blueprint.Not only is each house he builds different from any other that was builtbefore, but it necessarily uses new consrucion maerias and even ex

periments with untested principles of stress and structure Thereforewhat can be most usefully conveyed by the builders of one house is anunderstanding of the experience that made it at all possible to buildunder these trying circumstances5

Taken ogether, Lindbloms and Hirschmans posiions amount to awellreasoned strategic retreat from the ambition to comprehensive,rational planning If we can make alloances for the socialscience

Practical owledge 329

Mtis knowledge is often so implicit and automatic that its bearer isat a loss to explain it 57 A staple of early medical training, I have beentold, is the story of a physician who, at the turn of the century, had aspectacularly high success rate in diagnosing syphilis in its early stagesLaboratory tests conrmed his diagnoses, but he himself did not knowprecisely what it was that he detected in the physical exams that ledhim to his conclusions Intrigued by his success, hospital administratorsasked two other doctors to closely observe his examination of patientsover several weeks and to see if they could spot what he was pickingup. At long last, they and the doctor realized that he was unconsciouslyregisteing the patients s light eye tremo The eye tremor then becamea universally recognized symptom of syphilis. Although this insightcould be codied, what is instructive here is that it could have beenachieved only through close obseration and long clinical experienceand that, even before then, it could have been known subliminally

Any experienced practitioner of a ski or craft wil develop a largerepertoire of moves, visual judgments, a se nse of touch, or a discriminating gestalt for assessing the work as well as a range of accurate in



rational planning. If we can make alloances for the socialscienceargon, the concepts behind such terms as "bounded rationality (ratherthan "synoptic mastery) and "satiscing (rather than "maximizi ng),terms invented o describe a word working by educated guessworkand rules of thumb, sound very much like mtis.

Learig Beyod the Book

A sepbysep "mudding through approach would see m to be theonly prudent course in a eld like erosion manageme nt or public pol-icy implementation, where surprises are al but guaranteed. The factthat in these cas es the eve of uncertainty and he nce of otential disaster can be reduced by breaking down the process into more man-ageabe seps does no imply that any noice coud hen take charge.On the contrary, only someone with wide expe rience wi l be able to in-terpret the resuts of and reactions to an initial step in order to determine the next step. One would want hydrologists and policy managerswho had been surprised many times and have had many succe sses behind hem. Thei reperoire o responses woud be arge, their udgment in reading the environment surer, their sens e of what surprisesmight await them more accurate Once again, some of heir compe-tence coud be interpreted and taught, but much of it would remainimplicita sixth sense that comes with long practice. At the risk of trying to pinoin he inefable, I wan o suggest how importan suchnowedge is and how dicult it is to translate it into codied form56

g g g gtuitions born of experience that de being communicated apart frompractice A few brief examples will help to convey the subtety and nuance of this knowledge n ndonesia, oder Bugis sea captains, soundasleep below decks, will awaken the moment there is a change in direction, weather, current, or some combination of the three. As theoceans waves change amplitude or begin striking the ship from a different direction, a captain immediatey senses the change through theresuling sligh aerations in the roll and pitch of the sh ip.

In the days whe n a case of diphtheria in town was stil an occasionfor quarantining the patient at home, a doctor was taking a young medical student along with him on his rounds. When they had been admitted to the front hal of a quarantined house but before they had seenthe paient, he oder man paused and said, "Stop Smell the odor!Never forget this smell; this is the smel of a house with dihtheria.58Another doctor once tod me that, after seeing thousands of infants at abusy cinic, he believed that he could tell with a high degree of accu-

racy, just by looking whether an infant was seriousy i and needed i m-mediate atenion He couldnt quite put his nger on the exac t visualcue that informed his judgment, but he supposed that it was somecombination of compexion, the expression of the eyes, body tone, andanimation. Abert Howard once again makes a persuasive case for he"practiced ee: "An exerienced farmer can tell the health of the soiland he quality of the humus by the ants their vigor, their growth,the rofuse roots, the gow' of health . . . The same is true for the



33 T MSSIN LINK

cotol. As is the case with autoomous atisas a etitboueoisshokeees moitoi the commecial foues of smalf fams isa amiistative ihtmae. The ossibilities fo evasio a esis-tace ae umeous a the cost of ocui accuate aual ata ishih if ot ohibitive.8

A state mai cocee with aoiatio a cotol will seeta aicultue efeable to astoaism o shifti aicutueo the same easos such a state wou eeal efe laehoito smallholi a i tu latatio o colective aicultue to both.Whee cotol a aoiatio ae the oveii cosieatiosol the last two foms offe iect cotol ove the wokfoce a its

icome the ootuit to select coi attes a techiquesa all iect coto ove the ouctio a ot of the ete-ise. Althouh collectivizatio a latatio aicultue ae sel omve efciet the eeset as we have see the most leible ahece aoiable foms of aicultue.

The lae caitalist aicultual ouce faces the same oblemas the facto owe: how to tasfom the essetiall atisaal o

raccal owledge 33 9

with atios sulie b the cooatio a accoi to thei ecisetimetable. A isecto fequet veies comliace. o the cooatio the avataes ae eomous: it isks o caita excet what isiveste i the bis; it ees o la of its ow its maaemet ex-eses ae smal it achieves uifom ouct staas; a ot leastit ca fai to eew a cotact o chae the ice ai afte eachou at o cost to itself

The loic althouh ot the fom is the same as o the latatio.Give its atioal o iteatioal maket what the cooatio equies is absolute uaatee uifomit of ouct a a stable su -l.8 The ee to amiiste the ouctio of uifom fes i ma

ieet localities equies a otic of staaizatio a aea-tio. As we saw i the case of scietic foest this is ot mee aquestio of iveti measues that accuatel elect the acts o theou a that ca be covee to amiistatos. t is above all aquestio of chai the eviomet so that it is moe staaize tobei with. O the staaize beei he buii costucte tosecicatios the xe fomula fo fee a the maato feei



mtis kowlee of fames ito a staaize sstem that will allowhim eate cotol ove the wok a its itesit. The latatiowas oe solutio. coloial couties whee ableboie me weeesse ito sevice as a abo the latatio eesete a ki

of ivate collectivizatio iasmuch as it el ie o the state fo the ex-tamaket sactios ecessa to cotol its labo foce Moe thaoe latatio secto has mae u what it lacke i eciec b usiits olitical clout to secue subsiies ice suots a mooolivilees.

The cotol mae ossible b the latatio ot to metio the col-lective fam has ove with few excetos to e tail such h ih costsi suevisio iiit a ovehea as to be iefciet. Now thatlatatio aicultue has bee isceite some of the ewe alte-atives evise to elicate its cotol a staaizatio ae i-stuctive as the iicate the fctioal similait that ma li e behi

ieet foms .84 The ivetio of cotact fami wolwie is justoe otewoh examle.85 Whe cicke fames ealize that huecetaize oeatios fo aisi fes ot ol wee iefciet butose seious isease a eviometal oblems the evise aki of hihtech uttiout sstem.8 6 The lae m cotacts with afame to sul him with chicks a the to bu back afe six weekso so) a ceai umbe of chickes meeti thei staas The famefo his at is oblie to costuct a a fo a buili that meetscooate secicatios a to fee wate a meicate the chickes

scheueall iscilie b the cotactmake it ossible fo a si-le secialist to isect oe hue out fams aisi fes fosa Ketuck ie Chicke a to esue that the vaiatio is miimal. Oe ca visualize his ha checklist. The uose of cotact

fami is ot to uesta fams a aat to them; athe it is totasfom fams a fam labo at the outset s o that the t the ofthe cotact

o fames who si u as lo as the cotacts ae olle ovethee ae ots to be mae althouh at cosieable isk The cotacts ae sho tem the wok scheules etaie a the setu asulies maato. The cotact fames ae i theo smallbusiesseteeeus but asie om the fact that the isk thei la a buiis the have ot much moe cotol ove thei wok a tha oassembllie wokes.

The Case Aganst Imeral Knowledge

Thy sid . . tht h ws so vot to Pur Scnc . . . tht h woul thhv pop i by th iht thpy thn b cud by th won.S c Lws, Aowsith

The aumet that have bee vetui is ot a case aaist hihmoeism o state simicatios e se o to be sue aaist eis-temic kowee e se . Ou ieas about citizeshi ubichealth o



1 Conclsion

hy wo rconsrc sociy on n gnry pln ch ik h son-os for hi own cclon wo k ovr h sys of h nvs.Prrosph Prohon, on the utopan socalsts

Y n who ss n gnry p, hnking h s r on, s lkyo b wos off hn soon wih no p ll for h wl fl o inqrwhnvr h cn o obsrv vy i on his wy, n o sch conn-osy wih l hs snss n hs inignc for nicons of whr hshol go. F Schch Small s Beautful

The gea hghmodenst epsodes ha we have eamned qual as

oncluso 33

tasks at hand n tmes of wa evoluton econom c collapse o newly\on ndependence. The plans ha they hached boe a famly esem-blance to he schemes of legblty and standadzaton devsed by heabsolutskngs of he seventeenh and eghteenh centues. Wha waswholly new howeve was the magnude of boh the plans fo hewholesale ansfomaon of socety and the nsuments of statecaftcensuses cadastal maps dentty cads stascal bueaus schoolsmass me da nte nal secuty appaatusesth a could take them fathe along hs oad han any seventeenhcentuy monach wouldhave deamed. Thus t has happened that so many of the wenteth cen-tuy's poltcal tagedes have own the banne of pogess emancpa-

on and efom.We have eamned n con sdeable detal how these schemes havefaled he nended benecaes f wee asked to condense the easons behnd these falues nto a sngle sentence would say that thepognos of such plans egaded themselves as fa smate andfaseeng han they eally wee and at he same tme egaded hesubjecs as fa moe supd and ncompeten than they eally wee. The



agedes n a least two espects Fs he vsonay nellectuals andplannes behnd them wee gulty of hubs of fogettng tha heywee motals and actng as f they wee gods. Second heactons fafom beng cyncal gabs fo powe and wealth wee anmaed by a

genune dese o mpove he human condon a dese wh a fatallaw. That ese agedes could be s o ntmately assocaed wth opmsc vews of pogess and atonal ode s n self a eason fo aseachng dagnoss. Anohe eason les n the compleely ecumencalchaacte of he hghmodens fath. We encoune t n vaous gusesn colonal development schemes planned uban centes n both theEast and the Wes collecvzed fams the lage development plans ofthe Wold Bank the esettlement of nomadc populatons ad the management of wokes on factoy oos.

f such schemes have typcally taken the most de stuctve humanand natual toll n the states of the fome socalst bloc and n evo

lutonay Thd Wold settngs that s suely because thee authotaan state powe unmpeded by epesentatve nsttutons couldnull esstance and push ahead The deas behn d them howeve onwhch the legtmacy and appeal depended wee thooughly West-en. Ode and hamony that once seemed the functon of a untayod had been epaced by a smla fath n the dea of pogess vouchsafed by scentsts engnees and plannes. The powe t s woth emembeng was least contested at those moments when othe fomsof coodnaton had faed o seemed uttey nadequate to the geat

342

emande of hs chape s devoed to epandng on hs cusoy judgment and advancng a few modes lessons.

I' Inoranc, Stupid!

h isk of or ncsors ws o hin h hy wr h s nbr bsnc nbrs r inni hy co no b h s nbr.gn Zn We

The mam hat seves as the headng fo hs secton s not smplysuable fo bumpe sces mmckng the nsde slogan of Bll Clntons 1 992 pes dental campagn ts the economy stupd " t s meantto call attenton to how outnely plannes gnoe the adcal contngency of the futue. How ae t s to encounte advce about the futue whch egns fom a pemse of ncomplete knowledge. One smalleceptona ccula on nutton publshed by the health clc atYale nvesty whee teachwll undescoe ts aty Nomallysuch cculas eplan the majo food goups vtamns and mnealsknown to be es sental fo balanced nutton and advse a det based onthese categoes. Ths ccula howeve noted that many new essen-tal elements of pope nutton had been dscoveed n the past twodecades and that many moe elements wll pesumaby be dented byeseaches n the decades ahead Theefoe on the as of ha heydd no kno the wtes of ths pece ecommended that one's det be

344 TE MISSIN LINK

as vae as poss ble on the puen assumpton tha t woul conanman of hese e unente essenalsSoca l an hsocal analses have almos nevtabl he effect of

mnshng he conngenc of human affas A hsocal event osate of affas smpl is he wa t s ofen appeang eemne anneces a when n fact t mght easl have une ou to be ohewseEven a pobabsc socal sce nce howeve ca efu t ma be abou estabshng anges of oucomes s ap to teat hese pobabltes fo thesae of anass as sol facs When t comes o betng on the fuuethe conngenc s obvous but so s he capac of human actos tonuence ths conngenc an help o shape he futue An n those

cases whee the betos thought that the new he shape of he fuueb vtue of the gasp of hstocal laws of pogess o scentc uthwhaeve awaeness the etane of he conngenc seeme to ssove befoe the fath

An et each of hese schemes as mght aso have been peceas lage unone b a hos of conngences beon the plannesgasp The scope an compehensveness of he pans wee such hat

h h h h l

onclusion 345

case callng fo a ltle moe eveence fo lfe a lttle less satacetng of the fuue a ltle moe allowance fo he unexpecean a ltle less wshful hnng"

ne mght on the bass of expeence eve a few ules of humbhat f obseve coul mae evelopmen plannng less pone o saste Whle m man goal s hal a ponbpont efom of evelopment pactce such ues wou sue ncue somehng alon g thefoowng nes

ak sa stps. n an expementa appoach to socal change pesume tha we canno now the consequences of ou neventons n avance ven hs posulate of gnoance pefe wheeve possbe o

ae a small sep san bac obseve an then pan he next smallmove As the bologs J B S Haane metaphocal escbe theavantages of smaness: You can op a mouse own a thousana mneshaft; an on avng a the botom gets a sgh shocan was awa A at s lle a man boen a hose spashes 3

avor rvrsiiity. Pefe neventons tha can eas be unone fthe tun out to be mstaes4 evesble nteventons have eve

b 5



the wou have ha neemnate oucomes even he hstocalaws an he aenan speccaon o vaables an ca lcuatons habeen coect The empoa ambons mean ha although he mghwth some conence guess he mmeae consequences o the

moves no one coul spec et alone calcuae the secon o hoe consequences o the neacon effecs The w cas nthe ec howeve wee the human an naual evnts outse hemoes oughs was evols epemcs n eest aes wo consume pces o embagoes The cou an of couse aemp toaus an mpovse n the face o hese conngences Bu the magnue of the nta ntevenon was so gea hat man of the msses coul no be ghe Sephen Magn has pu he poblem succnc f the onl ceant abou the fuue s hat the futue suncetan f he onl sue hng s that we ae n fo supses then noamoun o pannng no amount of pescpon ca n eal wth he con

ngences hat he futue wll eveal" !Thee s a cuousl esounng unanm on ths pon an on noohes beween such ghtwng ctcs of the comman econom asFech Hae an such lefwng ctcs of Co mmuns authotaansm as Pnce Pee opotn who ecae s mpossbe tolegslae fo the futue" Boh ha a geat eal of espect fo the vest of human actons an he nsumounabe cules n successful coonang mllons of ansacons n a bseng cque offae eveopment paagms Albet Hschman mae a compaable

sbe consequences5 nevenons nto ecossems eque patcuacae n ths espec gven ou gea gnoance abou how the nteacAlo eopol capue the spt of cauton eque: The st ue ontellgen tneng s o eep all the pats6

an on suriss. Choose plans tha alow the lages accommoaon to the unfoeseen n agculual schemes ths ma mean choosng an pepang an so ha t can gow an of sevea cops nplannng housng t wou mean esgnng n" exb fo accommoang changes n faml suctues o lvng ses n a aco tma mean selecng a ocaton aout o pece o machne tha allows o new pocesses mateals o pouct nes own the oa

an on huan invntivnss. Alwas pan une he assumtonhat hose who become nvove n he poec ate w have o wlevelop the expeence an nsgh o mpove on the esgn

Planning for Arac Ciizen

The powe an pecson of hghmoens schemes epene notonl on baceng contngenc bu also on stanang the subecsof eveopment Some sanaaton was mpct even n the nobestgoals of he pannes The gea mao of hem wee stongl commte to a moe egalaan soce to meeng the basc nees of scens especall the wong class) an to mang the amenes ofa moen so ce avaable to al

346 THE MISSIN LINK

Let us pause hwever t cnsier the kin f human subject frwhm all these benets were being prvie. This subject was singu

larly abstract. Fgures as iverse as Le Crbuser Walther Rathenau

the clectivizers f the Svet Unin an even Juus Nyerere fr al

his rhetrcal attentn t Afrcan tratns were pannng fr ge

neric subjects wh neee s many square feet f husng space acresf farman ters f clean water a n units f transprtatn an s

much f fresh ar an recreatna space. Stanarize citzens

were unfrm in ther nees an even interchangeabe. What is strik

ing f curse s that such subjectsike the unmarke citizens" f

bera theryhave fr the purpses f the panning eercse n

gener n tastes n hstry n vaues n pinins r rgna ieasn traitns an n stnctive persnaites t c ntrbute t the en-

terprse. T hey have nne f the paricuar stuate an cntetual at-

tributes that ne wul epect f any ppuatin an that we as a mat

ter f curse aways attrbute t etes.

The lack f cntet an particuarity s nt an versght; t is theneces sary rst premise f any largescae plannng eercse . T the e-

h h b b i i h

Conclusio 347

ing were frustrate it wa s nt because the plans h a faile t integratea scheme f cperative labr. The mre ambitius an meticulus the

plan the less s lef thereticay t chance an t ca ntatve aneperience.

Stripping Reality to Its Essentials

The quanttatve technooges used to nvestgate social and economc lfe

work best f the world they am to descrbe can be remade n ther mage.Theodore M. Porter Trust in Numbers

If the factsthat s, the behavor of vng human bengs are recalctrant to

such an experiment, the expermenter becomes annoyed and tres to alter the

facts to t he heory, whch, n practce, means a knd of vivseon of soci-

etes unt they become what the theory orgnay declared tha he experi-

men shoud have caused hem o be.Isaah Bern On Political Judgment"

The clarty f the highmernist ptic is ue t its resute snguarity

ts simpiing ctin s that fr any actvity r prcess that cmesuner its scrutiny there s ny ne thing gng n n the scentc



gree that the subects can be treate as stanarize units the pwer

f reslutin n the pannng eercse is enhance. Questns pse

wthn these strict cnnes can have enitve quantitative answers.The same gic apples t the transfrmatin f the natura wrl. Ques

tins abut the vlume f cmmercia w r the ye f wheat inbushes permit mre precse calcuatins than questns abut say

the quaty f the sil the versatiity an taste f the gran r the welbeng f the cmmunity.? The scipine f ecnmcs acheves ts fr-

miable resvng pwer by transfrmng what mght therwse be

cnsiere quaitative matters int quantitatve ssues wth a snge

metrc an as t were a bttm ine: prt r ss.8 Prving ne un-

erstans the heric assumptins requre t achieve ths precisnan the questns that t cannt answer the sngle metrc s an invalu-abe t. Prbems arse ny when it becmes hegemn c.

What s perhaps mst strkng abut hghmernist schemes e

spite their quite genune egalitarian an fen scialst mpuses ishw tte cnence they repse in the sklls integence an eperi-

ence f rinary pepe. This is clear enugh n the Taylrist factrywhere the lgc f wrk rganzatn is t reuce the factry hanscntributn t a seres f repetitive if practice mvementsperatns as machineike as pssble. But t is as clear n clectvize

farms uamaa villages an planne cities where the mvements f

the ppulace have been t a large gree inscribe in the esgns fthese cmmunities. f Nyereres aspiratins fr cperative state arm

uner its scrutiny there s ny ne thing gng n. n the scentc

frest there s nly cmmerca w being grwn; n the panne citythere s ny the efcient mvement f gs an pepe; n the hus

ng estate there is ny the effective elivery f shelter heat sewage

an water; in the panne hspita there s ny the swf prvisin fprfessna meca services. An yet bth we an the panners knw

that each f these sites is the ntersectin f a hst f ntercnnecteactvtes that e such smple escrptns. Even smethng as ap-

parently mnfunctnal as a ra frm A t B can at the same time

functn as a site fr leisure scial intercurse ectng versnsan enjyng the vew between A an B.9

Fr any such ste t i s hepfu t magine tw erent maps f activty. n the case f a panne urban neighbrh the rst map cn-

ssts f a representatn f the streets an buings tracng the rutes

that the panners have prve fr the mvements between wrk-

paces an resences the eivery f gs access t shppng an

s n. The secn map cnsists f tracings as n a tmeapse pht-graph f a the nplanned mvementspushng a baby carrage wn

w shpping strlng ging t see a en paying hpsctch n thesiewak wakng the g watchng the passing scene takng shr

cuts between wrk an hme an s n. Ths secn map far mre

cmpe than the rst reveas very ifferent patterns f crculatin.

The er the neghbrh the mre ikey that the secn map will

have nearly supersee the rst in rughy the same way that panne



350 TE ISS ING LINK

The Falre of Schematcs and the ole of Mtsvryth s sd to undr th ldrshp of th Prty. No o s chro th cr or th sh, ut thy r ll v.Vtns vllr, Xuan Huy village

Not long fte the eciive political opening in 9 9, in what wa thentil the Soviet nion, a conge of agicultua pecialit wa convene to onie efom in agicutue Mot paticipant wee infavo of beaking up the collective an pivatizing the lan in the hopeof eceatng a moen veion of the pivate ect that ha thive inthe 92 an that Stalin ha etoye in 9. An yet they wee

nealy unanimou in thei epai ove what thee geneation haone to the kill, initiative, an knowlege of the kolkhozniki. Theycompae thei ituation unfavoably to that of China, whee a meetwentyve yea of coectivization ha, they imagine, lef much ofthe entepeneuial kil of the peaanty intact. Suenly a womanfom Novoibik cole them How o you think the ual peopleuvive ixty yea of coectivization in the t place f they hantue thei initiative an wit, they woulnt have mae it though

onluso 35

wok, the factoy outinely ue it fun to tock up on uch valuenonpeihable goo a oap powe, cometic, quality pape, yan,goo wine an champagne m eicine, an fahionable clothe henit eeme that the pant wou fal hot of the quota becaue it lackea key vave o machine tool, thee knowegeable eale woul et oaco the county the i mal Tabant auto amme wit h bae goo,t ecue what wa neee. Neithe of thee oe wa povie fo inte ocial table of oganization, an yet the uviva of the factoy e-pene moe on thei kil, wiom, an expeience than on thoe ofany othe employee. A key element in the centally planne economywa unewitten, alway unofcially, by mti.

