Women in Rural Development: The Case Study of the Office du Niger in Mali 1960 to 2010 By Dienabou Barry a Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Approved Dissertation Committee Professor Dr. Marc Frey Professor of History, Universitat der Bundeswehr München Professor Dr. Corinna Unger Professor of History, European University Institute, Florence, Italy Professor Dr. Julia Tischler Professor of History, University of Basel, Switzerland Date of Defense: 27th November, 2020 Department of Social Sciences & Humanities Statutory Declaration Family Name, Given/First Name BARRY, DIENABOU