Cae like the one ut ecibe ae the ue, not the exception. Theyeve to iutate hat the fomal oe encoe in ocialengineeingeig inevitably leave out element that ae eentia to thei actuafnctioning. f the factoy wee foce t opeate only within the con-ne of the ole an function pecie in the implie eign, itwoul quickly gin to a halt. Colectivize comman economie vitu-ally eveywhee have limpe along thank to the often epeate im-poviation of an infomal economy wholly outie it chemata



a a , y a a g They may nee ceit an upplie, but thee nothing wong withthei initiative."

Depite the manifol faiue of collectivization, it eem, the kol-

khozniki a foun way an mean to at leat get by e hou notfoget in thi context that the t epone to colectivization in 9wa etemine eitance an even ebellion. Once that eitancewa boken, the uvivo ha itte choice but to compy outwaly.They coul haly make the ua comman economy a ucce, butthey coul o what wa neceay to meet minimal quota an e nuethei own economic uvival.

An inication of the kin of impoviation both toeate an e-quie may be infee fom an atute cae tuyof two Eat emanfactoie efoe te Wa came own in 99 Each factoy waune geat peue to meet pouction quotaon which thei all

impotant bonue epene in pite of o machiney, infeio awmateial, an a lack of pae pa. ne thee aconian conition,two employee wee inipenabe to the m, epite hei moetplace in the ocia hieachy One wa the ackofalltae who impovie hottem olution to keep machiney unning, to coect oiguie poucion aw, an o make aw mateia tetch fue.The econ wa a wheeleeale who ocate an bought o bateefo pae pat, machiney, an aw mateia that coul not be obtainethough ofcia channe in time. To faciitate the wheeeeale

poviation of an infomal economy wholly outie it chemata.State omewhat iffeently, all ocially engineee ytem of fo

mal oe ae in fact ubytem of a lage ytem on which they aeultimately epenent, not to ay paaitic The ubytem elie on a va-

iety of pocee fequenty infomal o anteceentwhich alone itcannot ceate o maintain The moe chematic, thin, an impliethe foma oe, the le eil ient an the moe vulneable it i to itu-bance outie it naow paamete. Thi analyi of high moenim, then, may appea to be a cae fo the inviible han of maket cooination a o ppoe to centalize economie. An impotant caution,howeve, i in oe. The maket i itelf an intitute, fomal ytem ofcooination, e pite he elbow oom that it povie to it paicipant,an it i theefoe imilaly epenent on a lage ytem of ocial elation which it own calculu oe not acknowlege an which i canneithe ceate no maintain. He e have in min not only the obviou

element of contact an popety law, a wel a the tate coecivepowe to enfoce them, but anteceent patten an nom of ocialtut, community an coopeation, without which maket exchangei inconceivable. Finally, an mot impotant, the economy i a ubytem of a nite an nongowing ecoytem," whoe caying capacityan inteaction i mut epect a a conition of it peitence.3

t i, think, a chaacteitic of lage, fomal ytem of cooina-tion that they ae accompanie by what appea to be anomalie but oncoe inpection tun out to be integal to that foma oe. Much of

352 TE MSSN LNK

hs mght be teme ms t he escue ahugh f pepe ensnae n schemes f authaan sca engnee ng tha theaen hem n such mpvsatns bea he mak f scambng an es-pean. Many men ctes an n jus hse n the Th Wuncn an suvve by vue sums an squate settements whseesens pve essena sevces. A fma cmman ecnmy aswe have seen s cntngent n pety ae baeng an eas ha aeypcay ega. A fma ecnmy f pensn sysems sca secutyan meca benets s unewten by a mbe atng ppuatnwth few f hese pectns. Smay hyb cps n mechanzefam peatns pess ny because he vesy an mmuntes f

aneceent anaces. n each case he nncnfmng pactce s annspensabe cntn f fma e.

A Cae for Mis -riendly Insiuion

The nvenn scenc esy eeh enue panne ctes c-e cve fams ujamaa vages an nusta agcutue f a hengenusness epesene ay smpe neentns n enmusy

oncusion 353

sstance f husans ctzens fce he abannmen esuc-tung pjcts ven sufcen tme an eeway f cuse anyhghmenst pan w be utey emae by ppua pactce. Svececve fams the ms acnan case wee nay bught wnas much by he spe wk an esstance f the kkhznk as byhe pca shts n Mscw.

Whut enyng he ncnesabe benes ethe he vsn ab f heahca cnatn f sme tasks I want t makea case f nsttuns that ae nstea mutfunctna pasc -vese an aaptabe n the ws nsuns ha ae pwefyshape by mts. The ac hat hse ensnae n cnnng sysems f

fma e seem cnstanty be wkng n he wn nees make he systems me vesae s ne ncan f a cmmn pcess f sca mestcatn." A secn ncan s he sca magnesm f aunmy an vesy as seen exampe n the ppua-y f Jacbss mxeuse neghbhs an n the cntnueaactn f sefempymen

Dvesty an cean fms f cmpexy apat fm the aactveness hae he avanages n natua systems we knw these a-



ngenusness epesene ay smpe neentns n enmusycmpex natua an sca systems. Afe beng absacte m sys-ems whse neactns ee a a accunng a few eemens weehen mae he bass an mpse e. A best the ne e was

age an vuneabe sustane by mpsatns nt feseen by sgnats. At ws t weake un amage n shatee ves aamage ecsysem an factue mpveshe scetes.

Ths athe banke cnemnan mus be empee especay nhe case f sca sysems by at east u cnseatns. Fs anmst mpan the sca es they wee esgne suppant weeypcay s manesy unjus an ppessve tha amst any new emgh seem peeabe. S ecn hghmens sca engneeng usuay came cake n egaaan emancpay eas: equaty beethe aw ctzenshp a an ghs subsstence heath eucatnan shee. The pemse an gea appea f he hghmens ce

was that the sae wu make the benets f techngca pgessavaabe a s ctzens.The w emanng easns tempeng u cnemnatn

such scheme s have es s wh he penay esucve cnsequences han wth he capacy nay human acs t mthem n the en t bng them wn. Whee nctnng epesenatve nsuns wee at han sme accmmatn as nevtabe.n he absence s s emakabe hw he gge ayay e

tveness hae he avanages n natua systems we knw these avantages ae manf. Ogwth fests pycppng an agcutue wh penpnae anaces may nt be as puctve n hesht un as sngespe ces fests an es enca hybs But

hey ae emnstaby me stabe me sesufcen an ess vu-neabe epemcs an envnmenta sess neeng fa ess n theway f exea nsns keep hem n ack Evey me we epacenatua capta" such as w sh stcks gwth ess) wthha mgh be cae cutvae naua capa" such as sh ams tee pantans) we gan n ease apppan an n mmeatepuctvy but a he cst me manenance expenses an esseunancy esency an staby." If he ennmenta chaenges face by such sysems ae bh mes an pectabe hen acean smpcatn mght as be eaey sabe. Othe hngsbeng equa hweve he ess vese he cuvate naua capa

he me vuneabe an nnsustanabe becmes. The pbem s thatn mst ecnmc systems he exea css n wate a putnf exampe he exhausn nnenwabe esuces ncung aeuctn n bvesy) accumuae ng befe the acvty becmesunptabe n a na ptanss sens e

A ughy sma case can be mae I thnk f human nsttuns a case ha cntass the agy f g sngepupse cenazensutns he aaptaby f me exbe mupupse ecenta

354 TE MISSING INK

ize social forms. As ong as he ask environmen of an nsiuion remains repeiive sable an preicable a se of e rouines maypove eceponaly efcien. n mos economies an in hman aaisgenealy his is selom he case an such ouines ae likely o beconepocive once he envionmen changes appeciaby. Thelongem suival of cetain human insiuioshe family he smallcommunity he small fam he family m i ceai bsiessesissomehig of a bue o the aapabiliy ne acay chan gingcicumsances They ae by o meas inniely aapabe b they haveweahee moe ha one peicio of he ineviable emse. Thesmal family fam by vitue of is leible abo nclung he eploi

aio of is chilen) is capaciy o shif io ew cops o livesockan s enency o ivesi is isks has maage o pesis i compeive ecoomies when may huge highy eveage mechanizean specialize coporae an sae fams have faile. a seco ofhe economy whee local kowlege quick esposes o weahe ancop coniios an low ovehea smalless) ae moe impota hanin say lage insry he family farm has some fomiable avanages

Even i hge ogaizaons ivesiy pays iviens i sabiliy an

oncusion 355

of person oes hs sor of nsiuon foser No one has esablishehe link beween economic enerprise an polica skils beer hanThomas Jeerson in his celebraion of he yeoman farmer The aonomy an he skills equie n nepenen faming Jeeson beieve hepe o nte a ciizen with a habi of esponsible ecisionmaking enogh pope o avoi soca epenen ce an a aioof easoning an negoiaion wh his fellow cizens The yeomanrywas in shot an ieal aiig go fo emocaic ciizeship

To any panne bil o legsae fom of socal life one mayapply a compaable es o wha egee oes i pomse o enhance heskills knowlege an esponsibiliy of hose who ae a pat of i O

naowe isiional gouns he quesion wol be how eepy haform is make by he vales an epeience of hose who cmpose i.The ppose in each case wou be o isingish cane" siuaionsha pem lile o no moicaion fom siuaons lagey open o heevelopme an applicaon of mis.

A brie eample compaig wa memoias may be helpful. TheVienam Memoia i Washingo D.C is sely one of he mos sc-cessful wa memoials eve buil f one is o juge by he quaniy a



g g y p y yesilience. A oepouc ciy like he Salnis seelmaking jewe ofMagniogosk is vulneabe when is echnology is spesee an moespeciay poucs ae eque wheeas a ospecialize ciy wih a

hos of insies an a ivese labo foce can weahe geaer shocksWh he mos isialize ecoomies i s sill siking ha com-pe an ofen lowicome sbsisece saegies sefpovsioig anwoking off he books ae boh wiespea a essenial alhoghhey ae ealy invisible i mos foms of economic accounigMuch has also bee n mae o f he ahe comple family ms in Emiliaomaga aly which have hive fo geeaions i a eemelycompeiive wol eile make by viue of ewoks of muualiaapabiliy an a highly skile a commie wokfoce The familyms ae a he same ime embee in a mchsie local sociehat is seveal cenuies eep i associaioal life an civic skills

These ms an he ese ivese sociees pon which hey epenhave inceasingly seeme less like achac suivals a moe ikefoms of eepise ieay suie o posnsial capiasm. Evenwihin he aow cones of make compeiveness bea ins-al soceies he case fo polale aapive small us is songeha any gh moens of he 92 0s coul possby have imagne

Once w e mease such poaen sios by boae ceamoeove e case becomes eve moe powefl. Mch of agumen a hs level comes back o he queso pose e ale: wha kn

iensi of he viss i eceives De signe by Maya i he memoialcosiss simply o f a gely unaig sie make no omiae) bya log low black mable wall isig he ames of he fallen The ames

are lise eihe aphabeicaly no by miliary ui bu chooogi-cally in he oe in which hey fellhus gouping hose who hafalle on he same ay in he same engageme. No lage claim ismae abo he wa eihe in pose o i scpewhich is halyspising in view of he sak poliical cleavages he wa si inspies Wha s mos emakable howeve is he way ha he Venam Memo-ia woks fo hose who visi i paclay hose who come o payhei especs o the memory of a comae o love one. They ouchhe names icise o he wall m ake ubbigs an leave atifacs anmemenos of hei ow everythig fom poems an a womans high-heele shoe o a glass of champagne a a poke ha of a fl house

aces hig h. So may of hese ibues have been lef n fac ha a mu-sem has bee ceae o hose hem. The scene of many people ogehe a he wal ochig he ames of patcla love oes who fei he same wa has move obsees egaless o f he posio onhe wa isef believe ha a gea pa of he memorials symolicpowe is is capacy o hoo he ea wth an openness ha aowsvsos o mpess upo hei own meaings ei own hsoieshei own me moes. The memoa vitually eques pacpao noe o compee is meang Ahough one wol no compae o

36 T SSNG NK

a Rrschach es, he memrial neverheess es achieve s meaningas much by wha ciiens bring i as by wha i impsesCmpae he Vienam Memrial a very iferen Amercan war

memrial he sculpure epicng he raising f he American ag ahe summi f Mun Suribachi n Iw Jma in Wrl War II Mvingin is wn righ, referring as i es he nal mmen f a vicygaine a an enrmus cs in lives, he Iw Jima saue is manfeslyheric. Is pariism symblie by he ag), is reference cnques,s largerhanlife scale, an is implici heme f uniy in vicy leavelle rm fr wnering wha is epece frm he viewer. iven hevrtual unanimi wih which ha war was, an s, viewe in he Unie

Saes, i is harly surprising ha he Iw Jima memrial shul bemnumenal an eplic abu is message. Alhugh n eaclycanne," he w Jima sie is mre symblicaly sefsucien, as arems war memrials. Visirs can san in awe, gazing n an mageha hrugh phgraphs an sculpure has becme a virual cn frhe War n he Pacic, bu hey receive is message raher han cmpeing .

An insiuin, scia l frm, r enerprise ha akes much f is shape

onluson 37

parks, playgruns, civic assciains, business eneprises famlies,even planning bies ha migh well be evaluae hrugh he samelens

A g many insiuins in liberal emcracies alreay ake such afrm an may serve as eemplars fr fashining new nes. One culsay ha emcracy iself is base n he assumpn ha he mis fs czenry shul, n meiae frm, cninually m he law anplicies f he lan . Cmmn law as an insiuin, we s is lngevy he fac ha i is n a nal cicai f legal rules, bu raher ase f prceures fr cnnually aaping sme bra principles nvel circumsances. Finally, ha ms characerisic f human insi-uins, language, is he bes me a srucure f meaning an cnnuiy ha is neve sill an ever pen he imprvisains f all isspeakers.



p prm he evlving mis f he peple engage in i will hereby enhanceheir range f eperience an skills Fllwng he avice f he sayingse i r se ," he misfrenly nsuin bth uses an renews a

valuable public g. As an eclusive limus es fr all scal frms,hs s cearly insucien. All scial frms are articially cnsruce serve sme human purpse. Where ha purpse is narrw, simple,an invarable ver me, i may well be ha ce, hierarchical ruines are equae an pssibly he ms ecien in he shr run venin such cses, hwever, we shul be aware f he human ss f suliing ruines an he likely resisance re perfrmance.

Whenver, n he cnray he qualiy f he insiuin an ispruc epens n engaging he enhusiasic participain f is pe-ple, hen such a limus es makes sense n he case f husing, fr eample, is success cann be severe frm he pinins f is users.

Husing planners ha ake as a given he variety f huan ases anhe neviable bu unpreicable) changes n he shape f families willaccmmae ha varian frm he use by prviing eiblebuiling esigns an ajusable r plans. Develpers f neghbrhs, b he same ken, will prme he sr f ivesiy an cmpleiy ha will hep ensure heir vaiy an urabiiy. Abve a,hse wih planning an ning pwers wi n see hei ask as ne fmaking sure ha neighbrhs hl, hugh hick an hin, heiresigne frms O ne can mage many ypes f nsiuns schs,

Notes

ape 1 : ae a pace

1 Hny . Lowoo, Th Cctn Forst: Qnticion, Cmrl Sci-



y nc, n h mrnc of Scn c Forsy n mnt n Grmny, n TorFrnsmyr, . L. Hbron, n obn E. r s. Th Quan tifying Spiit in thEightnth Cntu (Brly: Unvrsty of Ciforni Prss, 1 99 1 pp. 31 5 42T foown ccon s ry rwn from Lowoo's n nyss.

2 Th most sn xcpon ws th roy non o h spply of nobm (. ., r, bors foxs for h hn n hnc o h protcon of s hbit.Ls on imin hs o b qn pmorn ction, s worh rclin hnormos soc mpornc of h hn to sch rcnt monrchs s EchHonr, Nco C§sc, Gory Zhvov, Wysw Gom, n rshTo.

3 ohn vlyn Syla or A Discour of Fort T (onon 664 679 p.1 1 cit in ohn Brncrhoff cson, A Sns of Plac a Sn of (NwHvn Y Univrsiy Prss 1 994 pp. 9 9 .

4 mchnr Gh rmins m th h vrb nor i s inq hr,for th st typicy soht to contro r, n xtinish hos prccsh intrfr wih s own mnmnt poicis. For mch of my (mttlyimi rly c on n h hsory of forstry, m f to mchnrGh n his wo boos, Th Unquit Woods Eological Chang and Pasant R-

sitanc in th Hialaya (Bry: Univrsity of Ciforn Prs, 1 99 n,wth hv Gil, This Fisud Land: An Eological Histoy of ndia (DlhOxfor Unvrsity Prss, 19 9. For n voctv n wrnin xporon of hn ct mnn of th forst n t Wst, s obr Po Hrr i-son Fot Th Shadow of Civilization (Chico: Univrsy of Chco Prss,199

5 Hrson, Fot p. 121 6. This st s n of wis on h Hisnb prncip. nst of n th

phnomnon obsrv hroh h c of obsrvon, so tht th probsrvtonst of h phnomnon is nnowbl n prncpl th ffc of (ntrs obs

359



76 Noe o Pages 88

8 . e goa s to get rd of intersbjective vara bity on te pa of te censstakes o coders And tat reqres standard mecanical procedres tat leave no

room fo personal jdgment. See Poer Tust in Nubes p 984 Caes y Coecon, Capital, an Euopean States, 9901992 (Ox

ford Blackwel 1990) p 100.85 Indcatve o f ts tendency in scientic forestry s te sbstantal literate

on optimm conto teory" wc s mpoed from management scence. Fo anappcaton and bbogapy see D M Donney and D R. Bettes OptmmContro for Scedng Final Haest n EvenAged Foest Stands" Foest Ecologyan Manageent 46 (1991) 1549

86 . e carcate is not so fafetced tat t does not capte te lyrical topanism o eary advocates of state scences. qote te fater of Prssan statstc sErnst Engel In ode to obtain an accrate representation stats tical researc accompanes te ndvdal trog is entire early exstence. t takes accont ofs bt s baptism is vaccinaton s scoong and te sccess teeof isdgence s eave of scoo s sbseqent edcaton and deveopment andonce e becomes a man is pysiqe and s abty to bear ams t also accompanes te sbseqet steps of s wak trog lfe it takes note of is cosen occpation wee e sets p s oseold and is management of te same f esaved fom te abndances of s yot for s od age f and wen ad at wat agee maries and wom e cooses as is wifestatistcs l ook afe m wen tngsgo well for im and wen tey go awry Sod e sffer spwec k in s lfe ndergo matera moa or spiital n statstcs take note of e same Statsticseave a mn only after s deatafte t as ascertaned te precse age of sdeat and noted te cases tat brogt abot is end" (qoted n Ian HackngThe Taing of Chance [Cambidge Cambridge Unversty Press 1 990 p 4) . One

Noe o Pages 8889 77

modern citien even in ibera democraces is te difcty of representing sniqe case to a powerfl agent of a breacratic instttion. Bt te fnctionary

operates wit a smpied gid desgned to cover al te cases tat se confronts.Once a decsion as been made as to wc bn" or pgeonole" te case fals intote acton to be taken or te potocol to be foowed s largey ctandde efnctonary endeavos to so te case into te appropate category we te ctzen resists being treated as an nstance of a category and tres to nsst ofen nsccessflly tat is nqe case be examned on ts singlar merts.

. I ave borrowed te tem g modernsm from Davd Haey The Contion of PostMoeity An Enqui into the Oigins of Socal Change (Oxfod BaslBackwel 1 989 ) Harey ocates te igwater mark of ts sor of modensm nte postWorld Wa II perod and s concern s particlarly wit captalsm andte oganiaton of prodcton Bt is descpton of g modernsm also wokswell ee e belef n linear pogress absolte trts and rational plannng ofideal soca odes der standardzed condtons of knowedge and podctonwas parcay strog. e modernsm tat reslted was as a eslt positvstctecnocratic and atonastc at te same tme as t was imposed as te work ofan elite avantgade of panners artsts acitects critcs and oter gadans ofg taste. e modernaton of Eropean economies proceeded apace we tewoe tst of inenationa potics and tade was jsted as brngng a benevoent and pogressive modezaton pocess' to a backward rd Wod" (p . 5)

4. For case stdes of pblc entrepeners" n te United States se e Egeneews's stdy of Hyman Rickover . Edgar Hoove and Robert Moses Public En-tepeneus Towa a Theo of Bueaucatic Political Powe The OganiatonalLives of Hyan Rcoe J. Ega Hoove a n Robet Moses (Bloomngton ndanaUnversty Press 1980)



cold ardly ask fo a more complete st of early nineteentcentry state inteestsand te paper trail ta it geneaed

8 . ly ecoing te coonial teme des cbes mc of tis pocess witn te

Eropean natonstate as te eplacement of indirect re wt drect e (Coe-con, Caal, an Eupean States, pp. 106).88. Donald Csolm Coonaton Wthout Heachy nfoal Stuctues n

Multioganiatonal Syses (Bekeey Universty of Califonia Pess 98 9) p 1089. s process s best descbed by Benedict Anderson Gded by ts te

colonal state's] imagned map it organzed te new edcatona idcal pblcealt poce ad mmgraton beacracies it was bldng on te pincpe ofetnoraca eracies wc were oweve aways ndestood n tems of parale sere s e low o sbect poplatons tog te mes of diffeentia coolscorts cics poice staons and immgration oces created tacabts' wcn tme gave rea social fe to te state's eaer fantasies" (agne Couni ties,p. 1 69) A reated agment abot te ctra dmension of statebding n England can be fond n Pp Cogan and Derek Sayer The Geat Ach EnglishState Foation as Cultual Revoluton (Oxford Backwell 9 91 ).

Chap Athrn Hih Modnim

1 My coleage Pal anda ecalls te stoy by Borges n wc a kng nappy at maps tat do not do jsce to s kngdom nay nssts on a map wit ascale of onetoone. Wen compete te new map exactly coves te existing kingdom sbmerging te eal one beneat its epresentaton.

A commonplace example may ep. One of te odinay frstations of te

Monnet ike Ratena ad expeence n economc mobilizaton dring WorldWar we e e ped organze te tansaantc sppy of wa matera for Britanand Fance a ole tat e esmed dring World Wa I By te tme e eped

pan te postwar ntegraton of Frenc and Geman coal and stee prodcton ead aready ad several decades of expeence in spranationa management. SeeFranos Dcene Jean Monet The Fst Statesan ofnteepenene (ew okoron 1995)

5. wl not prse te argment ee bt I tink asm s best nderstood asa reactony form o modensm. ike te progressve ef te ai etes adgandose vsions of seenfoced social engneerng wc ncded of coseextermnaton explsion foced sterlizaton and selectve breedng and wicaimed at mprovng" genetcally on man nate e case for azsm as a vlent form of modensm is made brlliantly and convincngy by Zygmnt Bamanin Moeity an the Holocaust (Oxfod Oxfod Unvesty Pess 1989). See lsoaong te same lines Jeffey Hef Reactiona Moes Technology, Cultue,an Politics n Weia an the Thi Reich (Cambidge Cambrdge UnverstyPress 984) and obet Fe National Socialist Rule in Geany The Fhe

State, 19194, ras. Simon B Steyne (Oxford: Oxford Universty Pes 1 99 )6 am gratefl to James Fegson fo remnding me tat eactonary g

modernst scemes are abot as bqtos as progessve vaiants.. s is no by any means meant to be a bef for conseatism . Conse atives

of many stripes may care litte fo civ libetes and may reso to watever brtates seem necessay to eman n power. Bt tei ambtons and bs ae mcmoe lmted; te pans (n contast to ose of reaconay modernsts) do not necesstate trnng socety psde down to ceate new coectvies new famiy andgrop loyaties and new peope.



Notes to Paes 11-7

and apial of he kh kngdom of Rani ingh Im gaeful to Ramahandra

Guha fo this infomaton4. As Maxwel ry desrbes i e Corbusie was peoupied a he tme wh

he vsua eets of buildngs n lage spaes He had bought wh hm a plan ofhe grand axis tha joned the ouvre o he A de Tiomphe via he Cha�psEyses and tre o work ou he fathes exenson of gandeur omprehensble,at a sngle view n the new seing. ee ry, e Corbusier a Chandgarh' p. 57

75 an Chandigah as a Pae o ve In p. 676 ee, for example he book published a deade and a half earie by Peiva

Goodman and Paul Goodman Counitas: Means of Lielihoo an Ways ofLife(New Yok Vintage Books 1 947 , whih ouhes on many of he same hemesfound in Jaobs's wok but whih promoes deentaizaion and appropriae ehnoogy

77. n New York City Jaobs was seen as a pomnen enemy of he maser

buider Robet Moses.

7 On the othe hand Jaobs had a grea dea of knowedge abou arhiteue.he was mared to an ahiet and had woked he way up fom newspaper andedtng obs o beome assoiae edio of he jounal Achitectul Fou.

79. An ineestng paael ase fom he same tme peod is Rahel Cason'sSilent Sping (Boston: Houghton Mln, 1 962 Cason began he inluenta auakon he proligate use of nseides b asking a homely bu powefu questnWhee have all the songbrds gone?

0. Jane Jaobs The Death an Life of Geat Aeican Cities (New Yok Vn

tage Books, 196, p. 5. . Ibd. p 76 The ealy onstivis e Corbuser would not have dsavowed

this vew as a matte of prnipe bu as a matter of patie he was aays geaty

Notes to Pages 1 7 42

aon, whh noted hat only abou onefouh of the populaon whose ages ranged

fom ve o feen years atuay payed in paygounds, whh ould no ompeewth iy sees that were eemng wth life and advenue.

9 . In he moden home, f the kithen also has a eevison, s saus as hemos heaviy used oom in he home s l key o be wthou ompeion Talja Pot-tes, a Duh olleague els me ha in wokinglass aparmens but n Holandbeween 1 920 and 1 970, he dmensons of he kithen wee deibeatey mnmzedso hat aboes woud be obliged o dine and soialie in he iving room, lke de-en middeass people

92 Jaobs's haper The Nee d fo ma Boks is a model of he mode ofanaysis. ee Death an Life pp. 176.

9 bid., p. 222.94. Jaobs, in addiion o hoding severa obs was a wife and mohe in the

1950s95 n expaining why hden ofen pefer o play on sidewaks raher han in

paygounds, Jaobs wres Most iy ahieural desgnes are men Cuously,they design and pan to eude men as pat of nomal, dayime ife wherever peo-pe ive. In panning esidenta life, they aim a ng he pesumed daily needs ofmpossiby vauous housewives and preshoo tos They pan, in shot, stiy fomaiaha soiees (Death an Life, p

96 bid , pp. 7 2 7 (emphasis in original) Compare Jaobs's ritie thMumfod's itiism of baroque y panning as beng ruhess, onesided, non-oopeaive, . [and] ndiffeen o the sow, omplex interaons, he paient ad-justments and modiaons, hrough ria and seeion whih mak moe oganimehods of ty development (The City in Histo p 50

97 Jaobs Death an Life p 2 9 o an extensive anaysis ofhe poess of



p p p y g yonened with he supua popeties of an uban plan o a snge buildngsomemes wh blian resuts as in NoreDameduHaut, Ronhamp (1 95

2. A usefu ue of uen oning patie may be found in JamesHowad Kunstler Home fom Nowhee, Atlantic Monthly epembe 1996 pp466 .

. Jaobs, Death an Life, p 75 This seems espeiay easonabe so ong asthe dis ipined woks of at one s aking abou ae hose of a Josef Abes rat�ethan a Jakson Pook. In this onneion, i s useful o eall hat e Corbuserbegan as an a and neve sopped paning.

4 Ibid, p 475 Ibid, pp 1 2 The reen soal sene eatue on soia tus and

soal apta, emonstrating he eonomi oss of their absene signals hathis homey tut is now a subjet of fomal inuir It is impoan to spefy haJaobs's point aout eyes on e street assumes a rdimentay leve of ommu-ny feeing If he eyes on the sreet are hostie to some or al members of theommuniy as aa Poters has emnded me, pub li se uiy s no enha ned

6. Ibid, pp 40 t is woh notng that the inpin of his nfoma su-veane and soa ode s he fastdisappeang and mh magned petite our-geoisie

7 bd pp 596 2 bid, pp 6 0 61 Jaobs offers a atalogue of noneimbused serves po-

vded by a pa andystoe poprieo in the ose of a snge morning a-knowledging tha many of hese smal sees aow he shopkeeper to fuher enange hs or he lientee.

9 bid, p 56 (emphass n ogna).90. bid., pp 4 . Jaobs uotes a 192 regiona planning eport on ere

97. Jaobs, Death an Life p. 2 9. o an extensive anaysis of he poess ofeonomi divesat ion, se e Jaobss lae book The Econoy ofCities (New YorkRandom House 1 970 Caol Rose the ega heors makes he inteesng pont

ha the visual epesentaons of poperyfenes, was, hedges, wndowsgates funtion as a het of a sta and timeess poperty ha gnoes hstoi-a hange. ee Rose, Popety an Pesuasio n Essays in the Histo Theo a nRhetoic ofneship (Boude Wesvew ress, 1994, espealy hap 9, eeingPopety pp 267 0.

9 Jaobs Death a n Life, p. 2799 Ibd. p 91 . The ehoes of suh nluenia anahis thinkes as erre-

Joseph Proudhon and Peter Kopokin evebeae n hs passage I do no knowwhehe Jaobs intended these esonanes, whh may have ome from the work ofPau Goodman But what is missng is a eogniion ha n he absene of sate-based uban panning, age ommeia and speulave neress ae ansfom-ng the urban landsape evey day The effet of her agumen is o naualie heunplanned ity y treatng as he onseuene of thousands of sma and noon-aly equa ats.

100 Ibid p. 77 0 . ome sma omponents of buildngs have of ourse been mass produed

fo a ong me fom sadad lumber sok heetok, and shngles o loongand mos famousy nas . ears and Roeuk home kis wee avaiabe as eary ashe 190s

10 2. Whee pefomae is asay n an amyths ogi s supesededby othe eria. hus solders wil typialy have diffeensized boots ha t webut hairuts hat ae idenal

10 Jaobs, Death an Life, p. 241 104 . Ibd p 2 The aveat, and ony when may be a rae reogiion by Ja

Nots to gs 1-9

obs that in the absene of extensive panning in a liberal eonomy the asymmet

rial market fores whih shape the ity are hardly demorati.105. Ibd. p . 241 .106. For an elaboration ofthis argument appled to urban design see Mhe de

Certeau The Pactce of veay Lfe (Arts de fare a pratique du quotiden)trans teven Rendall (Berkeley Unversty of Cafornia Press 194). Anotheranalogy that may be made in this ontext is to the market along the lnes developedby Fredrih Hayek. The problem that I see wth this anaogy is that the market nthe modern sense is not synonymous with spontaneous soal order" but ratherhad to be imposed by a oerive state in the nneteenth entuy as rl Polanyi hasonviningly shown. Hayeks desription of the development of ommon law is Ibelieve somewhat loser to the mark. In any event ty market and ommon laware all reators of hstorial power relations that are nether natural" nor reativeof spontaneous soal order." In her telng ritque of planning Jaobs is fre-quently tempted to naturaze the unplanned ity rather as Hayek aturalizes themarket.

107. Ibd., p. 1.1 0 . ome of Jaobss nsghts appear to be behind the early stages of reuper

ation n a fe blighted setons of New York Citys outh Bronx oe a synonymfor the worst n urban deay. A ombination of refurbishing existing buldngs andapatments promotng mixeduse development and urban homesteading makingsmall loans more ready avaiable and keeping to a modest sale appears to havefailitated the reation of viable neghborhoods.

109 . Quoted n ibid. pp. 6 7. Tankels pea appeared n a symposum aledThe Arhteture Forum" in June 1 957 .

1 10 . ee isa Redeld Peattie Plannng Rethnng Ca Gayana Ann

Nots to gs 10- 9

and theoretiian Antono Gramsi wh o basially shared enins opinion o this

matter. Rosa uxembrg as we shall see also addressed the issue and reahed veydifferent onlusions.

. Ibid p. 162.9. Ibid p. 95.

10. Ibid. p . 15 .1 1 . Quoted i n ibid. p . 40 . I t is possble enin remarks in a footnote (p. 4 1 ) for

workers to rise into the inteigentsia and thereby play a role i n reating soalistideology. But" he adds they take pat not as workers but as soialist theoreti-ians like Proudhon and Weitling."

12. Ibid. p. .1 . Ibid. p . 41 .14 . Ibid. p. 1 5 1 (mphasis added). enin is writng speialy here abot the

newspaper Ia, a organ of the vanguard pat15. Ibid. pp. 1202 1 .16 . Ibid. p. 122 (emphasis n original).17 . ee for example thy E. Ferguson Class Consiousness an the Marxis t

Dialeti The Eusive ynthesis" Revew of Poltc 42 no. 4 (Otober 196)5042.

1. enin What I t o Be Done? p. 129.19. Ibid. p. 1 21 mphasis added).20 . Agitaton" is another diagnosti word in this ontext. I t onures up stll

waters that move only when agitated" by an outside agent.2 1 . I n the Tenth Party Congress n 1 92 1 while troops under Trotsky were

rushing a genune proletarian revolt against Bolshevik autoray Bukharn andothers ondemned the pettbourgeois infeton" that had spread from the peas-



g g y Arbor Univrsity of Mhigan Press 1 97 ).

11 1 . Jaobs Death an Lfe, p. 195.

Chpr 5 Th Rvinry rty

1 . V. I. enin What I to Be Done? B ng Qeton of O Moveent NewYork: International Publishes 1929) p. 2.

2 Quoted in Robet Conquest The ombe Monster" New Yo Revew ofBoo, June 1 995 p. . We also know that enn was an admier of anotherutopian wok Tommaso Campanellas Cty of the Sn, whih desrbes a religiousutopia whose desgn nludes strong pedagogial and didati featues fo shapngthe minds and sous of its itizens.

. Th metaphors of the lassoom and the baaks were n keeping withenins reptaton in the paty where hs omades referred to him as the Ge-man" or Her Doktor' alludng not so muh to his time in Zuh o the assstanehe eeived fom Gemany but smply to hs tidiness and selfdisipine" (Con-quest The omber Monste").

4. enin What I to Be Done? p. 0.5 Ibd. p. 4 (emphasis added)6. Ibd. p. 16 1 emphasis added).7. Ibid. p. 1 14 . enn is hee referrng to the oal Demoas n Germany

whom he regards as ar moe advaned than the Russian ounepars. ee asop. 1 1 6 whee enin assets No movement an be durabe wthout a stabe orga-nizato of leaders to maintan ontinuity." This ssue was debated anew in prataly evey soiast movement. We see i in the writings o the Itaian Communist

p g p panty t parts of the working lass e e Paul Averih Kontat 191 (PrinetonPrineton Unversty Press 1970) hap. , espeially pp. 1290.

22. When it ame t o preventng atua dsease and nfeton enin took it onhmself to ensure that the Kemlin was a lean germfree environmnt by writngits sanitay reguatons himsef. He instruted for example that all those arivingby train) shall before enterng their aommodaton take a bath and hand theirdrty othes to the dsinfetor at the baths . . . . Anyone efusng to obey the sanitayegulations will be expelled from the Kemlin at one and tried for ausng soialharm" From Dimit Volkogonov Lenn Lfe an Legacy, trans. Harold hukmanondon: Haper Cons 199 5) ited in Robet erie The Fst Master Teo-ist" e Ltea Sppleent, Januay 6 1995 p. 9.

2 enin What I t o Be Done? p. 79 (emphasis added).24. ee Brue M. Garer The Yong Cech Paty, 1 74 190 1, an the egence

of a MltPaty Syte (New Haven: Yae Unversty Press 197 p. 1 17 . PeteRutand tells me tha suh displays ee by no means onned to poltal movements wh authoritarian deologies but wee part of a view of mahine peision

and oordinaton rom above that was appied to physal ultue and sha rd bynatonalst bougeos and demorati movements too. The tradtion of oodinated mass moveme" surves of ouse in mahingband parades seen durnghalftimes of ollege football games in the United tates. For moe on the mahneas a metapho fo soial movements see Chap. 6.

25 . Nolae Ceauesu's nealy built Palae of the Republi n Buharest ontaned many desgn featues along these lines. The egsative assemby ha hadtieed balones enrling Ceau§esus hydraulaly fted podium and hepalaes sx hunded loks were al entrally set fom a onsole in Ceau§esu's suite(New Yo Te, Deember 5 1991 p. 2 . enn in ontast was always opposed

No o Page 57

to any u t of pesonaity the pay itself was to be the ondutor of the revoluton

ay ohesta26 Even so it should be noted nether e Cobusie no enin was of a steady

methodia bueauati tempeament.27. Hannah Arendt On Revolution (New York Vking 1 965) 28 E H Ca The Bolhevi Revolution, 1 917 192 vol. 1 (Hamondsworh

Pengin 1 966) p. 6 enin qoted on p 80 Ca exends his judgmen o a pates in the ebuay Revouton The evoutionay paties payed no dret part nthe making of he revolution. They dd not expet i and wee at rs somewhatnonpssed by it T he eation at the moment of the evouton of a Petrogad o-viet of Workers Depues was a spontaneous at of groups of workes without entra direon It was a eviva of the Petesburg ovet whih had payed a bref butgloous roe i the evoution of 1905 " (p. 81 )

29 ee fo example ibd. heila itzparik The Ruian Revolution (Oxford

Oxfod Univesty Pess 1982) and Ma eo The Bolhevi Revolution: A ocialHisto of the Russian Revoution rans. Noman tone (ondon: Routedge andKegan Pau 1980)

0. The bes t Russian depiion of this suation s in Tosoy's briliant anaysisof bate duing he Napoeoni ampagn n Russa in Wa and Peace (New Yorkmon and huse, 194 2) pp. 7 1 874 92 1 988. ee also ohn Keegan The FaceofBattle (New Yok: Viking Pess 19 76)

1 The roe of auonomous aon n drivng the evoluton foward even afteOtober 1917 was eognized by enin when he said n 1918 nahst deashae now aken on lvng fom." ee Daniel Guin Anachis F Theo toPactice, trans. May Kloppe (New York Monthly Reiew Press 1 970) p 85 . Muhofthe ealy Bolsheik legis ation Gun notes was the ex pos fato legaizaton of

No o Pags 4

8 . In the ase o f the Bolshevk Revoluton t was also neessay that he of-

al naatve inlude a genuinely popula mass movement of whih the Boshevikseventually assumed eadeship Maxist histoiogaphy equied a mlitant volutionay poletaat This was an aspet of the ebuay and Otobe events hat didnot have to be invened. Wha had to be written out of the aount however wasthe feoious stugge between the new state appaatus on one hand and te au-tonomous soviets and peasanty on the other

9 . enin quoted in Averih Knstadt, 1921, p. 16 0 I beeve that enn s onsously opying uxembug here athough I have no dire poof One an nd apeedent for ths n enin's momenay euphoia about the 1 905 evouton: Rev-olutions ae he festival of the oppessed and he expoited . At no othe time aethe masses of the people n a postion o ome foward so ativey as reators of anew soa oder as at the tme of revouon. At suh tmes the peope are apableof performing maes (from Two Tatis of oia Demoray" quoed byRihad tites Revoutiona Dea Utoian ision and Exeiental Life in the

Rusian Revolution New York: Oxford Unvesiy Pess 1989 p. 42)40 I enn tate and Revoluton (New Yok Intenatona Pubishers

19 1) p. 2 (emphasis in origina) Noe hat hose who are to be guded" by foeare not the bourgeoisie the enemes of the revouton bu the exploited lasseswith the exepon o he poleaiat for whom oerio n wil be u nneessa

es one imagine tha he sae oeion o be apped woud be deided demo-ratialy by the proeariat o its repesenatives enin makes ear jus afte heeouton that as esek Kolakowski puts it the point abut the datorship ofthe poetaiat . . . is the absoute powe onstaned by no aws based on sher d-et ioene. And he said that thee woud be no freedom and no demoray (hosewee his vey wods unti he omplete vitoy of Communsm all ove the wod"

"



y g p gautonmous ations and paties.

2 ee he lluminatng detailed sudy based on rih arhiva materia by O-

lando iges: Peasant Russia, Civil War: The olga Countide in Revolution,19171921 (Cambridge Cambridge Univesity Press 1996 ) Miloan Djas The N Cla (New Yok Praeger 1957) p. 2.4. I a m indebted to Pee erdue for hang pointed ths out to me Dlas makes

muh he same point (ibd) 5. The oa stoy ee n though it may patly shape olletie memoy annot

entiely suppant te individua ad olletie experenes of tose who atuay pa-tipaed n the eoutionay poess or those who have no pesonal reoetonand who thus ome o the reouon va the shoolbook o patrioti speeh howeverthe oia stoy wl preva uness thee s anohe ontng soure of nformaton

6 This is the point of the dt or want of a nal the shoe was ost for want ofa shoe the hose was lost for want of a horse he messnger was ost for want of amessage he atte was ost for want of a toy a kingdom was lot . ." (ohn MMerman ed. For Want of a Hore: Choice and Chance in Histo exington

Mass. . Greens Press 1985)7 It is exeptonay ae to nd any histoia aunt that stesses the on-

tngenies. The vey xese of podung an aoun of a past eent vrtuay re-quirs an ofen outerfatua neatness and oherene Anyon who has eer eada newspaper aount of an event in whh he o she patipated wl reognie thisphenomenon. Consder too he fat that a person who ommits murde say orwho takes hs own fe by jumping o a bridge w there afe be known as he pe-son who shot soands or the person who umped of uhandsuh bdge. Theeens of hat person's fe w be eread n ght of that endng with an a of n-itab beng gen o an at that may have been hghy ontingen t.

(A Caamitous Aden" Tie Litery uleent, Novembe 6 1992 p. 541. enin tate and Revolution, pp 224

42. Ibd. p 8 (emphasis n ginal).4. bd. p. 8 (emphass added)44. enin, The Immediae Tasks of the oiet Goernmnt" MarhApi 19 1 8

qoted in Carme ClaudinUrondo Lenin and the Cultural Revolution trans BrianPeare (ussex Haeste Press 197 7) p. 2 71 It is woh notng he brief natua-ist imagey assoiated wth publimeeting demoray" hee as t is amost e-tainly borowed fom Rosa uxembug's wok.

45 . ee Daid Harey The Condition of PostModeity: An Enqui into the Oigin of Cultural Change (Oxford: Basil Bakwel 19 89) p. 12 6 Haey groupsenin od e Corbusie Ebenezer Howad and Robert Moses as modenists

46 In fat of ourse thee s no ationaly eent soluton to any pobem ofths knd hat gnoes human subjetty. An efient poduton desgn dpendstally on the postive response of the wokfore. The autowokes who hated theefient" massassembly lne n odse Oho responded by wokng so sop

pily that they made t an ineent assemby ne47. enin tate and Revolution, pp 8485 (emphass in ogina). Max En-gels and enn used the tem ump en" poearat to desgnae a those margnaswho had esaped workinglass dspne The ontempt fo lumpen elmentswas boundles and ehoes he quasraist attude of Voran elites toward theundeserving" poor.

48 ttes Revolutiona Dreas, p. 249 I enin The Agrarian Quetion a nd the Citic of Ma 2nd re ed.

(Mosow: Pogess Publshers 1976) enns basi postion on agultre hadbeen woked out ong before n his 1 889 book The Develoent of Caitali in

9 Noes to ges 17

Ruia That ook however had predted a spontaneos development of apital-

ism n the ontryside that had not oed to anyhing like the exten he had foe-ast. or an impoant evisionist wok on Max's analyss of ra Rssia seeTeodor hanin ed. Late Marx an the Rusian Roa Marx an the Peripherie ofCapitali (New Yok Monthy Review Press 19 ).

50. Iid. p. 45.5 1 . V I. enin The Agrrian Prograe of ocial Deocracy in the rst Ru-

ian Revolution, 1905 1907 2nd ev. ed. (Mosow Progess Plishes 1977) p. 70.52. The Germa n and Astan shoos of empial hosehold srveys of farm

opeations were very inlential at the tn of the entry. The great Rssian eon-omst in this traditon was A. V Chayanov. A ael shola a partsan of smalpropey (he wote a topan novel of hs own) and a oviet ofa he was ar-rested y the tainist poie in 1 92 and is eieved to have een exeted in 96 .Pyot Maslov was anothe ontemporary Rssian exponent o f smallfam eenyand intensiaton who dspted enin's position.

5. enin The Agrarian Quetion p. 6.54. Id.55 . o an extensive teatment see Jonathan Coppesmith The Electrication

ofRuia 18801 926 (Ithaa Cornel Universty Pess 1 992) and Kendall BalesTechno logy an ociety Uner Lenin an talin Origins of the oviet Technic al Intelligentia (Pineton Pineton Univesity Press 1 97) . H. G. Wels following avst to the ovet Union wrote glowingly of hs onvesation with enn in Otoer 920 o enin who like a good orthodox Maxist denones a Utopians hassmed at last to a Utopia the Utopia of the eetrians" (Russia in the ha-ow [New Yok Geoge H. Doan 1 921 ] p. 1 5) .

56. enn The Agrarian Question p. 46. It is easy today to foget how reath-k l i f h i i i f h A Vl di

60. iges Peaant Rusia Civil Wa p. 67.

Noes to ges 1771 9

6 1 . No did he aandon his eief n the oe of violene in ensrng pay le.In 192 2 when egos elievers in povnial hya openy demonstated againstthe seize of hh easres enn aged fo massive etaliation. The moe ofthem we manage to shoot the etter" he delaed. Right now we have to teah thispli a lesson so tha fo seveal deades they won't even dare think of ressting"(qoted n John Keep The Peope's Tsa" Tie Litera uppleent Apil 7 1995p . 0).

62. Qoted in Averh Krontat 1921 p. 224 (emphasis added).6 . Rosa xemg Masstrike Pay and Trade Unons" and Oganiza-

tiona Qestions of Rssian oal Demo ray" n Dik Howard ed. electe Po-litical Writing of Roa Luxebu (New York Monthy Review Press 1971) pp.22 70 2 06; and xemg The Rssian Revoltion" tans. Beram D.Wolfe in MaryAlie Wates ed. Roa Luxeburg pea (New York PathnderPess 1 970) pp. 67 9 5. It is inteesting to speate how mh of xemrg'sfath wold have emaned had she atally ome to powe in Geman What sea howeve is that h er vew when she was ot of powe is radiay dffeentfrom enn's view when he was ot of power.

64. Elzieta Ettinge sggests that one likey soe of xemrg's fath in thewisdom of odnary workes was he love of the geat Polish nationali st poet AdamMikewz who eleated the insight and reatvty of ordinary Poes. ee RoaLuxeburg A Life (Boston Beaon Pess 196 ) pp. 22 27.

65. xemrg Masstike Paty and Tade Unions" p 229. Despite x-emg's dsmissve refeene to anahism her views overap onsideraly withan anarhist view of the independent reatve role of ordnary atos in a evol-tion. ee for example G. D. Maximoff ed. The Political Philoophy ofBaunin ci-



takng eletr ity was for those expeiening it fo the st tme. As VladimrMayakovsky was epoted to have sad Afte eeti ity I lost nterest n nate"

(tites Revolutiona Dreas p. 52). In fat for all the ativities mentoned yenn the tator as a moveale powe sore wthot tansmssion nes haspoven more pratal than eletty.

57. om enins report to the Eghth Congess of oviets (Deeme 221920) at the fonding of the tate Commssion on the Eletiaton of RssiaGOELRO. Qoted in Roet C. Tke ed . The Lenin An thology (New Yok: Noton 1975) p. 494.

5. The entrazation that eletation makes possile also sets the stage foagesale powe falres and ownots. The pate of this tehnial enta-ization s ofen in stak f not omi ontrast to its topan promise. ee fo an ilmnatng example om the Phiippines nde Maros Otto van den Mjenegs Bight ights Replae the Kngke ome oiologia Aspets of Ral Eetriaton in the Phiippines' n Margaet M. ktsh et a. eds. Towar a u-tainable Deveopent (fohomng).

59 . As might e expeted the analogy etween the ight of eletrity and theenghtenment" of the naod was ofen evoked in oviet hetor ominng as itwee the Boshevk tehnia projet with its tal projet. enin wote To thenonParty peasant masses eleti ight s an nnata' light; t what we on-sider nnatra s that the peasants and wokes shold have ived for hndedsand thosands of years in sh akwadness poverty and oppesson nder theyoke of the landownes and the apitalists . . . . What we mst now try is to onveevery eletri powe station we ild nto a stonghold of enightenment to e sedto make the masses eetriityonsios" (qoted in Tker The Lenin Anthology,p. 495) .

entic Anarchi (New York ee Pess 1 95) p. 2 9 in whih Baknin's vew ofthe lmitations of leadershp y a entral ommittee pregres xemg's own

modest opnion of a ental ommittee's role.66 . This way of anayzing wokingass movements grew dietly ot of xemrg's esearh fo her 1 9 dotoal thess at the University of Zih The In-dstia Development of Poland." ee J. Nettl Rosa Luxe burg vol 1 (ondonOxfod Unversity Pess 19 66).

67. xemg Ma sstke Pay and Trade Unions" p. 2 6.6 . xemg was something of an aestheti fee spit as well. Continally

solded y he lover and omrade eo Jogihes for her pettogeois tastes anddesies she defended the vae of a pivate life while devoting hesef to the evo-ton. Her lan s niely apted y he advie on the design of the partaistnewspape Die Rote Fahne (The red anne) do not think a newspape shold esymmetrial timmed ike an Engish awn . . . . Rathe it shold e somewhat n-tamed ike a wild ohad shod stle with life and shine with yong talents"(qoted n Ettnge Roa Luxeburg, p. 16).

69. xemg Oganatona Qestons" p. 2 91 (emphass added).70. n awakening of the evotionary enegy of the woking lass n Germany

an neve again e aed foh in the spiit of the gardanshp methods of the Ger-man oial Demoay of latelamented memory. . . . The awakening of revolton-ary enegy old e effeted only y an nsight nto al the feal serosness allthe omplexty of the tasks involved only as a eslt of poitial matity and independene of spirit only as a eslt of a capacity for critical jugent o n the part ofthe asse which capacity wa yteatically ille by the ocial eocracy forecaes uner variou prett (xemg The Rssian Revoltion" pp 6970;emphass added).



Noes o ges 87-9

trastng the freedom mobilty nd hono, to the bondge of those unde the

thumb of the court. An evoctve nd evenhnded Afghn proverb cptures th e distnction: Txes te the vlleys honor ate the hlls."1 1 . One of the best wys to conjure up such plces i s to sk where runwy

serfs nd slves repired to nd where Mroon communties of fugiive slves estblished themselves Such plces were nonstte spces which the utoities triedto effce if possbe n the United Sttes, telling exmple is te enormous effortmde n te postbellum South to elmnte the lrge commons on whch free bckscould eke ou n independent exstence nd to drve the blcks into the lor mrket ofen to work for their former msters. Most freed slves prefered to mke precrous liing by frming, shing, huntng trpping nd grzing few nmalson open lnd over the suordintion of permnent wge lor. A series of fencngand trespssing lws, hunting nd trpping prohibitions grzing restrictons vgrncy lws, nd so on were, s Steven Hhn s shown, desgned to eliminte thsnonwge lbor (nd nonstte) spce. See Hhn, Hunting, Fishng and Foging

Common Rights nd Clss Reltions in the PostBellum South" Radical Hito R-viw 6 (1 ) 7 4.

1. Lest his seem geographicy determinst, let me emphsi ze tht humngency pys lrge role in creting nd mintining nonstte spce. At the mteven prts of great cities my come to be nonstte spces w hen the state ess entlycedes contro to rebeious or resistnt populton.

1 . A gol relted to dspossessing the Metus of ther" forest ws to mke thelnd moe esly vlbe for inclusion in stte loggng nd revenue plns

1 4 Ann Lowenhupt Tsing In th Ral of th Diaond Qu: Maginalityin an OutothWay Plac (Prnceton: Princeton Universty Press, 1 ) pp. xiii 4 1 .

15 bid pp 4

Notes to ges 9 -95 7

povded mny dvantges to tose wo wnted to nluence an d mobilize te elec-

torte Those n the cmps he esoned were more esly mnipulble tn thosestill living in ther rul communties. The mplicit but mcbre logic ws impec-cble; the more boms ined on the countysde, the greter the opportunities forthe United States nd ts lles in Sigon to dominte ny peceful electoral compettion ht followed From Huntngton Getting Redy for Politicl Competiton nSouth Vetnm" pper presented t the Southest Asi Development AdvisoyGroup of the Asia Society circ 1 70 .

believe tht ts logic of socil demobiliztion s the key element in the commonly observed fct tht, t the beginnng of industrlizton the declining rurlcommunity is often more likely to be source of collective protest thn s te ewlyconstituted proletriat notwithstndng stndrd Mrxist resoning to the contry Resett lement, whether forced or unforced, ofen elimntes prior communty nd replces it with temporry disggreged mss of new rrivs t isironicly just such popuaton tht my for the time eing more closey resem

e the pottoes i n sck" hn the peasntry of the bocag described by Mrx nTh Eightnth Buiar

Cpte 6: Svet Clectiviztin, Cpist Dems

1 . The best source for discusson bout Soviet gh modernism is probbyRichrd Stites, Rvolutiona Da Utoian iion a nd Exrintal Lif in thRuian Rvolution (ew York Oxford Unversity Press, 1 ). ts generous bibiogrphy ppers to cover most of the vibe sources

This inferenc e we know is not dstortion of the doctrines of iberism J .S Mill whose credentils s ibeal son of the Enlightenment re no in dout

id d k d i t j ti ti f l i th it i



15 . bid. pp 4 .1 6 recl seeing such settements in the Phippine provinces of Trlc nd

Pngsnn where ech house dispyed in lrge etters on the front near the stepsthe nmes d ges of l the fmiy members who slept tere owng securityforces on ther ngtl ptrols to more esiy denti any unuthorized vi sitors

17 . Once it s cut sugrcne must e crushed quickly in order to avoid ossesthrough evporton nd fermenttion. The need for rge crushng mil (oftencled sugar centrl" for good reson), probems reting to trnsporttion ofthe cne, nd the gret bulk reduction through processing provde kind of nturbotteneck tht lows the mill owner to contro producton directy or ese throughtied contrcts. Compred to coee tobcco te, ru bber or plm oi, sugarcane isunique in ths dvntge to centrlized producton.

1 . The dicuties of recruitng Mys who were independent cultivtors towork on the esttes proved nsumountble nd thus t seemed more convenent tomport ndin nd Chinese lborers for the growng estate lbor force. This factalone favored plntatons uness the cooniers were willing to risk the poitc

dngers of creting css of mported yeomen to compete with te Malys fornd Elsewhere, there were other soutions to cretng legie sphere of ppro-prtion. On Jv te Culture System requred the vage in li eu of txes to pntn export crop every so ofen on villge ands Where ws vit to force an eco-nomcy ndependent pesnty nto wge lbor or pnttion work a universnnu ed tx pybe in csh was ofen found to be usefu.

1 . Thus the morll obtuse but socoogiclly corect observtion by SmueHuntngton during the Vietnm Wr the mssive bombng of te countysde ndte subsequent cretion of huge refugee settements on the ouskrts of mjor cit es

considered ckwrdness a sucient justiction for plcing uthoritrin powersin the hnds of modernizer. See Eest Gelner The Srugge to Catch Up" Ti

Lita Supplnt December , 1 4 p. 14 . For more deted rgument ongthese lines see lso Jn edeeen Pieterse nd Bhikhu Prekh es Th Dcol-onizat ion of th Iagination Cultu, Knowldg and w (London: Zed Press195).

. Stites Rvolutionay Da, p. 1 Engels expressed hs disdn for Com-munist utopin schemes lke these by cling them brrcks Communism."

4. One coud say tht Ctherne the Gret being Prussian orn nd n vid correspondent with sever of the Encyopedsts, ncudng Voltire cme y hermn for rtion order honestly.

5. Sheil Ftzptck Th Ruian Rolution (Oxford Oxfod Unversty Press,1 9) , p 1 19 . The term gigntomni" ws, beleve so in use in the SovetUnion The ultimte filure of most of the SSR' gret schemes s in itself an im-portant story te signcnce of which ws cptured epigrmmaticlly by RobertConquest who observed tht the end of the Cod Wr cn be seen s the defe of

Mgnitogorsk by Scon Vlle" (Prty in he Dock" Ti Lita Suplnt,ovember 6, 19 9 p 7). For n industri, cutur nd soci hstoy of Mgnto-gorsk see Stephen Kotkin Magntic Mountain Stalini a Civilization (Berke-ey University of Cliforni Press, 1 995) .

. An interesting prlle cn be s een in the French countryside following theRevoution wen cmpgns ced for deChristintion" nd offeed ssoc-ted secur riuls

7. Stites Rvolutionay Da p 1 1 . See lso Ver Sndomirsky DuhmIn Stalin Ti MiddlCla alue in Soviet Fiction (Cmbridge Cmridge

Noes o ges 19-99

University Pess 1 76) for ow une Staln ths austeity was transforme nto

opulence8. Stites Festivas ofte People cap 4 ofRevolutoa Dream, pp 7997.9 Ii . p 9 5. Thoug Segey senstein's ms tese puc teatrical een

actments ae te visua images tat eman emee n te consciousness ofmany of tose who wee not paticipants n te actua revoution

1 0 Composes an mmaers wee aso expecte to e engnee rs of te sou.1 1 . Quote in Sttes Revolutoa Dream p. 243.12. Lenin almost certany inluence y anote of is favorte oos Cam-

paneas City of the Su wante puic scuptures of evoutionaries competewth nsping inscriptions to e erecte toughout te city a popagana ofmonuments. Se e Anatoy Lunacarsy Lenn an Art Iteatoal Literature 5(May 1935) 6671

13 Sttes Revolutioary Dream p 24214. Tis ente section s ase on caps 2 4 an 6 of a emaale fotcom-

ing oo y Deora Ftgea Yeoma No More The Idutrializao of Ameri-ca Agriculture, to whc I a m greaty inete Te capter an page numestat foow refe to t e af manuscpt.

15 . Ii chap. 2 p. 21 1 6. As many commentators have empasze tis eesigning of wo po-

cesses weste te contol of pouction fom slle atsans an laoes anplace it in the ans of management whose rans an peogatives grew as thelao foce was esle

17 Aoun 1 920 muc of the maet fo agcutual machnery mae y US manufactues was not n te Unte States wee fam sizes wee st eatveysmal ut outsie te country n suc paces as Canaa Agentna Austaia anRussa whee farms wee consieay lage. Fitzgeal Yeoma No More, chap. 2

Noes o ges 199-20

ta famng n Kansas an ts lin to te ecoogca saster nown as te ust

owl see Dona Worste Dut Bowl The Southe Plai i the 190 (New orOxfor Unvesity Pess 1 979) .

24 Ftgeal Yeoma No More cap 4 p 33 Te pans outne can e founin Morecai zeia an Seman Jonson Copoate Farming The Way Out?New Reublc, June 4 1930 pp 6668 .

25 . Mcael Go Is te Smal Fame Dyng? New Reublc, Octoe 7 931p 2 11 cte in Fitzgea Yeoma No More cap. 2 p 35

26 Ii chap. 6 p 13 . See aso Deoah Ftzgeral Bl ine y TecnoogyAmecan Agicuture in the Soviet Unon 1 928 1 932 Agrcultural Hto 70 no.3 (Summe 1996) 45986.

27 ntusiastic vistos ncue te ies of Jon Dewey Lincon SteffensRexfo Tugwell Roert LaFolette Morrs Leweyn Cooe (at e tme te fore-most exponent of scientc management n te Unite States) Thuman Anolan of course Tomas Campel wo calle te Sovet expeiment the ggestfaming story te wo as eve ea Typcal of te pase fo Sovet plans fo apogessive moeze ura life was tis appaisa y Belle LaFoette te wfeof Roet LaFoette If te Sovets cou ave the way al an woul e cutivate y tactors al te vages igte y eecticity each community woul avea cental house seving fo te pupose of scoo iary assemy al an te-atre Tey woul ave every convenience an avantage whic tey pan fo te nustia woers in te city (quote n Lewis S Feue Ameican Taveles to theSoviet Unon 1917 932 : Te Fomaton of a Component of New Dea IeoogyAmerica Quarterly 1 Spng 1962] 129) See also Davi Caute The Fellow Trav-eller Itellectual Fred of Commuim ev e (New Haven ae UnvestyPess 1988)

28 Feue Amecan Tavees to te Sovet Union pp 1 19 49 cite n



Russa whee farms wee consieay lage. Fitzgeal Yeoma No More, chap. 2p 3 1

18 For a fascnatng an moe complete account of the Campe entepisesee Te Campe Farm Corpoaton chap. 5 Its woth ang ee that teeconomic epes sion for agcultue n te Unte S tates egan at the en of WoWa I not in 1 93 0. The time was tus ipe fo ol experimentatio n an cost ofuyng o leasng an was cheap

1 9 Wheat an lax are in te teminoogy evelope ater in ths chapte poletaian cops as oppose to petitougeois crops

20 Fitzgea Yeoma No More cap. 4 pp. 15 1 7 21 See aove nn. 1 4 an 18 22 . Anothe suc fam an one wth irect lins to New Deal expermentation

in the 1930s was te Farway Fams Copoation. Foune in 192 y M. L. Wsonan Henry C Taylo ot of wom wee taine in nsttutiona economics at theUnivesty of Wisconsn te copoaton was es igne to tun anless farmes intoscentic inustia famers The capital fo te new entepise came thoug n-

temeiaes om Jon D Rocefeler Fai Way Fams woul ecome the moefo many of te New Deals moe amitous agcutual progams as Wlson Taylor an many of te pogressive coleagues n Wisconsn move to inuental posi-tions n Washngton uner Roosevelt A moe seacng account of he connectionis in Jess Get an llen R Baer Wsconsin conomsts an New Deal Agcutual Pocy The Legacy of Pogessive Pofessos (unpuli she paper 1 995 )Te 1 920s wee a fetile tim e fo agicultual expementaton patly ecaus e teeconomc sump fo agrcutual commoities afer Wol Wa I pompte poicyintiatves esgne to aleviate e cisis.

23. Fitzgea Yeoma No More, chap 4 pp 18 27 . Fo an account of inus

28 Feue Amecan Tavees to te Sovet Union pp 1 19 49 cite nFitzgea Yeoma No More chap 6 p 4

29 Fitgeal Yeoma No More, cap. 6 p 630 Ii p. 37.31 Ii p 1432 Ii. p 39 (emphasis ae)33 Quote in Roet Conquest The Harvet of Sorrow Sovet Collectiviatio

ad he TerrorFamie (New o Oxfor Univesity Pess 19 86) p. 2 32 An evenmoe expcit ecogntion tat tis was a war appeas n ths statement y M MKhateyevich A ruthless stugge is gong on etween te peasantry an ouegime It's a stugge to te eat Tis yea was a test of ou stengt an tei enuance It too a famine to sow tem wo was maste ere It as cost mlonsof lves ut te colectve fam system is ee to stay weve won te wa (quotein ii. p. 261) .

34 . Te socale Geat Leap Forwa in Cna was a t least as ealy an maye analyze in compaale tems. I have chosen to concentate on Soviet Russa

agely ecause events tee occue some tiry yeas efoe the Geat Leap Fowar an hence have eceve much moe scolay attention especally uingte past seven yeas wen te newly opene Russan acives ave geatly ex-pane our nowege Fo a ecent popua account of te Cinese experiencesee Jas pe Bece Hug Ghot Chia Secret Famie (Lonon Jon Murray1996).

35 In cases wee yels wee ig among state fams an sow poects teywee typically aceve wit suc costy nputs of macinery fetilizes pestici esan heices that the esuts wee economicaly iational

36 Fo an exceptionaly peceptve account of collectvzation an ts esuts

Notes t ges 20-07

see Mose Lewn The Mak g fthe Sviet Sytem Eay i the Sial Hit ofterwar Ruia (New York Panteon 98 especiay pat 2 pp. 89 18 8

37. I use te term umpen ere to desgnate a uge oaing popuaton ofgeat vaiey and sifing occupations. Atoug Mar and Lenin aways used tetem sconuy mpying bot cmina tendencies and poitica oppotunism I nend no suc denigation.

38 . Stai t is now beieved was personay responsibe for daing in Augus 93 2 a sece decee banding a ose wo wied grain now decaed to besaced and unoucabe sae poperty as enemies o f te peope and uing tatey soud e summaiy aested and so Te same Sain at e Second Congress of Outstanding Kokozniks in 935 campioned e etang of adequaeprivae pos Te majoriy of kokozniks wan to pant an orcard cutivae avegeabe gaden o keep bees Te kokozniks want to ive a decen fe, and fortat ts 0 1 2 ecares s not enoug. We need to aocate a quate to af aecare and even as muc as one ectare n some districs (quoted in Seia Fitz-patick Stal i Peaat Reitace ad Survival i the Ruia Village After Cllectivizati New York Oxford Universiy Press 995] pp. 73 12 2.

39. Ibid p. 43240 Oando Figes Peasant Aspiratons and Bosevik StateBu ding in te

Countrysde 9 7 925 ' paper presented at te Program n Agrarian StudiesYae University New Haven Apri 14 995 p 24 Fges aso inks ese viewsto so-ciaist tracts tat date from at east te 890s and ta pronounced te peasantrydoomed by economic progress (p. 28

41 . R Davies The Scialit Oeive: The Clletiviati fSviet Agriculture 1929190 (London Macmian 1980 p.

42 Conquest Harvet f Sorrw p 43 43 Aso te coapse of urban enteprises wic woud normay ave sup

Notes to ges 207 1

46 . Tere was aso a tendency to de ncome from craf atsana an d trading

sideines as we as garden crops. During tis same period it soud be addedinsucient resourcesmanpower draf animas manure and seedmeat tatsome of e arabe eiter coud not be panted o coud ony poduce yeds tawere fa owe tan usua

47. Yaney The Urge t Mbilize pp. 5 1 5 16 Fo Yaney te contnuiy in aspia-ions fom wat e erms messianic socia agonomists unde te czais egime tote Bosevik coectvizes was sriking In a few cases tey wee te same peope

48. Fges Peaat Ruia Civil Wa p 25049 . Hunge and ig from te towns ad educed te numbe of urban indus-

ra wokes fom 36 miion in 1917 o no more an 15 miion in 1920 (tzpaick The Ruia Rluti, p. 85.

50 Fges Peaat Ruia Civil Wa p 321 . 1 . Quoed in Ftpatrck Stali Peaat p 39 52 In teory a eas e mos advanced wee te sate famse proear-

ian industria coecive farms in wic wokers were paid wages and no privaepots were aowed Tese farms aso receved e buk of state investment n ma-cinery in te eay years. For production statistics see Davies The Soialt Of-feive p. 6

53 Iid. pp 82 1 1354. Fitzpatick Stali ' Peaat, p 4 .55. Conquest Harvet f Srw p 1836. Andrei Patonov Chegu trans. Antony Ocott (Ann Aro Ardis 197857. M. Hndus Red Breed (London 9 3 1 quoted n Davies The Sialit Of

feiv e p 2098. Davies The Siali t Oe ve p 209 Te size of coective farms remained enormous even by American stan-



43 . Aso te coapse of urban enteprises wic woud normay ave sup-pied consumer goods and farm impements to te ura areas meant tat tere

was ess incentive for te peasantry to se grain in order to make purcases in temarket.44 See Orando Figes's remarkaby peceptive and detaied book Peaat Ru-

ia, Civil War The Vlga Cutide i Revluti 1 91 1 921 (Oxford CarendonPress 198 9 Even near revoutions create a simiar vacuum. Foowing te 190 5revouton it took e czarist government neary wo years to reassert t s conroover te contryside.

45 Te reative niy of te viage was itsef enanc ed by te revoutonaryprocess. Te ricest andods ad e or been brned out and te poorest andess famies ad typicay gotten some and. As a resu te viagers wee more so-cioeconomicay simiar and terefore moe ikey to respond simary to externademands Since many of te independent farmes were pressred to retrn o tecommne tey were now dependent on te entre viage for er ouseods a-otment of te commna ands. Tus it is not ard to nderstand wy in tose in

stances were te kombedy was an nstrument of Bosevik poicy t faced deter-mined opposition from te more representatve vage sovet One govenmentoca from Samara Provnce caimed wt conscous irony tat e conicts between te kombedy and te Soviets epresented te main form of cass strgge ine ura areas during tis peiod (ibid p 97 In te arger vges some sup-pot for Bosevk agrarian pans coud be fond among edcated yout scooteacers and veterans wo ad become Boseviks we srving wit te RedArmy drig Word War I o te cvi war (and wo gt ave magined tem -seves occupying eadng roes in te new coectve farms See Fges Peasan As-pratons and Bosevk StateBuding.

9. Te size of coective farms remained enormous, even by American stan-dards rougout te Soviet period Fred Pryor cacuates tat in 970 te average

state farm comprised more tan 1 00 000 acres wie te average coectve farmcomprsed over 25000 acres Te state farms were greaty favored n access to inputs mac inery and oter subsdies S ee Frederick Pryor The Red ad the reeThe Rie a Fa oectivize Agriutur i Mait Rgie (Princeton Prnce-ton Universiy Press 1 992 tabe 7 p 3 4

60. Fitzgerad Sali' Peasat p. 10 .6 . Ibid. pp 0 6. Oe magines ta te sois and eisting croppng pattes

were aso ignored.62. As te Boseviks expained Te kokozy are te ly means by wc te

pasanry can escape from pvey and darkness (Daves The Siait Oivep. 2 82 Praps e best vsua mages of te cuturay transforming propees ofeectrciy mac inery and coectivizaton are found in Sergey Ei senstein's m Theeeral Le, a veabe tecnogca romance set n ua Russa. Te mas-teruy conveys te topian aspiratons of ig modern ism by contrastng te pod-

ding dark narod wit is orse and scyte wit mages of ectrc ceam separators tractors owng macines eng nes skyscrapers engines and arpanes

63. Ftzpatrck Stali Peaat, p. 19464. bd pp 30696 . For an accont of ow an even more extreme version of regiona seca

zaton was posed on te Cnese countrysde n vioation of oca so and c-matoogca condtions see Rap Taxton Salt the Earth The Plitical Origif Peaat Protet a Cmmuit Rvluti i Chia (Berkeey Universy of Ca-iforna Press fortcoming

66. Fges Peaat Rusia, Civil Wa p. 304. T anaogy took concete form in

02 Notes to Pages 2117

many f the ealy evts against cectivizatin dung which the easanty de-

styed all the ecds f lab dues c deveies debts and s n just as theyhad unde sefdm.

67. Cnquest Harvet of Sorrow 12.68. he esembances t sefdm ae selled ut i n sme detail n tzgead

Stali Peat, . 1 8 39 . F a caeful and infmed discussn f sefdmand cmasns t slavey see ete Klchin Ufree bor Americ Slavry adRui a Seom (Camdge Havad Univesty Pess 19 87) .

69 F an astute accunt by a Sviet junalst and human ghts camaignen the 1980s ndicatng that the basc atten had nt geaty changed see Levimfeev Soviet Peaat, or The Peaat Art of Starvig, tans. ean Alexandeand Alexande Zaslavsky ed. Amand Pitassi a nd Alexande Zasavsky (NewYk: es Pess 1985)

70 . I am esuadedby the hstical accunts that chaacteze the m as theeasantys adatatn t a genty and state that teated t as a cllective unit fthe uses f taxatn cnsctn and sme fms f seve dues. he ei-dc edivsin f and amng the husehds ensued that all had the means fayng the shae f the head taxes which wee leved n the cmmune cllec-tvely. hat s the elatve sidaty f the Russian eattna cmmune s tselfa esut f a distinct hsty f eatns with velds. hs clai m is efecty cm-atble wth the fact that such sdaty nce n lace can seve the usesincludng esistance.

7 1 . Fitgead Stali Peaat, . 106 (emhass added).72. am immensey gateful t my clleague ed Shan in an d his eseach

teams wh ae cnductng cmaatve w n me than twenty clectve famsf maing avalale t me the mas and htgahs f ths chate. Paticulathanks t Galya Yastensaya and Olga Subtna f the htgah f he de

Notes to Pages 2172 403

ey and fetze) needed t duce these yields made this enteise an nef-

cient duce by an cst accuntng standad.77 hee is n dubt that a numbe f bueaucatic athlges amled thedisaste f Sviet cllectvzatin. he ncude the tendency f admnistats tcncentate n secied quantabe esults (e. g. gan yieds tns f tatestns f ig in) athe than n quaity and the fact that lng chains f secaliatn and cmmand shieded many fcals fm the age cnsequences thebehavi As the dculty f maing cals accuntabe t the clientele as -sed t thei sueis meant that the athgy f gu cmmandsm n nehand indvidua cutn and selfseving n the the wee amant. High-mdeist schemes n evlutinay authtaan settngs lke that f the SvetUnin ae thus ikey t g ff the ails me easiy and eman the ails falnge than n a aiamentay setting.

78 he ush twad cectvizatin was mmentaly halted by Stalin's famusDzy wth Succes s seech f Mach 19 30 which mted many t leave the

clectves; hweve i t was nt ng befe the ace f cectvizatn esumed. nde t have enugh caital f ad industalzatn 4 8 mlln tns ganwee exted n 1 930 and . 2 mlln tns n 1 93 1 heng t set the stage thefamne f the yeas mmediatey flwng. See Lewin The Makig of the Sovit Sy-tem . 156.

79 Cmae this with Bakunins fecast fwhat state scasm wuld amuntt: hey wi cncentate al f the wes f gvenment n stng hands bcaus ethe vey fact that the ele ae ignant necesstates stng scit us cae by thegvenment. hey wl ceate a singe state bank cncentating in its hands al thecmmeca ndusta agcultua and even scentc duces and they wlldvde the masses f ele int tw amiesindustal and agicutual amiesunde the dect cmmand f he State engnees wh wil cnsti tute the new v



thanks t Galya Yastensaya and Olga Subtna f the htgah f he devlage f Utn funded in 1 91 2 and lcated twenty mes fm he cty f Vlgda.

73 Ntce that the dstye huses that wee nt mved (egend efeence 2ae themselves ad ut n ughly equal lts ang the man ad. d nt knwwhethe thee wee adminstative easns behind these fms n he eighteenthcentuy when the vilage was funded whethe the igna inees th emselveslaid ut the gd. Hw the de huses that have een ecated wee iginaydissed is as a mystey.

74. he same lg ic f cuse aled t ndusty in whch lage units ae fa-ved ve smal facties atisana ductin. As effey Sachs has seved:Centa annes had n dese t cdinate the actvtes f hundeds thu-sands f small ms in a sect if ne age m culd d the b . A stan dad stat-egy theefe was t create ne gant wheeve ssie (Pola d' um itothe Market coomy Cambdge: Cambdge Unvesity Pess 1 993 . In the cn-text f the Svet ecnmy the lagest ndusta unt was the huge see cmex atMagntgsk. It s nw a stunnng exame f an industal and egcal uin.

See als Kkin Magetic Moutai.75 F a me extensve treatment f the ecgical effects f Sviet agicu-

tue see Muay Feshbach Ecological iater Cleaig U the Hidde gacy ofthe Soviet Regime (New Yk 1995 and Zeev Wlfsn (Brs Kmav The Ge-ograhy of Srviva Eclogy i the PotSviet Era (New Yk: M. E. Shae 994 .

76. I wked f six wees in 990 n a ceatve (excective fam in easten Gemany n the Meckenbug Pain nt t fa fm Neubandenbug. hecal fcials wee excetnay ud f the wldclass yieds e hectae nye and tates wth hgh stach cntent gwn f ndusta uses. It was ceahweve that as an ecnmc matte the maet cst f the inuts (ab machn

leged scentcltca cass (quted n W D. Maxim The Political Philohyof Bakui Scietic Aarchim New Y: Fee Pess 1953 . 289)

80 . he tem eectve anty cmes m Max Webe's analyss f the atinbetween caitalst ms and institutns n ne hand and Ptestantism n thethe. His agument is nt ne f diect causatin but f t and symbsis.

8 1 . See bks 4 and 5 n vl. 2 f Gabiel Adant Theore ociologique imt(Pais: VPN, 965.

82 . Quted in Mchel Czie The Bureaucratic Pheomeo (Chcag: nve-sity f Chicag Pess 964 . 2 39 As Abam de Swaan has nted he nneeenth-centuy schl egme des evea sme unmistakabe simlates with the factyegme f that tme standadzatn fmaiatn and the imstn f unctu-aty and dscil ne wee aamunt n bth (I Care of the State, . 61)

83. F a detaied accunt f the elatnshi between the ivate t and theclectve just i t 1 989 see mfeev Soviet Peaat or The Peaat Art ofStarvig.

Cp : Cmpusy Vigizin in nzn

1 . ulus Nyeee caimed that ve 9 min ele had been mved t uamaaviages but snce a gd many f these vages wee adminstatve ctns andthes had eexistng uatn bases that wee bay incuded n the sef-cngatuaty gvenment statstics a me mdest gure is bay cse tthe tuth. See Gan Hyden Beyod Uamaa i Taza ia Uderdevelomet ad aUcature Peaat (Bekeey: Univeity f Cafnia ess 980 . 0 n. 2



0 Noes o Pages 2740

48 Elsewere in Tanga fo example tere are cases of Potemkn villages"

being ceated fo a Nyeee vst and dismanted late. See Hyden Beyod Ujamaai Tazaia pp. 1018 .49 . Mwapacu Opeaton Planned Vllages" quoted n ouson Africa So

cialim i rctice p 121 .0 . Henry Benstein Notes on State and te Pe asantry Te Tanzanian ase"

Review ofAfica olitical Ecoomy 21 MaySeptembe 198 1 7.1 Jannik Boesen quoted in ouson Tazaia p. 242 Boesen Madsen and Moody Ujamaa p. 16.3. oulson Agricultual Pocies in Mainand Tanzana" p 88 empasis

added4. See Pil Raikes Eating te arot and Wiedng te Stick: Te Agicu-

tura Secto in Tanzana" n Jannk Boesen et a Tazaia Crii ad Struggle forSurvival Uppsala Scandinavian Institute of Afcan Studes 1 986 p. 1 19 . Unfavoable pice and currency movements meant tat a vefold ncrease in te vol-

ume of mpots from 1973 to 197 now epesented a thirtyfold ncease n aue Hee te key is peaps te diffeence between subsistence production and

poducton fo te maket I am gateful to Bruce McKim fo empasizing tat temacoeconomic incentves fo maket poduction wee minima. Poduce priceswic were set by te state maketing boards wee al but con scatory and anycase te sops contained few goods on wic te poceeds coud ave been spent

6 Te tenton of tis law wc ad a long colonial i story was to foce tepeasatry ino plating crops tat did wel unde aid conditons tus loweing tegovernments food elief expenditues duing tmes of famie

7 Te system of cotton cultvato i Mozambique was a daconian mode oftis policy Te Potuguese made geat effots to concentate te popuation (co-cetr;aoe) so tat ocials or concessionaies coud enforce cotton cultvation add t t k d f b d f l

Noes o Pages 24045 0

63 Tus Ndugu Lyander te egonal pa secetary for te Kilombero distct

aong te eat Uuu Ralway but wt inese assstance emnded te peo-pe tat eac famly must cutivate ts two assigned aces waning tem in anguage suggest ive of te resistance t at e was meeting tat action w be takenagainst anyone wo does not ave a fam and no excuses wl be entetaned" 10 000 0 Move to uru Line lages" Daily New [Da es Salaam October 281974.

64. Benstein Notes on State and te Peasantry" p. 48 .6 . Ibid Benstein points out astutely tat te Tanzanian state faced an mpos-

ing sca cisis at te time. Te growt of te state budget and pesonnel ad fo along time outpaced te growt of te economy and of govenment revenues in-cuding foreign excange Te effot to egiment te peasant economy in te opeof bot aising production and increasing state evenues was vtually te only a-tenative avaiabe

66 Tee ad also been consderable growt in paastatal corpoations were

production was car ed out by wage labor. A good many of tese corpoations tookto farmng gains sug ar and fodde fo dairy cows Tese opeations espec ialyte suga paa statal plantatons were lage and capital ntensive as wee te na-tionazed sisal and tea plantatos

67 . Quoted n ouls Tazaia p 268. Ibid. p 161 .69 Ibid. p 92.70. Ibid p. 18.7 1 . Nyeee Boadcast on Becomg Prime Ministe" May 1 96 1 in Nyeee

Freedom ad Uity p 1 1 n ouson Agcutual Polcies in Mainland Tanzania" p. 76 .73 . As migt we be expected te aftermat of ujamaa vilagizatio as seen

a uge numbe of land disputes between settemets divduals and ki goups



devery. n on e vaant pots were maked of by surveyors and e very famly wasassgned a pot. Te sceme was enforced by a system in wc persoaized passesndicated wete tei beaers ad acqui tted tei cotton quotas o te yea tosefoud i default could be arested beaten o sent of as daft abo to te deadedsisal pantatios. Fo a exceptionally detaed and compeesive account seeAllen Isaacman Cotto I the Mother ofovey eaat Work ad Rul Strugglei Coloial Mozambique 1 981961 Potsmout NH: Heinemann 1996.

8 Ofcals aspied to coto ot only poduction but aso consumption. nmid 19 74 in te Dodoma distct fo example al pvate etail tade in essetalood tems was banned i favor of te monopoy formed by te state's cosumer co-opeative societies and Ujamaa sops. See Oly oops Wl Se Food n Dodoma"Daily New Da es Salaam June 6 1 974 . Tis move was pobably provoked by telosses experieced by ocial" sops wic wee usually un by paty cades andloweevel ofcials It would be surpising f suc a monopoly ove retail tade ood ever became muc moe tan an aspiaton.

59 Boese Madse ad Moody Ujamaa p 10.60 aam Tee Villages as Economic Agets Te Accidet of Socia Reproduction" n R. . Abaams ed. Villager Village ad the State i Mode Ta-zaia ambdge African Monograp Seies o 4 ambrdge ambridge niversity Press 1985 pp. 8 1 1 09.

6 1 . For early examples of tese gures for ve crops see Boesen Madsen andMoody Ujamaa p. 102.

62. aam Tiee Viages as Economic Agets" pp. 9899 See also DoHassett Te Deveopment o Vage ooperative Etepise in Mcinga II V-age Lndi Region" in Abaams Villager Village pp 164

a uge numbe of land disputes between settemets divduals and ki goupsdisputes wit impotat envonmenta consequences. S ee te excelent aalysisby Acim vo Oppen Bauern Boden und Baeume Ladkonlikte ud ire Be-deutung fue Ressoucenscut i tanzanscen Do eren nac Ujamaa AfrikaSectrum February 1993 .

74 Boesen Madsen and Moody Ujamaa p 1 1 7. Pil Raikes Coffee Poduction in West Lake Region Tazana" nstute

fo Development Researc Copenagen Pape A7 69 19 76 p. 3 quoted in Coul-son Agicutual Policies in Maand Tanzania" p 80 See also Pil Raikes Eatng te Caot and Wiedng te Stick" pp. 105 4 1 .

76. Bose Madsen ad Moody Ujamaa p 6777 James De Vies and Louse P Fotmann Lagescae Villagizaton Opera

ton Sogea in Iinga Region" n oulson Africa Socialim i ractice p. 13 78 Te apt prase is om Bensten Notes o State ad te Peasantry" p. 5 9.79 Mwapacu Opeatio Planned Vages" p. 1 17 empasis added.

80 Neite in Nyeere's speeces at ts tme nor in ocia epos i te pesswee suc numbers often liked to indces of rual tasormation suc as mtal-ity ates ncome consumptio etc See Jannik Boesen Tanzana: From Ujamaato Vilagizaton" in Mwansasu and Pratt Toward Socialim i Tazaia p. 128 .

81. Quoted in oulson Africa Socialim i ractice p 6 Te reletles em-pass o quantitatve acevemets was ecoed in te newspape so may peope moved to new viages so many ew villages formed so many acres o cropssown suc ad suc a pecentage o a district eoused so many plots o land al-ocated etc. See for example tpcal atces in Daily New [Dar es Salaam:1 4 13 3 Move into Vilages in junya" February 1 9 19 74 Two Monts Afer Op

Nes ages 24547

atio Ausha: 1 ,92 Famis Mov ino Uamaa Vags" Octob 2 , 1 974

Iinga ng h Popl no Pand Vags," Apil 1 19 7 .Ny dd no a s had tain, mak a Diy wih ucc ss" spch and ca ampoary hat in vagaon On th oth hand, ananian vagiaion was notnaly as butal. Ny connud on n his spch to xplain again how this cocnation of population would pmt th dlivry of socal sics ncssary toa lif of dgnity."

2. Couson Tazaia, pp. 201. . Fo a powfully agud parall cas, s Jams Fguson, The Anti oltc

Mach e "Develomet, Deolt czati on ad Bureaucratic ower in Leotho(Cambidg: Cambdg Univrsty Pss, 1990) Frguson concuds that th dvlopmnt appaatus in Lsotho is not a machn fo minaing povrty hat s incdally nvovd with h sa buaucacy i s a machn fo inforcing andxpanding th xcis of buaucac sat pow, which incdntaly takspovty as ts poin of ntry" (pp. 2 6) . I n anana, h wr si mor im

potant ways in which th ocia classs gaind pow including th dispacmnof th Asan tadng minoy as buys of rural poduc and in rtailing, as wll ash nationaato of tad and industry in gnral. It is indcativ tha h s ofth govnmnts budgt and th numb of stat mploys incasd a ats wllabov h at of conomic gowth untl h md1 970s whn a scal ci sis pvntd any futh xpansion

4 In a stingy landscap to stay put is suicd and to mov is h condition ofsuval. , fo an xtndd and potc cas along ths lins, Buc ChatwinThe Soglie (London: Cap, 1 97).

. M L. O Pakipuny, om Cruca Aspcts of h Maasai Pdicamnt," inCoulson, Aca Social m i ractice chap. 10, pp. 1960 .

6. , fo xamp, Raiks Eatng th Cao and Wildng h ick":Many poicis s on assumptions about agculua modniaon hld n

Nes ages 24751

tca advanag of vng na th countrys bods, making smuggling in both di

cons a ady opton.90 H agan fo th bst souc on h copyng of adminstativ stucus, dvopmn pans, and conomc oganaon among Maxis gms, sColbun The ogue o Revolutio spcially chaps. 4 and , pp. 4977

91. Quotd in Gima bbd, The State ad Develomet i Ethoia (Englwood, N.J. : Humanitis Pss, 1992), p. 2 .

92. h maably daid and insighful pot by Cultua uival:Jason W Cay anda ngabr, and Pt Nggi, The Soil o Famie:

Ethio a Fame olcy ad eaat Agrculture Cultual uival Rpot 2 (Cambidg, Mass. Cuua uvival 19), spcialy chap , Villagaion in Ehopia,"pp. 1 06 . As an mpi h Ethiopian stat had a long tadition of military sttlmns and colonaion which coninud und Mngsu in th focd migaonof populations fom h noth into th lands of h Oomo in th south

9. Ibid., pp. 271 27.

94 John M. Cohn and NilsIvar Isaksson Vilagiaion in Ehiopia's As Rgon," Joual o Mode Aca Studie 2 , no. ( 19 7): 4 64. hs gurs aa bit shy. As ach villag was pannd fo a noona on thousand inhabtants, loos as if thy mulipd th numb of vags by th mandatd popuaon,adding prhaps a fw addtiona nhabitas to accoun fo ocals. Cohn andIsaksson w mo inclind to ak th gm at s wod than w Cay and hiscoagus a Cul ural uiva

9. Ibid p 449.96 . A simia gomca mticuousn ss was followd in Po Pot's Cambodia.

Walls of ath w thow up to mak ong, saigh canas, mnating gulapadds and caing hca squars of icand. Concnaton of population,focd abo, h pohibtion of foaging o dpatu, th conro of food ations,and xcutons w carid to an xm aly sn in Ethopia B n i



Many poicis s on assumptions about agculua modniaon hld ncommon by h ananian Govrnmnt and its antsociaist cics, wh no smalpropotion of policy has bn cad ov (with o wihout chang) fom th colo nial priod" (p. 1 06) . aso h briliant anaysis of h appication of th WodBank dvlopmnt paadigm to Lsotho n Fguson The Atoltc Mache,which also discusss Wod Bank pans fo viagaon n Lsotho.

7 . Ron Aminad (psonal communication, pmb 22 , 19 9) clams thaNy's contnd popularity dspt h faius of vllagiaion may b patlydu to h ways in which stlm and othr natonal policis hav wokd too hiachis of ag and gnd, thus mpoving h latv position ofyoung pop and of womn

. h pac of vagaton sowd pcipiously in at 974 whn a doughttha rducd th hast by 0 pcnt followd on th hls of poo havsts fomth pcding wo yas. It s dicult to spci h xn o which vlagiaonand mandatd cultivaion xacbad h foodsupply shotag. anania was, at

any a, oblgd to impo unpcdntd amounts of foodsuffs at pcisly htim whn th coss of foign oil and machinry had skyocktd Alhough thfood shorag mad many pasants mor willing to mov in xchang fo food atos, thy w lss willing to had ov th food tha thy had gown o th satmakting boads Undr h staitnd crcumsancs, agscal social xpmnaon was shlvd. Hydn, Beyond Uamaa Taaia pp. 1290, 141 ,14 6, and Dboah Brycson, Houshold, Ho, ad Naon Dvopmnt Policisof th Ny Ea" n Michal Hodd, d Taaa Ater yeee (London: Pint19), pp. 64

9 Much of h supuspodcng populaon of anana has h dc idd ac

and xcutons w carid to an xm aly sn in Ethopia. B n inan, The ol ot Regme: Race owe ad Ge ocide i Camboda Uder the KhmerRouge 19751979 (Nw Havn: Ya Univsity Pss, 1996), chap. .

97. Clay ingab and Niggli, The Sol oFamie, p 12 1 . Lik th ovitUnon Ehopia had a spaat catgory of stat fams ha w un on th basis ofhid labor and w at las iniially, vry highy mchand. hy w xpctdo produc a suppy of mao gains and xpot cops hat would b und diccontol of th govnmnt In th lat 1 970 s, as a sul of th sow vountarymov owad collctivaion, th govnmnt bgan to dn for fuu statfams at, ftil aas fo mchand agicutu. h claring of sdnts offsuch aas so tha thy could b usd o produc dicty for th stat appars to ba pimary ason fo th vagation in Ba" (ibd. p 1 49).

9. Ibid., pp 19092, 204.99. h oots of ths pogam can b acd to a 19 7 Wod Bank pot that

commndd th location of pasants fom nothn aas sung fom hgh

popuation pssur soil osion, and dfostation" ahough it was rmd a polcy spons o famn in 194 (Cohn and Isasson, Vagiaon n EthiopasAs Rgion," p. 44). omthng of h ogic of social contol bhnd ths schmscan b found n th n pap by Donad Donham, Convso and Rvoluton nMaal Ethopa," Pogam in Agaria udis, Ya Unvsity, Nw Havn, Dcmb 1, 199.

100 , spcially, bbd The State a d Develomet, pp. 1 02, and Cay,tingab, and Niggi, The Soil o Fame passim.

101. Cay, ingab ad Nggli, The Sol oFame p. 2102 . As on fam tod Cay h a sx inds of soghum I plant: two d



4 1 8 Notes to Pages 279-8 1

Proems, West Afria Commission 1 938 1939: Tehni al Reports, pat 1 (London:Levehume Tust, 1943) p 34 cted in iid., p 30 Mixed ropping (polyculuremust no e confused with mixed farming which ndicaes a farm producng a vaey of cop (each ypicay on is own pot) and vesoc on the Euopean smaholder mode

43 Rchads, "Ecoogica Chang e and the Potics of Afcan Land Use p. 27.44 Ths s just one example of how the choce of technique is nluenced y the

facor endowments of he famea arge consdeaon, ut y no means theonly one

45 Stictly speaing, many of these advantages coud also e oained ypaning many tny paces to singe cultvars What would e l ost ae the specicadvantages o polycoppng mentioned eal e

46 "Mycohal assocaton refes to the symotic eation etween themyceum of cetain fungi and the roos of a seed plant

47 Rache Cason, Silent Spring (1962; Boston Houghton Miin, 1987 p. 10

48 Ogac farmes have occasonaly opted for mixed croppng as a way ofavodng the heavy use of fertizes and insecticides Th e most common ostace tocetan (not al) forms of polycultue is that they are too lao ntensve in a contextwhere labo s the scarce facto of poducton I s had to now how much of thaor intenseness s the esu of the fac that viuay a machine impementshave een desgned wth monocultue excusively n mind. One pionee, Wes Jacson, has demonstated that, over a theeyea peod ad in producton temsaone, poycultue can outpefom monocutue. The fact that the gans to poyculture are geate in he second and thrd years suggests hat the ineaction efectetween the two cops ae esponsie for the pefomance (Jackson, "BecomingNave to Ths Pace, pape pesented a the Pogam n Agaian Studes, YaeUniversity, New Haven, Novemer 1 8 19 94) Jackson, like Howard, is pimailyconcened wth developing a fom of agicutue that wi peserve o enhance itso it l S h tio t i t otto l d t it i o

Notes to Pages 282-85 4 1 9

mon to many iological pocesses In contrast, inea pocesses, once they arenoced off the ais, contnue to vee off on the new tangent , never to return to the

oigina equum range Polycutue, in just his sense, has a geater toerance ofdistuances

52 Up o a pon. acos shows how a neighorhoods success can have effectson popety vaues that wl underm ine some ues and w eventuay tansfomthe place. There s no equlium in Jacoss view, only a cyce ha egns repeat-edy in diffeen pats of a ciy.

53 . Shitng cutivation s aso common thoughou much of Souheast Asia andLatin America

54 Haold C. Conlin, Hanunoo Agriulture A Report on an Integral System ofShifting Cultivation i th Philippines (Rome: Food and Agicutue Oganationo he United Natons, 19 7) p 8 One cannot come away fom Conins mecu-ous account wthout a sense of awe at the eadh of nowedge and ss of thesecultvatos

55 And that, of course, was pa of the eason why such popuaons oten re-mained n, or led to, onstate spaces56 Richads, Indgenous Agriultural Revolution, p. 50 Rchads contues

"The Paliamentay UndeSecretay of State for the Colonies, W G A Omsy-Gore, summed up he atttude of he day when notng that n Siea Leone, for ex-ampe, the naua forest has een uthessy destoyed to nd vrgin soi for thecutivaion of "hill o "and ce (pp 0 5 1)

57 Id, p 42.58 . Se e iid, chap 2 Rchads concludes: "Fom the point of vew of fetiza-

ton, modern soil science conrms the valdity of the fores farmes emphass onash and the savannah fames emphasis on manue and compost' (p. 6 1) Foa excelent anaysis of the technques of urning in Honduas, see ees Jansen,"The At of Buning and the Poliics of ndig enous Agculura Knowedge, papepesented at a congess entted "Agaian Questons: The Potics of Faming Anno



so capital Such peservation s ess ugent in stae ottomland ut vita in eco

logical ones with fagile sois (eg., hillsides and uands). The olycroping ofpeennias seems paticulay suitae to achevng this end.

49 Comarative experimental studes of pairie ecooges have conmed Darwns oigina premise that moe dvese ecosystems ae moe podctive and esilent Ecoogists at the Unvesty of Mnnesota compaed 47 onehundedsquarefoot ots sown wth diffeent numes of andomly chosen gass speces."The moe species a pot had, the greater ts omass of pants and the moe ntogen t had taen up in its nceased growth "the fewer the species, the spaser thegowth and the geater the amount of nitogen leaching out of upper soil layesAt a dut, the pots with the lage numbe f speces etuned me apdyto fu poductvity than did the plots with fewe species. Poductiy inceaseddamaticaly with each speces added up to ten species, and each speces addedtheeafte ofered much less to oveal productiviy n the ong un, t has een theoized, additona species might ove vita n protecting the ecosystem aganst ex-

temes of weathe or pes nfestations See Cao Kaesu Yoon, Ecosystems Po-ducivty Rss wth Diersiy of Its Species New York mes, Mach 5 1 996, p C4

50 Thes advantages might ncude, on the cost side, owe expenditues forsuch inuts s fetzers and pesticdes

5 Thos who nvesgate the ode that es ehnd seemngy tuulent nat-ura systems (couds, wate lows, ar tuuence, epidemics, etc.) ave come tocontast wht hey cal facta systems wth inear systems. The ey dffeence ofeevance to us s the lexty and sturdiness of facta pcesses, whch can su-vive petutions and function ove a wde ange of fequencesa quality com

pesented at a congess entted Agaian Questons: The Potics of Faming Anno

1995 May 2224 995 Wagenngen, The Netherlands59. Rchads, Indigenous Agriultul Rolution p 43 In hs context ichads

s acceptng the prem ise that the ony test s market efciency, provding that it ssustainae

60 Ibd, p. 616 Leig did eeve that hs fomua coud cue a so polems62. Among he many experments th at Howard conducted wee eaorate rias

of "green manung (the lowng under of a ntogenxing, eguminous cop prioto the panting of a gain cop), which showed that ts effect deended greay onhese other vaaes s well as the ight tming and the amount of moistue in thesoi n orde to promote the chemcal eactions (st aeoc and then anaeoc)ncessay fo the producton of moe humus See S Aet Howard, An Agiul-tural Testament (London: Oxfod Unversiy Press, 1 940 )

63 Aalation occus as wel with the sats e t ehnd in the couse of inten-

sie igation Gowers n those aeas of the mpeal Valey n Ca lfona sufferingfrm alkazaton have had to nsa dainage ties at shote and shorter intervalsoe the yeas n ode to pevent the udup from eaching uinous popotions

64 Rce, an Od Wod pant, had come much eaier and een adapted A-though a peennia, ce s planted as if t were an a ua.

65 Just how dee ths histoy s, s elected n the fact that moden man hasaded no mpotant domescated species of pant o animal n the las fou thou-sand yeas Ths stoy can e fowed n Ca O Sauer, Agricultural Origins andDspersals (New York: American Geogahca Sociey, 9 52) . Saue rees heaviy

4 Notes to Pages 28-87

on an impotant wor y the pioneer Russan scentist in this area , N I. Vavilo

he Origi ariatio Immuity ad Breedig of Cultivated Plat trans K. StarrChester, vol 3 , nos - , of Chica botaica (194950 Potatoes are a good exampe o a pant that mst e vegetatvey propagated y cuttings.

There are exceptions, one of which seems to e the ecoogically devastatednohern part of Ethiopa and Eritrea It s worth addg that neither does therecord of the industrialized world n soi eroson, pollution or exhaustion ofgroundwater, and gloa warming represent an eding example of foresght

6 Roert Chamers, Rural Develomet Puttig the Lat Firt (LondonLongman, 1 983 uoted n Rchards, Idigeou Agricultural Revolutio p. 4There is a cse to e made for Howards claim that agricutura revolutions arealways acts of autonomous farmers rather than states. From the agrcultural rev-oluton n Brtain that laid the groundwor fo industralization to the road adoption o f such new crops as cocoa, toacco, and maze n frica, Howards generalzaon rngs te I t does not hod tue, however, for argescale rgation proects or

for the more recent, researchdrven reeding of hghyiedng varetes of wheat,ice, and maze. These statesponsoed innovatons ypca have pefu mpca-tons for cetrazation

68 ames Ferguson, he AtiPoliti Machie: "Develomet Deoliti cizatio ad Bueaucratic Power i Leotho (Camrdge Camrdge University Press,1990 Fergson shows rllianty how the nsttutiona power of inernatonal andnatona deveopment agencies depends vay on ther representing their acvesas neutra nterentons y scientic specalists.

69 It mght e oected hat, n the case of arge irrigation wors, a centraizedogic is mandatoy for he apportonmen of water rghs etween upstream anddownstream users he act is that quite arge rrgaon systems have een suc-cessy organized for hundreds of years wthout centraized poitcal authorteseXercsng coercve powers For a remarae study showing how such a systemwored and how t was nearly destroyed the smplcaons mposed y hydro


4 Since such control is only approxmated in most real experiments, evey ex-periment is folowed y a great deal of discusson aout the extraneous varales,or variaes oher han those snged out y the experimental design, which mghthave produced the ndngs. The ndings in such cases are amiguous unil a su-seuent experment controls the roge variaes.

5 Margin, Farmers, Seedsmen, and Scetists, p 56 Mitchell Feigenaum, uoted in ames Gleic, Chao: Makig a New Sci

ece (New Yo: Penguin, 988, p 185 Experimental laoratoy scence is necessariy caried out using a standard-

zed and puried nature (eg, puried reagens from catalogues and manmade in-struments of oseration. The eliae manipulation of such oecs maes for successfu experimens and a ceain evel of selfvndcation n aoratoy pactice. Seeheodore M Poer, u i Number he Puui of Obecivity i Sciece a Pub-li Life (Princeton Prnceton Unversty Pess, 1995 chap See also Ian Hacing,The Se fVindicaon of he Laoratoy Sciences in ndew Pcerng, ed. , Sciece

a Pctice ad Culture (Chicago Unversity of Chcago Press, 1 992 pp. 29 64 8 Berr, he Uettlig ofAmeica pp. 0 1 There s no reaso n pnc-pe, why he dependent varae of greatest interest cannot e, say, nutritonavalue, the timing ofterng, aste, or hardness. But the reseach s more manage-ae when the varae of nterest is ess suecve and more easy uantale.

9 D. S. Ngamei and G Wlson, Moving Research to Farmers' Feds, Internatona I nsitute of Tropical grculue Research Brefs, 4: 4, 1 , 8, quoted nRchards, Idigeou Agricultural Revolutio p. 143

80 Rchards, Idgeou Agricultural Revolutio p 14381 Sauer, Agricutural Origi ad Dieral pp. 628382 n addition to the dices in nding the acve cause among man pos-

siti es, suc h a stud of poycropping would have to nd and ust a formua forcomparing dfferent comnatons of yeds ssumng he same coss, whch s speror a yed of two hudred ushes of lma eans and thee hunded ushes of



wored and how t was nearly destroyed the smplcaons mposed y hydro-

logical expers and agronomists rom the san Development Bank see . Stevenansng, Priet a d Pgmme echologie o f Powe i the E ieeed Lad-cae of Bali (Prnceton Princeton Unvesty Press, 1991 so useful s EinoOstrom, ovei the Commo: he Evolutio of Itiutio fo Collective ActioCamrdge Camridge University Press, 199

0 Quoted n Stephen Margn, Famers, Seedsmen, and Scientsts Systems of gricuture and Systems of Knowledge unpulshed paper, May 1 99 1 re-sed March 199 2 Marglns accont s an astute analss of he ecologica and sttutonal consequences of scentc agrclture His analyss of nowledgesystems has stong parales wth my own anaysis o mts in chapter 8 We eachindependenty dscovered the vaue of using concepts of nowledge from Greephosophy to distnguish practca nowedge from dedctve nowedge. I havefound hs dscusson hepfu and caring Margns anayss of mecan agrcu-tral practce s sefuy read aong wth Deorah Fitzgerad, Yeome No Moe: hedutializtio of America Agicultue fohcomng

1 Magln, Farmers, Seedsmen, and Scentsts, p 7 2 he term hyrd has changed n meanng Orginally i t referred to ay

cross; now it refers ony to crosses eween two nred pu re l nes.3 Mari noes the close coaoraton eween the U S . Depamet o g-

culture and he arge seed companes, whch heped the latter achee dominancen maze hyrds. he same dominance s less lely for wheat and rce, whch aesefpoinaing Improved yieds fo these crops are achieved wth new varetieswhch ae genetical sae Magn, Fames, Seedsmen, and Scientsts, p. 1

peror a yed of two hudred ushes of lma eans and thee hunded ushes of

corn, or a yeld of hree hundred ushels of ma eans and wo hundred ushels ofcorn? Does one arrive at a common denominator y using maet pices (whichwould mean he answer woud var wee y wee and year y year, calorc con-tent, overa nutrtve vaue, or some other measre? he dfcutes rapidy pe up

83 hat s, this s a version of he solar system that dscounts all the variosmoons asteroids, neary stars, and so on.

84 Wrtng n 1 97 Wende Berr rheoricaly ased the US Departmen ofgrculure Where are the contro pots whch est the varous systems of solmanagement? Where are the performance gures fo presentday smal farmsusig draf anmas sma scae technologes, and aternative energ sorces?Where are the plots ept free of agrcutural chemicals? If these exist, then they arethe estept secrets of or tme But f they do not exst, whence comes the sc-etc athorty of scentc agrcutre? Wthot approprate conros, one has noproof one does not, n ay respectae sense, have an experiment (he Uettlig

ofAmeica p 206 Since that tme, such comparisons have een made, wth manyof the rests repoed n a USDA study on organic farming ented Reot ad Recommedatio o Ogaic Famig prepared y the U .S D epartment of grcture Team on Organc Famng Washngton USDA, 198 he paraes wih theWest rcan stoy ae stiking. n each case ceain pactces wee deemed no te woh nvestgatng, pay ecause they and their practitoners were presumedto e acward and necent Only when the anomalies and logrun conse-qences of manstream doctnes ecame appaent were such pactices examinedcaefuy

Noes o Pages 291-301

85. Asirin for exme which hs long been used to llevte hedhes hstuned out to hve number of othe benec effects tht were discoveed only

ecenty.86 Wth hndsigh one coud stil rgue tht in ems of costbenet nyss

he reducon n dsese ws so vube h i ouweighed ny hrm cused o heenvonmen. Bu h is no he on The on is th he coss n his cse wereoutid the exemenl model nd could no hve been ssess ed n ny even.

87. Ph M. Ru Universiy of Mnneso tesiing efoe he US SeneSmll Busness Committee (Mrch 1 197 2) quoed in Wende Bey T Ut-tlig of Amrica . 171 .

88. Mrgin Fmers Seedsmen nd Scieniss 3889 See for exmle Kloenerg Firt t d h 5. Hrn p ad

Ma . 12 9, eos h selecion of ey eft n he ed s seed sock over l of sxy yers roduced 9 5 eren of he yeld ht n reeders would hveeen le o cheve nd were most cenly hrdier nd more dsese esisnsns of ley.

90. The clss c sudy of he fmily deveomen cycle s A Chynov TTho of aat Ecoomy inoducion y Teodo Shnin (Mds on U nversty ofWsconsn Pess 1 98 6) One of the oicy rguments fo he ste fmy frm sn nstuion s h i is moe liey thn clis m o hve n inegene-tionl neres in mnining o imovng he quy of the lnd nd envron-men. he sme ogic hs rdiony een deoyed o gue h mny forms ofshrecrong nd enncy ed o desrucve cices.

91 Even if such gins were equl in the mece ech vty wouldsill hve unique lor requemens growing chrcteiscs nd essnces thtwoud mke n imont difference o he gowes.

92. Richrds Idigou Agicultural Rvoluti o . 12493 Wendell Bey Whose Hed s he Frme Using? Whose Hed s Usng

the Fmer? in Wes Jcs on Wendel Bey nd Buce Coem n e ds Mtig th

Noes o Pages 302-1 1

1 04 In rger sen se gton stndd fezer lctions greenhousescoud seedng nd hybridzton nd cloning reesent the decison to dt theclmte nd envronment to the co ther thn the co to the envronment.These e wh Vernon W. Run hs clled lnd subsues See Consins onhe Desgn of Susnble Systems of Agcuur Poducon Ecological Ec oomic 10 (1994): 20919

105. Some gcuurl envronmens end hemseves o sc retmenmore esiy hn ohes. Welwered oomlnds wh ich sols no suec o ero-son ca e eted more homogeneously wihout gre mmedte hrm wheesfgile semd hisides sujec o shee nd guly eroson need o e reed wihge ce.

106. Yney T Urg to Mobiliz . 445.107 Vn de Ploeg Pooes nd Knowledge 222. The uhor does no

sec he ese esons fo he decine. I is ossile h he srongly ecommended mono coing of he new vety encourges the uidu of es ou-

ons nd disese ht deees the soi of vil nuriens o dmges is sructuloees or th he genotye oses ts vigo ove wo or hree geneons.10 8. The ismn of vimins offes somehing of e. The discovey of

hei exsence nd her oe in he lh ws n mon ehrough u hey enow en y msses of eoe mos of whom my no need hem n onesizes-l dosges the n he wy some of ou ncestos fe roteced y wering gr-lnds of gc round thir necks

109. Howd A Agricultural Ttamt . 22 1 1 10 Iid. . 160 Richds Idigou Agicultul Rvolutio concus wi-

ing No suden shou d exec o e be o dvse fmers on chnges n heifrmng rcces unil he o she hs m grs of the ssues fom the tic-ns oin of view No one execs lo o cn lne on he sis of ex-oo nowedge one. Why should frme exec o hnd over he conrolso n dvso who n roily hs never efoe oed fm fo re?



y g

Expctatio of th Lad: Eay i utaiabl Agicultur ad twadhip (SnFrncsco North Poin Press 1 984) quoed n Mglin Fmes Seedsmen ndScieniss" . 2

94 Bey Th Uttlig ofAmrica 87. do no conside mysef o e good fme in Bys sense of he erm u in threecre shee sue on mysm frm cn ecognize les sx deren soil condions fom he erns ofvegeion one. our of hem seem drecty eed o dinge while wo of hemseem o elec soe sunligh nd he connued nluence of st use.

95 Andeson lat Ma ad Lif 146.96 owrd A Agicultual Ttamt 18 5 8697 bid. . 9698 See Chynov Th Thory of aat Ecoomy . 531 9499 A les we c n e sure h he is he es exe when comes o his own

neess whehe he s enrey sure of hem o no

100 Jn Douwe vn de Ploeg Pooes nd Knowedge in Mk Hr ed. A A thpologial ritiqu of Dlopm t (ondon Rouledge 1993) 20 92 7. hnk Sehen Gudemn fo ringng ths wo o my enion

101 Com he em cf wih he em ms which s elored inche 9.

1 02 One cn see why the ogic o scienc gricuure would me exensiongens he imlce enemies o muie los nd mulile cuivs. ogehehey ce fr oo mny vres in ly fo scienic mehod o model.

10 3 Vn de Pleg Pooes nd Knowedge . 21 3

o n dvso who n roily hs never efoe oed fm fo re ?

( 157).1 11 Howd A Agricul tual Ttam t . 1 16

Chper 9 Thin Simplifcain and Pacical Knwlede

1 See ev Tmofeev ovit aat o r Th aat Art of tavig rnsJen Alexnder nd Vicor Zslvsy ed Amndo Pissio nd Zsvsky (NewYo Teos Pess 19 85 ) fo enerng disc ussio n of he riveo economyAn exceion o he genelizon ou me my hve een eef u sulies fok lm nd chcen w ere gey ovided fom ive os or her soucesouside of he se meng chnnes.

2. See ouis Uchtelle DecuNw Yok m June 13 1993 . C.3 . Michel de Ceteu Th actic of Evyday Lif (Ats de fie e rique du

quotden) rns. S even Rend (Beeey Unvesiy of Cliforni Press 1 984 ).See lso Jcques Rncie Th Nam o f Hito O th otic o f Kowldgns Hssn Melehy (Mnneolis Unversy of Mnnesot Press 1 994) .

4. Mcel Deenne nd JenPiere Vernn uig Itlligc i Grk ultu ad ocity ns. Jne loyd (Anic ighnds N.J Humnes Press19 78) originly ulishd n rench s L u ditlligc: La mti d gc(Pis Flmmion 1974)

5 The version o he soy th I now es no o seci he sees o owheher whe ed ur o other vriety o he secie s of squrel whch ws e

424 Notes to Pages 312-1

s�may the common gray squrrel. For the Natve Amercans the context musthave seed to spec sch detas as these.

6. I am ignorng n my treatment of the amanac's advce the fact that Euro-pean setters quckly developed ther ow comparae rues of thum and kefarmers eveywhere they were payng cose attenton to what other cutvatorswee doing. One usually does not want to e the st to pow and pant or doesone want to e the ast.

7. Quoted n an Hackng The Tamg of Chae Camridge Camrdge Unves Pess 990), p 62 Note that eve n Quetelets fomua the calculatons mustegi wth a upedictale event the last ost Since the date o f the ast fost cane known only n etrospect Queteets fomula fas as a useful guide fo acton.

8. Such terms as dgenous technical kowledge and folk wsdom seemto me t o conne ths knowledge to tadtona o ackwad peopes wheeas want to emphasie how these sklls ae implct n the most moden of actvteswhether on the factory oo or in a esech aoratory. Local kno wedge an d

practica knowledge ae ette ut oth terms seem too cicumscred and staticto capture the constanty changing dynamic aspect of mts.The tem descends to us from Greek mythoogy. Mts the st ide of Zeus

had tcked Cronos into swalowing an he tha t caused hm to egugtate Zeus'selde othes whom Cronos feaed would rse against him. Zeus n tun swalowed Mtis therey ncorpoatng all her integence and wles efore she coudgve th to Athena. Athena was then on fom Zeus's thg h.

9. The dierence etween the st haltn g awkwad steps of a todde and thegait of a chid who has een walkng for a yea is a measue of the complexty andonthejo taning necessary to maste such an appaenty smple skll.

10 . Dring the Gulf Wa teams wth ttle experence wee hred fom all overthe wold to cope with an unpecedented nume of es. A geat many new tech-nques were tred and mch new ed expeence ganed. One team ht on t he useo a mounted et engne as opposed to dynamte or water to teay ow ot the


Nussaum s concerned parcularly wth the dfferences etween mora systemsthat alow for the passios ad attachmets of human lfe and closed selfsucientmoral systems that acheve moral safe and ratonal power at the expense of afuly human lfe Pato depending upon how one nterprets the Symoum s anexemplar of the latter an d Arstotle an exempar of the former.

15 . am greatly ndeted for ths dstnction to the rllant doctora thesis ofGene Ammarel Bugs Navgaton P hD dss. Depatment of Anthropoogy YaeUnvesity 1 994 . Ammaes analysis of tradtiona Bugs navgation techniues sthe most compeng uderstandg of dgenos techncal kowedge that haveencounteed.

16 . Compare the plots knowedge wth this osevaton fom Bruce ChtwnsSogle London Joathan Cape 1 987 The dry heat of Australa . was ajig-saw of mcrocmates of derent minerals n the sol and dfferent pants ad ai-mas. A man rased one pat of the deset would know ts lora and fauna ack-wards. He knew whch plant attacted game He knew hs wate. He knew whee

thee wee tues undergound n other wods y amg all the thngs n hstetory he could always count on suvival. . . But f you took hm lndfolded toanother country . . he mght end up lost and stavng p 269)

17 n what folows am heavly indeted to the dscussons of Nussaum TheFaglty of Goode and to Stephen A Maglin Lo sng Touch Th e Cultul Condtions of Woker Accommodation and esistance in Fdque Apffel Magnand Stephen A. Magln eds. Domatg Kowledge Deelomet, Cultue, adRetae Oxford Carendon 1990) pp. 21782 Marglin's argument has eeneaorated n two susequent papers Farmers Seedsmen and Scentsts Sstemsof Agculte and Systems of Knowledge unplshed pape May 1991, revsedMach 1992; and Economcs and the Socal Constucton of the Economy inStephen Gudeman and Stephen A. Margln eds Peole E ology Peole Eoomyforhcomng). eaders of oth texts wl note the dspar etween Nssaums andMargn's ses o the tem techne. For Nussaum teche s analogos to epsteme



o a mounted et engne as opposed to dynamte or water to teay ow ot the

e at the wehead as f t were a candle on a ithday cake1 1 . t s n par ths aspect of team spots that ofen makes the outcomes non

tansitve. That s team A may outnely eat team B and team B may otnelyeat team C ut ecase of the patcla elato of sks etween teams A and Cteam C may ofen eat tea A.

12. Taosm emphases pecsey this kind of knowledge and skill. CompaePerces osevaton wth that of Chang T Cook ng ad down hs kfe adeped. What care aout s the Way whch goes eyond skll. Whe st egancuttng up oxen a could see was the ox itself Afe thee yeas o onge sawthe whole ox And nownow go at t y spt and dont look wth my eyes. Pecepton ad nderstandng have come to a stop and the spit moves whee itwants. go along wth the natral makeup stke n the g hollows gde the knethough the g openngs and follow thngs as they ae. So ever toch the smalest gament or tendon mch ess a jont (Cuag Tu Bac g tans. Bur-ton Watson New York Columa Uivesty Pess 964, p 47).

13. Mchael Oakeshott Raoalm Polt ad Oe Eay New YorkBasc Books 196 2). As a consevatve thnke n the Bkean sense of the termOakeshott tends to e an apologst for whateve the past has eqeathed to the pe-sent n tems o power prvege and popety. On the othe hand hs crtcsm opey rationast schemes fo the desgn of human lfe and hs undestadng ofthe contngency o pactce ae astute and tellng.

4. Matha C. Nussaum The Faglty of Goode: Luk ad Eh GeekTagedy ad Phloohy Camidge Camidge Unvesty Press 986) , p. 302.

a g c a c a a g p

at east though the work of Plato ad oth ae sharply dstngushed om ts opractica knowledge. Magn uses the wod techne Tnowledge i n mch thesame way that se mts and he dstnguishes it shaply from epstemeE/Knowledge)). have elected to adopt the temnoogy of the cassicst Nss-aum who covnces me that her sage has a fa stonge grondng in the og-na texts of Pato an d Astote Sppot for Nussaum's undestandng coes alsofrom Perre VdaNaqet As G. Camaousty correcty oseves in the Platonc vew eteme dyam ad tehe comprse a system of concepts that mtually ence one another he wtes. "The Reubl fo example puts unde thecontol of mathematcs a nt c omposed of teha, daoa, and etema: sklsintellectual pocesses and scences (The Blak Hute Fom of Thought adFom of Soety the Geek old trans Andrew SegedyMasak [BaltmoeJohns Hopkns Pess 19 86, p 228) Even so those who ae amla wth Magln'sargumet wl note how n drawng foma comparsons have reled o s co

tasts whle ot sg his terms18 . As reca ths hods oy at sea leve as wth the stadad temperaue for

wates olng pont. The constant s thn a unversal convention and does in factvary y alttude

9 . Quoted in Nussaum The Fglty o f Goode p. 95.20. Thee s a age and rapdly gowng iteratue on te pactce o eth

omethodoogy of scence patcuay laoraory scence. Mos of ths teratreemphases the dference etween actual scentc practce on one hand ad itscodied form n artcles ad a epors o example) on the other. Fo a nto

2 320-22

duction to this lterature, see Bruno Latour Science in ction: How to Follow Sci-entists and Engieers Throgh Society (Cambrdge: Havard Univers Press,19 87; Ian Hacking, The SelfVindicaton of the Laboatoy Scie nces," n AndrewPickeg ed Sience as Practice and ltre (Chcago Unvesity of ChicagoPess 19 92 pp. 2 9 4 and Andew Pckeing Fom Science as nowledge toScence as Pactice," ibi d. pp 1 2 See also Pickeing, Obectiv and the Man-ge of Pactice in Aan Meg ed ethinking Objectivity (Durham Duke Univesity Pess, 1994, pp 10925

2 1 Maglin Losing Touch," p 234

22 In many ways the most seaching philosophica teatment of these issues isfound in Michael Polanyi, Persona l Knowledge: Towards a Postriti cal P hilosohy(Chicago Univesty of Chicago Pess, 1958

23 Detienne and Venant nning Intelligence pp 3424 Nussbaum, The Fragility of Goodness chaps 5 and 25 Ibd p 238

26 I use hims ef" because Plato is talking about what he consideed to be thehighest form of love that between men and boys.27 Music is, n a sense, pue fom but Plato was deeply suspicous of musc's

emotiona appeal and n fact b eeved that the deal e public shoud ban cetain modes of music.

28 . An mportant ctique of socal scence mght we take this obsevaton as apont of departure. Borowng the pestige of scentic anguage and methods fom the biologca sciences, many socia scentsts have envisoned and tied to eect an objective, pecise and stricty eplicabe set of techniques -a set of techniques thatgives mpartial and quanttative answers. Thus most foms of foma policy analy-ss and costbenet analsis manage though heroic assumptions and an mpausi-ble metric fo compaing ncommensuate vaabes, to poduce a quantitatve an-swe to thony questions. They achieve mpartiaty, pecson, a nd eplicaty atthe cost of accuay A ief and pesuasve c ase along these lines c an e found n

32225

certanty Fredrch Haek himself was a skeptic The delusion that a dvancingtheoretcal knowedge places us everywhere increasingly i n a poston to reducecompex interconnectos to ascertanable particula facts often leads to new scentc erros. . Such errors are lar gey due to an arrogaton of pretended know-edge, which in fact no one possesses and which even the advance of science s notkey to give us" (Stdies in Philosohy Economics and Politics [Chicago Univesi of Chcago Pess, 197] p. 197

35 At its most exteme this stategy is analogous to that of tacking bodycounts duing the Vetnam Wara technique that offeed at leas t one pecise measue, it was thought, for mitay progess

3 Nussbaum, The Fragility of Goodness p 9937 Ibid. p. 30238 Ibid, p. 125 Thus n the Phaedrs Socates, speaking through Plato de-

poes the invention of wting and clams that books cannot repy to questions Heagues fo the oganic un of a wok of art, on e whose aguments an d style should

take nto account the pospective audence In his Seventh Lette Pato writes thathis deepest teachings are not written See R. B Ruthefod, The rt ofPlato: Te Essays in Platoni Interetation (London Duckworth 199

39 See Haold Conkln, Hannoo gricltre: eort on an Integral System ofShifting ltivation in the Philiines (Rome Food and Agcutue Oganiatonof the United Nations 1957

40 Caude LvStauss La ense savage (Paris Pon 192 4 1 Once t he tacto became avaabe (especay the tactor wth powe take-

off, o PTO), howeve, it was magnativey adapted by fames and mechanic s toseve purposes its inventos had neve imagned

42 Later in this chapte I oer, as anecdotal evidence of ths truism an accountabout how a Malaysan vllage d a mango tee of an infestaton of ed ants.

43 Gadys L Hobby Penicillin Meeting the hallenge (New Haven Yae Unves Pess, 1985



y p a a ong these lines c an e found n

Theodoe M Porte, Ojectiv as Standadization: The Rhetoc of Impersona n Measuement, Statistics, and CostBenet Anayss" n Allan Megill ed, Re-thinking Objectivity (Durham: Duke Unversi Press 1 994), pp. 19 7 -2 37.

29 Magn Fames, Seedsmen, and Scientists," p. 4 30 eemy Bentham, Paer Management Imroved cited in Nussaum, The

Fragility of Goodnss p 893 1 See Hacking, The Tamin g ofhance Warren Weave long ago dstnguished

etween what he temed disoganized complexity" whch coud e dealt wththough statistca techniques that captued average outcomes and oganiedcompexity" ( ncudi ng, most notay oganic syste ms whch could not yeld tosuch technques because the complexity of thei nonandom systemc eation-shps pevents us fom fully undestandng stod er effects of an intevento n etaone second o thidode effects (Scen ce and Compex merican Scientist3 [1948] 5344

32 Magln Economics and the Socia Constuction of the Economy" 4445

33 But while the focus has narowed in economcs, the each has gown Wit-ness the efforts of Wliam D. Nodhaus to treat such ecologcal ssues as goawamng with an fen spurious pecson. See Nordhaus, To Slow o Not to SlowThe Economcs of the Geenhous e Effect" Economic Joal uy 1991 pp 92037

34 Magin Economcs and the Socal Construction of the Economy," p. 3 1 Magln aso desces and ctques the attempts within the oundae of epis-temic economcs to dea with such ssues as puic goods sustanality and un

s ss, 985

44 Anl Gupta, pape presented at a congess entted Agraian Questons ThePoltics of Famng Anno 1 995, May 22 24 , 19 95, Wagenngen, The NethelandsThe fact that in the past two o thee decades eseach aoatoes have egun toinventoy and analyze age numers of taditonal medcnes s an ndicaton ofthe ich capta of ndngs which mtis has equeathed to moden medcne andphamacology. Fo questions of popety ghts n such poducts see ack Raphoppeneg, ., First the Seed: The Political Eco nomy of Plant B iotechnology14922000 (Camdge C amidge Unives Pess 19 88

45 Dane Defoe Jo al of the Plage Year 1722; Hamondswoth: Penguin19 It s worth notg that these statagems wee moe practical fo the chthan for the poo. The result was that, far fom eng indscimnate the pagueweaked ts geatest havoc among poo Londones.

4 Fdique Apffe Magn, Smapox n Two Systems of nowedge" nMaglin and Magin, Domi nating Knowledge pp. 10244

47 Thee ae diffeent modes of scentc medicne as well, some of whchequie a fundamentaly di ffeent optic than standad aopathc pactce ThusDawnan medicne ooks at the adaptive functions of what ae otherwse seen aspathoogcal condtions. One exampe is moing sickness which occus fo manywomen dung the rst tmeste of pegnancy and which is thought to e anadaptive ejecton of foods, particuay of futs and vegetales, that ae mostikey to cay toxns hamful to the fetus. Another example is feve dung thecouse of odnay nluenza o a cold, which s thought to e an adaptve mechansm fo tiggeng eements of the mmune system to combat nfection. To the

4 Noes to ges 32629

degee tat te Dawnian pespectve s coect t foces us to ask wa ebenecia o

oe pecsely te adaptive funcions of a medca condition mgt

be Suely a Vew of plant dsease from s ange migt lead to nove insgtsFor an

accessibe introduction see Randolp M Nesse and George C Wiams

Evolutn nd eling: The New Science of Drwinin Medicine (London Wei-denfeld and Ncolson 1995)

8 Muc of F . Margns account is concerned wit te undoubtedy wel-

tended but coerve efforts made by te Brtis to suppress variolation and tosubstitute vaccnation as wel as te popuar resistance to tese effots Marginimpies tat te Brits pretty quicky succeeded in eplacing variolation wit vaccination but Sumit Gua an Indian coleague wo as also studie d tese mattersbeieves tat it is unkey tat te Britis ad eter te perso nne or te power tstamp out variolation so quicky

49 onad Hopkins Prince nd Pent: Smllox in ito (Ccago

Uversty of Ccago Press 198 3), p cited n Margn Losng ouc p 1 12

For te scientic caeer o f vaccination and its appication to antax and rabiessee Gerald L Geison The Privte Science of Loui Pteur (Princeton PrincetoUnversiy Press 199 5)

50 ere were iteally tousands of competitos for cures and preventativesas tere aways are wit diseases tat seem incurabe

5 1 Aert Howard An Agriculturl Tetment (London Oxford UniversiyPress 194

0) p 1 44 (emp asis in origna) Howard is paraprasing ere a work by

Lowdermlk and atoug Howard provides no reference I beeve e is referingto A W C Lowdermik wo visited Basutoland in 1 949 and wose papers are atYae Universitys Strlng Memoria Libray

52 o te case of jet engines te performance of wic remai ns notoriousyuceta te

development process" and wic ave to be adjusted by engineers

wt� ong expeene after pilots conduct inligt testng see Natan RosenbegInde the Blck Bo�: Technology nd Economic (New York Cambridge Un versity

Noes o Pages 32931 4

58 A simiar soy tells of a man dying in a Cicago ospital of a disease tat tepyscians could not dagnose Aloug tey knew a e mans tps abroad meant

at e coud ave been serng from a topcal aiment te tests and researceswere to no ava One day an experenced doctor from India was simpy walkingtroug te wad wit a coleague on s way to an appointment wen e stoppedsniffed te air and said eres a boke ere wit X" (I dont recall te nam e of tedisease) He was correct ut unfotunatey te patient was too far gone to be saved

59 Howard An Agricul turl Tetment, pp 293060 Margn as noted ow te word crafty" brings te idea of experienced

knowedge of a craft togeter wit te concept of cunning connoted by mts"See Economcs and te Social Construction of te Economy" p 60

6 1 Bugis sailors are exceptionaly astute obseers of teir environment at seaand ave assembled a arge aray of signs to forecast weater wind landfall a ndtides e domnant coor of rainbows carres meaning: yelow means more rainblue means more wind A monng rainbow in te notwest ignals te begnnngof te western monsoon e satybreasted rails cal if t is a buzzing kec keckec" means a cange in te wnd Wen raptors soar vey ig rin is no moretan two days away Many of tese reiabe associations could peraps e explainedmore scentcaly" but tey ave seed as rapid accurate and occasionaly fe-saving sgnals for generations

62 Ammarell Bugis Navigaton" cap 5, pp 220 8263 An aternaive te subject of a growing literature is te term indigenos

knowledge" or indge nous tecnca knowledge" Atoug I ave noting agansttis term per se inasmuc as it points to te skis and experience already in tepossession of te subjects of deveopment scemes it as come in some ands oconnote someing sefcontaned compeey sufcen and nactab opposdo modern scientic knowledge wen in fact it is constanty cangng troug ex-permentation and troug contact w te outsde For two exceptionaly perceptive critiques of te trm see Aki Gupta e Location of te I ndigenous n Cr-



� gy g y

Press 1 982) especay pp 12 0 41 Rosenberg makes it clear tat te imits of sci-ntic �etodology in ts case ave to do wit te impossibility of anticipatng teeractve conseqences of te enormous number of ndependent vaiabes (incuding dfferent tecnoogies) at work in a jet engine See also nnet Arrowe Economics of Learnng by Doing" Review of Economic Studie June 1962 :pp453

53 Cares E Lndbom e Science of Muddlng roug"Public Admini-trtion Review 19 (Sprng 195 9): 9 8 8 Twenty years after tis artcle appearedLdblom extended te argument n anoter atice wit a catc tite: Stll Mud-dling Not Yet Trog" See Lndbom Democrcy nd the Mrket Sytem (Oslo:Norwegian Unversity Press 1 988) , pp 23 59

54 Lindbom St Muddng NotYet rog55 Albert O. Hischman, "The Search for Paradigms as a Hndrance to Under-

standng," World Poitics 22 (April 1970): 243.56 . Impii. knowledge is almost a stape of d iscourse in the philosophy of

knowledge and te psychology of cognton See, for exampe, Gilbert Rye, Con-cept of the Mmd (New York: Barnes and Noble, 1949) whose dstincton betweenknowng how" and knowing that" mmcs my distncton between mts and epis-teme, and Jerome Bruner, On Knowing: Essay for the Left Hand (Cambridg: Bek-nap Press, Haard University Pess, 1 962)

57 . A great basketball move may be dagrammed and even taught, but the abil-

ty to make that same move n the tac and ush of a rea game s aas anothething altogether. '

,

tiques of Modernity" NinetyFirst Annual Meeting of te Amerian AtropologicaAssociation San Franciso December 26 1992 and Arun Agrawa Indigenosand Scientic Knowledg" Indigenou Knowledge nd Develoment Monitor 4, no1 (Aprl 1 996) 1 1 1 and te commentay followng it See aso Agrawa Dismanting te Divide Be tween Indigenous and Scientc Knowledge Develomentnd Chnge 26, no 3 (1995) 41 339

64 For a genera argument aong tese ine see Eric Hobsawm and T ORanger The Invention ofTrdition (New York Cambrdge Universty Press 198)Atoug Hobsbawm and Ranger are argely concerned wit tradtions nvented"by eites to legitimate teir ue and egtimac teir genera point about tenonantiquity of man so caed traditions is we taken

65 I do not deal ere wit suc reated ssues as ow readiy people abandonabts and norms tat are peraps coser to te center of te sefdentity deatrituas regous beiefs deas about friendsp and so on One of te most curos

and important aspects of adaptation owever is tat te poor and margna areoften n te vanguard of innovatons tat do not reque a ot of capital Tis is notat a surprsng wen one consders tat for te poor a gamble often makes senseif teir current practices are failing tem Occasionaly wen a wole communityor a cuture experiences an overwelming sense of poweressness and ts categoriesno onge make sense of e wor sc gambes take on mnna ones tnew propes arising to procaim te way forwar Te coona conquest of pein-dustial peopes te Germ an Peasant War at te tme of te Refomation te En glis Civ War an te Fenc Revoluton seem to belong n tis categoy

430 Nos o Pag 3338

66. mes Ferson The AtPltc Mache Develmet Deltcat

a ureaucrtc er Leth (Cmbride: Cmbride Uniersiy Press 1 990).67 See Arturo Escobr's eborton o the concep o hybrdzton n Mrln

nd Gudemn Pele' Emy Pele' Eclgy68 Okeshott Rtonlsm in Poliics in Ratlm Pltc p 31 .69 . Okeshot he ower o B n Ratalm Pltc p. 64 70. nnovion n such socees must be represened s compbe wth trd

on in order to n cceptnce this s nother reson or the plsiciy o trdtion.7 1 . Access to coded epsemc knowlede s so shrpy restrced by sch

mrkers s welh end er soci poston nd reon n deeoped countries swell. he dierence s th in prncple n deeped socetes the secets o medcine scence enineerin ecoloy nd so on re open secrets lbe to ll touse nd modi.

72 t oes withou syn ht ne orms o mts re constnty bein creted Compter hckn would l nto ths cteory. Mtis t should be qite ce r s

bquios n odern nd in ess modern socetes ike nd perhp he crucdierence is tht compred to prendstri socetes modern socete re prtc-ulry reint on codied epstemc owede slly coneyed throuh ormlnstrcton

73. Ammrell Bs Nton p. 372.74. here s ltte doubt tht mny pprentceshp were loner thn necessry

or trnn oun crsmen nd were thny dsuised orm o indentredbor desned to ncrese the pros o n oiopoly o mster crsmen

7. he desre or conro oer the work process s not mere shotterm pre-requste o cptrn prots t is crcil to the cpcy o mners to trnsormhe work proces rom boe or dptin to the mrket nd meen the demndso ter speriors Ken C Kusterer cls mnemet onrol oer the rodctonprocess the steerbity" o rm. See Ksterer KH the b The Im-rta t rkg Klege f "Uk lle Wrker (Boulder Westiew Press 978)

Nos o Pags 33847 431

Sahara fa (Mdson nersiy o Wsconsin Press 1974 ) pp. 2 1 77 . See so

Alln Pred nd Michel Wtts Rekg Mdety: Catalm a SymblDctet (ew Brnswck Rers Uniersiy Press 92) .86 . he sysem with ryers so noed rms th speclized n htchin nd

crn or chicks nd rms tht rew certn elemens o he eed Contrc rm-n or eetbles is wdespred in the hird World nd hs recenty been extendedo the risin o pis

87 . he uniormity is chieed he outse o course by mens o scencbreedin.

88 . Quoted n Okeshot Rtonlsm n Politcs p. 20 (ephss dded.89. Qoted n ibd. p 90. s n ct mpossbe or most modern reders to tke n he st compl-

cency with which Okeshott rerds wht the pst hs bequethed to him n tshbits prctces nd mors wthout onderin ews women the rsh nd theworkn clss i n enerl mht not ee s blessed by the deposit o hstory s dd

ths Oxord don

Chapr 10: Cncusin

1. Stephen A Mln Economcs nd the Socil Costrcion o the Econ-omy" n Stephen Gudemn nd Stephen Mrin eds Pele clgy PeleEcmy (orthcomn)

2 Albert o Hrscmn he Serc or Prdms s Hndrnce to Under-stndn" Wrl Pltc 22 (Aprl 970) 23. Esewhere Hrschmn kes oclscence n enerl to tsk n much the sme shion Bt ter so mny iledprophecies s t not the inerest o soci science to embrce complexity be t tsome scrce o ts clm to predicte power?" (Rvl nterettions o MrketSocety Clizin D estrcte or Feeble ual fEcmc Lterture 20 De-cember 1982]: 463 84.



76. Mrln Losin ouch p. 220.77 bid p. 22 Bt s the cptlists ere shorly to discoer one dnte

o the puttinot system ws diminshed exposre to lrescle ndustrilstrikes nd eqpment brekdowns.

78 yor qoed n ibd p 2 0 n 3 .79 As Mrin notes Only recptultion o workers' knowlede in the orm

o n episteme to which mnement one hd ccess wold proide rm bsisor mneri control" (bid. p 247)

80. Dd Nobe Fre fPui A Scl Ht fAutmat (ewYork: Oxord Press 1984) p 20 qoted n bid p 248.

81 . Noble Fce fPuct p. 2 77 qoed n Mrln Losin och" p.20.

82 . Qoted n Ksterer KH the Jb p 0.83 his is why beore the ncome tx the dmnistrtors o he olde r systems

o txtion ound t esies to ssess txes b reyin soley on the more permnentct o lnd or rel property ownershp

84 A brnch o socl theory cled principlent nlysis i deoted to therious echnqes by which one person cn be persuded to do nother personsbiddn As one miht imine it most mmedie ppctons he been in mnement scence.

8. Miche . Wtts ie Under Conrct: Conrc Frmin Arrin Restrctrn nd le xible Accmon" in Michel Ws nd Peter O. Lttleeds Lvg Uder Ctract Ctra t Farmg a Agrari a Trafrmat Sub

3 Qoted in Roer Penrose he Gret Dierser" ree o FreemnDyson Fm E aia in he Ne Yrk Ree f k Mrch 4 1993 p .

4 Lke l rules o thmb this rule s not bsolute. t cod be wied or ex-mple ctstrophe eems immnent nd qck decisions re essent

hs s beee the stronest rument inst cpi pnshment orhose who re not opposed to t on other rounds.

6 Aldo Leopold qot ed n Dond Worster Nature cm 2nd ed. (NewYok Cmbride ersty Press 994) p 289

7 he typicl ocl scence solton to this sort o sse is to trn into qn-itte exercse by sy skin ctens to ssess the wellbein o he commnty on predetermined scle.

8 Eeryhin becomes crystl cer ter yo he redced rely to oneone onyo its thosnd spects Yo know wht to do . . . here s t he smetme the perect mesuin rod or the deree o success or re . he pont s

tht he rel strenh o he theory o prte enterprse ies n s rthless m-plcton whch s o dmirbly nto the mentl ptterns creted by the phe-nomenl uccesses o scence . he srenth o science too deries rom its redc-tion' o rey to one or nother o its mny spects prmriy the redcion oqliy to qntity (E . F Schmcher Small I Beautful: A Study fEcmc afPele Mattered London: Bond nd Bris 1973 pp. 7273.

9. See ohn Brinckerho Jckson A Se f Place a See f Tme (NewHen Ye Unersiy Press 1994) p. 90

432 Notest Pages 349-56

10 For his insigh I am much indebed o Coin Wards Aarchy i Atio (on-

don Freedom Pess, 1988, pp. 1 10 251 1 Persona nos fom he s congress of he Agaian Scienis' Associa

ion Agaan Refom n he USR," hed n Moscow une 2428 , 199 1

12 Big Mlle Toward a Alteatie Culture of Work Politi al Idealism adEcoomic Pactces i a Berli Coectie Eterise (Boulde Wesvew Pess1991, pp 5182

13 Heman E. Daly, Policies fo Susainable Developmen," pape preseneda he Progam in Agaian Sdies Yae Univesty New Haven Febay 9 19 96,p 4

14 Ibid., pp 12 13 Day adds, n he limi, al ohe speces become c-vaed naa caial bed, managed a he smae poplaion size o make moeoom fo humans and he funue Insrumenal vaues such as edundancy eslency sabty, susa inabty woud be saciced along wih he ininsic vaueof fe enjoymen by senien hman species in he ineess o •efciency dened

as anything ha increases he human scale" (p 1315 I am graefu o my coeague An Agawal fo emphasiing hs poin 1 6 The cassic elaboaon o his agmen empicay gronded n many

case sudes may be found n Robe M Ne ng Smallh olders, Householders: FaFami ies a d the Ecology of Itesie, Sustaia ble gricultue (Sanfod S anfodUnivesiy Pess 1 993

17 See he impoan book by Eno Mngione, Fragmeted Societies A Sociology o Eoomic Lie Beyod the Mart Paradigm, rans. Paul Goodick (Oxfod:Basi Backwel, 1991

1 8 Robe Punam Makg Democracy Work Civic Traditios i Mode Italy(Princeon Prnceon Universy Press 1993

19 This orderng ofhe names of he dead which was insised on by Maya incaused que a conoversy a he ime he memoial was bui l

20 Nea he ie o he Venam Memora s he aue of a smal squad of so

Sources for Illustrations

gue 1 Phoogaph fom Mak S. Ashon Collecon Couesy of Mak S

AshonFgre 2 Phoogph by Ange omeo Couesy o Bullaty Lomeo Phooga-

phersFges 3 6 Fom George Yaey The Urge to Mobilize: Agraran Refo i Rus

sia, 1861-1930 (Ubana: Unvesiy of lnois Press, 982), pp 47, 149, 48, 150Copygh 1 982 by he Boad of Tsees of he Univesiy of Iinos Used by pemisson of he Unvesiy of Ilinos



qdes caying a wounded comrade Ths saue was he ogna posal by agood many veeans oganizaons who had opposed he pesen wa as a ingmonumen

2 1 For an imagnave appicaon f a compaabe ogic o he subjec of ch-den's paygrounds, see Pay as an Anachis Paabe" chap. 1 0 in Wad Aarchyi Actio, pp. 8894

Fge 7 Phoogph by Alex S. MacLean rom James Corner nd MacLean,Takig Measures Across the America Ladscape (New Haven: Yae UnivesityPress 1996 , p 5 1 Coesy f Alex S MacLean, Landsdes

Fgue 8 Fom Mark Gioad, Citie ad People A Socia ad AchiecaHsto (New Haven Yae Univesy Pess 19 85, p. 9 1 Coesy f he cy ofBges.

Fgue 9 Map fom he Chcago H soca Sociey Used by pemisso o heChcago Hsoica Sociey

Fgure 10 Map fom A Aphand Les pomeades de Pais, 2 vos. (Pais,1867 73, paes 1 1 and 12

Fgue 1 3 Phoograph of map fom he exhibon Hngewine and Lbeaon in Amsedam" Amserdam Hsorcal Museum, 1 995 Coesy o he Amerdam Hsorca Msem

Fges 14 17 From Le Corbuie The Radiant Ciy, ans Pamea Knigh

(19; New York Oron Pess, 1964) pp 204, 220, 225, 49Fgue 1 8 Plan by Lco Cosa reprined in Lawence Vale, Achitecture,

Powe a d Natio al Idtity (New Haven Yae Unvesy Pess 1 992 , p 1 1 8Fgres 1 9 26 Phoogaphs rom James Holson, The Modeist Ciy: A A

hpological Critique ofBraslia (Chicago Univesiy of Chcago Press 1 989, pp1 00, 1 02, 1 32, 3 13 Fo gre 23, phoogaph by Abr Imagens/Caos Fenech.Coesy o James Holson.

Fige 27 Phoograph fom Rav Kaa, Chadigarh I Search of a Idetiy(Cabondae Souher Ilnos Univesy Press, 19 8, p. 97 Copyrgh 1 98 by

433

434 Sources for Ilustrations

the Board of Trutees, Southrn Iinois Unversity Used by permisson of theTrustees of Southen Inois Universty

Fgures 28 3 0. Plan and photograph courtesy of Teodor Shanin.Fgure 3 1 . J annik Boesen Brgt Storgaard Madsen and Tony Moody UjamaaSocialim from Ab ove (Uppsaa: Scandnavan Insttute of African Stude 1 977)p. 1 78 . Used by permsson of the publshers

Figure 3 2 . John M Cohen and Nils-Ivar Isa ksson, Vagiaton n Ehiopa's Ars Region Joual of Mode African Studie IS , no 3 ( 1 987 ) 450 . Reproducedby pmssio of Cambidge Uivesty Press .

Fgur 33. Jasn W Clay, Sandra Stengraber a nd Pter Ngg The S poils of Famine: Ethiopian Famine Policy and Peasant Agriculture, Cutural Survval Reportno. 25 (Cambrdge Mass. : Cuural Survva 1 98 8) p 248 . Used by prmssion ofCulural Suviva I nc

Figure 34. Panting by Davis Mezer from Jame B B llard, "The Rvoluion nAmercan Agrcuure," wth ustratons by James R Bar National Geographic 3 7 no 2 (Fbruary 1 97 0) 1 84 8 Used by prmssion f Davs Meltzer/atonalGeograph Image Collection

Fgure 3 5 . Phtograph from Pau Rhards Indigenou Ag ricultural Revolu-ion: Ecooy ad Food Producio in W frica (Londo: Unwin Hymn 98 )plate 3. Courtesy of Paul Rhards

Figures 3 6 3 7 Drawngs from Edgr Anderson, Pants, Man and Life (BostonLte, Brown 1 9 2) , pp. 1 3 8 39 . Usd by permisson of the Mssuri BotanicalGarden.

Index

Aedam, Seg, 37

Adas, Mihael, 38045

A.E .G. (Allgemen ElektitsGeelhaf), 98-100 8036

Asthetis: of highmodrnst ites, 106,

1 1 6 , 1 42 , 2 6 of mintrization, 258

of pi form in tral rvoons,9596; of seni fresry, 18; of

270 71 . See also Collctvzaton, S-vit; Tanania, ujamaa vllagizaton n

ndignos agil ealy cltivvaations in, 26466; expementatonn, 28-86, 304-5; armers' aernsto and featres n, 297 98 nnovationin, 32425; logi of tiva deveop-men n, 301, 30 poe n,



yTanzanian vilagiaton, 22425, 231,

24; f transporaion grids, 7576; ofvsa odiaion, 25 3 5 5 , 4 1 2 1 0 5

Agrilre effet f eletriaton on,16667, 39258, 392n9; efenyand ompetiveness of famly arms,1 6 , 1 9 8, 3 9 2 2

_hghmodernist agrlu, 16768

entraing gi of 86-87, 42068

206; in olonia East Afria,22-29; aure of, 26364, 271, 273;

ndstrial aming as 19, 196201,

21 0 - 1 , 4 0 5 9; in Lenin' The Agrr-

ian Questio, 6468 monol

pivileged in, 2737, 279-82; peasantoms o podtion ondemned in,16466; planaton agrltre,189-91, 3961 7, 396n8; prodtionand prot mode of, 262; as radasimplation, 26263 n Tanzanianviagizaon 23840, 0963; vsaoaon of ra ife y, 25,

1 2 1 0 ; worl optmsm ao,

p 27382; shting ltivaion in,28 2- 83 , 1 9 5 3, 4 1 9 5 6, 4 1 9 5 8

senti agrtre hema ertl-ers in, 280, 2885; and rop epdems, 268-70, 4620, 41622,

41629 op yeds geneaized y,294-96, 42291; iona amer in299300 isoaton of xperimenalvariables in, 28890, 274 42 1n77,

2178; as a legiility enerpse, 2;

og of livar deveopmen n,301-3, 22102, 3104; og ofmehanzation n, 26768 narrowed of fos of, 2929, 322; over-

relane on expermental pos n,29699; polyulre opposed y,290-92, 421 82, 21 86 pratalknowedge dsdaned , 306, 31 ,

32328; horsghtednes o, 2939;

sanarization of "mahinerendlylivars n, 262-63, 26668, 45n 4,

416 19 See lso Forestry, seniAlder Ken, 3651

435



440 nex

Laguage: aricia, 14344 255 741 2 13 4 3 14 mposio ofa of

cial lagage 72 73 mts expressed 332-33

Le Bo, Gsave, 100Le Corbuser , 88 94, 145, 34 above

grod perspective of 104, 10 134aiplae fasciatio of 387 Braslia's pla ineced by, 8 3 0 atChadigarh 3 1 -32 3872 38573octre of he Pla of, 1 1 3 hisfasciatio wih the Soviet o, 3 4 3833 , 38438 fctoaseparatio docrie of 09 3 48geomeric smpicty preferred by0- 1 o happiess 4 luece

of o architecure , 38452moumea axes used by 20 33874 prefabrcaed bldigs evisoed by 08-9, 41 387 othe problem of sms o the roeof athoriy 1 1 4 5 ubil rbaschemes of 03-17 382

Leach dmd, 8 -8 7League of Time, 9Legibity 2 3 83- 84 by he adopio

of surames 5 7 ad auhortara ieretio 2 1 9-2 0 the Bolsheviks retrotig of rral Russa2 4 7 40273 by cadastral mappg 24 3845 49-52 by ciizeship,32 34 7 b t i d

15 elecricato celebrated by1 7 39 2 55 , 39 2 8 39 2 9 ee

dom of criicism opposed by, 0 ashigh moderis, 1 47-48, 1 7 iueceof Germa dustria mobilzaio o,100-01 12 Lad Decree of 205207 miiary metaphor of 48 50,1 2 309 o he eed for eadership,4 9 73 74 388 7 peasat forms ofagricutural prodcio codemed by14- o the peasat prisigs, 208o the raioalty of moe prodcio 2-3 3945 394 o rhlessess oward he lmpe poetaria13 3947 o socalst vs. borgeosieoogy 15 389

{ 4, 3 93 9 o the use ofstate coercive power, 3940393 ? 48 7, , 1 7 2

Leopold Alo 34Lewis C S 93, 37920Lewis Sicair, 339, 38042Liberal poltica ecoomy, 0 - 2Liebg Jsts reherr vo 284Liebech Kar, 18Lilietha, Davd, 88Li �ay a, 35 432 19Lidbom, Chares 24 327 28, 4 2 ,

4283Lissiky 14L h L 375 8

�aps 3 aerial vew 7-58 cadastra,3 2 4, 3 3 8 4 5 4 9 52 , 7 , 3 7 82 ,

3785 ciy maps 455, 5758, 184,394 cstomary maps 27 oeooescale 37 rasformative power of8 7-8 8

�argl, rdrique pfel 32 4284 8�arg, Sephe A., 294, 322, 33 344

42070, 42073�arselles: t dabitato pa for

03�ar x Kar l, 9 3 9 4, 00, 2, 3 7�aser Chris, 301�ass exercses 5 -5, 95-9, 254

38924�a sa, 333-35

�athews, C. �. 37250�ayer, Aber, 3�easreme: loca practces of 24,

25-2 7, 3940 33 4 potcs of,27-29, 3342, 3343, 3447 stadazaio of 24, 2933 77, 90

�edcie, atioa 322 4274442747

�egstu, Haile �arm, 248, 492�erima, Joh, 3709�s 7 3 4248 ad the

bdig of socialism 77 78 destructo of 335 39 dynamism of 33 -33,4294 429 5, 43070 as impicita expicabe 32 8- 3 , 4285428 8 429 0 429

nex 44

dagers of 294 Tazaia viages242-43 ad vlerabily to

pathoges 29�oaa armig Coporatio 98-200�oore, Saly alk, 49, 237, 3793�orga J P 98�oscow Le Corbusiers paed rebuild

g of, 3 384 39�oses Rober 88, 370 8, 3 877�ozambiqe: complsory vilagzato

i 3 40857�umford, Lews 5 5859, 103,

37020, 38333 3879

Namg pracices cstomary, 4patroyms 57 338

Napoleo, 37, 38Napoleo, Lois, 59-2, 95 3728Natre as repaced with aral re

sources" 3 sciece as emacpaofrom 9-97 scietc atempts ocoro, 5 22, 9495 uiitaavaue of 3

Nasm: as modesm, 89, 377Nehru, J awaharla, 13 3 Neso rd, 31 9Netherads: cadastral mappig 45

ladtax i 44-45, 3 78 3New Deh, 9, 29New coomc Polcy 208New Yo Ci: �ahata's grid pa

7 108 39 2



32, 347 by coectvized agrctre, 203 discrimiaig sae ierveio made easer by, 78 i foresmaagemet -22 o geometrcciies, 55-59 by he imposiio o aocia aguage, 7273 i lad eure practces 33 38-45 policalmotves for, 77 -7 8 privleged vatagepoi of, 79 i the edevelopme oParis 593 370 307, 3708,37022 by the stadardizaio o measreme 2933 77, 90 axao techques or 23-24 by rac cealzato 3-7

Legrad Sar pla, 7 37474a, PiereChares 03Le, Vlaimr . 88 94, 9, 3883

Q 4- 8 o heasymmetrcl relaoshp betwee revoltioay eaders ad he masses53 -, 78- 79 cassroom metaphoro 48-49 53, 39477 o th divsio o rvouioary abor 1 53

Lohma, Larry, 375 8 Lowood Hey 5Lacharsky, Aaoly 9 9Lyes, dwi 29Lxemburg Rosa , 47 48, 309

3934 as aesthetic ree spr3938 o he complexiy of revolio 18-74 1789 Leis approprao of 39 39 3 9 44

Lych Kevi 389Lyseo, Trom, 22

�agogorsk see complex, 2 8 3 54397 40274

�aier Chares S., 3804 , 3 8044�aaw: master armers pa , 20

Shre Valey projecs, 22 -28�aaya: paatio agricutre i 89,

90 9 vlagatoi, 88�alaysa: cotr wh mts ,

333-34 eera a schems 90 9 389 loca measurmetpractces i, 25

4288 4290, 429 ovaofrom 324 2 3 52 ocaess aparclay o 3 9 pluralism i340 vs. scieic expaato, 323-28,42852 socal cotext of 3333

�ec sysem, 30-33 34�iltay secriy: a he ceralzao

o traspor 75 -7 a the mappigo ciies 54 -5 7 8 ad the reroig o Pais 0- 37020 adtotal mobiatio 97

�iiauzatio, 4 257- 43 oorer i publc specacles, 9 iplaed setlemet 227 i ujamaa

vilages 2 2 20 i rba paig78

�irada, Suarez 53�iche, Timothy 3730�oe ea 88 3774�oocroppg 7, 2 22, 273 -82 exper

ima vaiabls lost by 289 90 iforest maagmt 19 -20 2338, 322 3227 logterm

7 108 392Nemeye Oscar 1 8 9, 1 25Noble, David, 337Nore, Joh, 45Noway: ad ere pracces , 38Novoselok viage 39 -44Nowck �atthew 3 Nssbam �arha 320, 4244 42 7Nyerere, Julis, 88 224 34 403 ,

4042 breaucraism o 24 409804098 1 hs esire o avoid coerco,224, 232 23 Dodoma pa o2590 goals behid vage formao, 229 -3 , 4021 4023 oders

compusory vilagizatio 234 37 4034 4035 i the Ruvma Deveopmet ssociatio asco, 233 34streamlig logc o, 237-38 tradtoa civatio practces rejecd by2442

Oakshot, �icha 3, 39, 332 34424 3, 43 9 0



ndex

Takl Staly 4 38809

Tazaa uamaa vllazao 3 2232293 03 01 0523; asttc dmso of 425 231; uracatc sts 232 2434540981 coco 22 23 1 3223 33 235 -36 ; ad commual producto 39- 0963 compsoyra of 6 23 -3 06 34 40635; forcotrol o arltura poduco238-39 40855 40856 Dodom apa 2 59 60; falur of 245-4 087 10 88 oc o mprovmt" 2; marzao 225260; moocropp 242 -43; as aato of radtoal praccs 2384142 otonal vlas 24; ploscms or 23 2 402 7; pot plasfor 2 42 24 3 poo r aras sld out for236 40743 poplar rssac to23536 310 30 40741 4074240747 ; rsmlac to otr slmt scms 3-5 404 044;rsdta ad labor rarcs 240; Ruvma Dvlopmt Assocaoasco 23334 spd o 234340738; sral loc of37 38 voay prod o 23 1Word Bak v of 23 1 2 41 7

azaa Afrca Naoa Uo (TANU),

24 corco sd y 232 3 3 405 28

Talad tattoo systm fo x popula

tos 85 86T Joa rc vo 1 85Tly Carls 8 36336 36894

368Tosoy Lo 252 309 39030Torrs lad ttl systm 5 1 58Trac ctraao o 3 6Tr K 360Trotsky Lo 88 13 1 6 205 3892 1Ts Aa Loaupt 8 88Tua Y 25 8 30 13usay catasto atmpd 66-6Ta Mark 31 7

Ud Stats cadastra mapp 49 51 36899; tusasm for mods arcltr 072; dustra farm 1 96- 01 398 139818 3982 3983; trs Sovts collctvzao 199 20 1scc orsty 14 36012

Uba pa ClAM mafso for 1031 1 4 1 1 8; dctaorsp of par 1 1 1 - 13; dvrsty ad complxy 13638 14 ctoal sparato 109 1 1; rds as a commody o 59; L Cobsrs ubult scms10317 38 mtrzato 57 58; prdco as 45; ad

t rtrot oPars 5 9 6 3 sm

Vaolato 325 6 3 3 4848

Vaa Maqs d V Torst 38042Vrcya rotsa stat arm a 2 14 1 6

4023Vat Ja 3 1 1 30Vr yrassau osp 3Vtam: ad tax 36 569 ; smpca

to o ad r 48; vazato 89 188

Vam Mmora 35556 43220Vllas ad Uamaa Vlas Act ( 9 )

2390Vlaato compso 89 1 88 ;

opa 3 24-52 1 19 4 11 94

41199 See also Tazaa uamaa vllzao

Wallac 200 267War arod 00201Wa Tylr rllo 68Wr 72 73 3764Ws ad masrs: loca practcs of

25-27 36314; formty 4 90

ndx

Wfar cooals m 9

Ws Arca arcra rsac statos 8 9 90; local arcuua xprmato 3 0- 5; local kold of fams 9 98 mazclvao 331; polycltr 8;s cltvao 82 -83 4156

Wld Oscar 89Wlso M. L 199 01 39822Wcaku Toca 3136Wt Sr 41Workrs' Opposo 148 159Workorul strks 256 3 10 1 1World Bak 231 241 24Word War I Grm coomc moza

to 98 100 162 38036 ad tRsa Rvoluo 159

Ya Go 41 204 08 3667 738035 01 47

Zamo Laar 57Zama u 87 195 343Zdas Sro 36674



24 corco sd y 2323 3 405 28as raco aast cooal artra poly 225 2 6 230; Rvma Dvopmt Assocato asco3334

Taxao absott 2 3 24 assssdva sams 67 6 8; avodac o 349 363 34; a d cadastra mapp4445; colcv om of 373836569; ad orst maam 1;Frc doraddo ax 7 8of ad 33 36 38 ad patao arcur 18 99 0 of Russa pasatadodrs 207 -8 ; ad sadardato o masurmt 2 93 0

Taxdrmy pla as 3 9 0ayor Frdrck 98-99 197 336aylorsm 9810 1 63 337 38

3801 3818 3852 dsafarm 97 337 38 vs. praccaold 3 1

Tc 31 93 42517s Valy Aory 6 2 24 22 7

20

t rtrot o Pars 5 96 3 smplcaos 3839 slum carac scms 11 6 10 1444 5388 10 8 vs soca aty 256 as axdrmy 13 90; ss of 56 261 309; vrsa 1 17 ; as a topa proct 1 1 16 See lso Basla

Uasm: omrc cs 56573691 t oal o ary modrsacraf 8 1 -8 3 modrs89-90 94 1 -1 6 19; Rsa admsratv 1 93 94; soca 9093 socast 94 163tcry 97

Va Larc 259Va dr Po Ja Dou 30 303

23 07Vadrs Pr 367 85Vard party srumtalsm f r

ctd by Lxmbur 69 70; pdaoca ro of 1 8 49 ; raosp oo masss 15056 161-61789

failed the institution for social and policy st

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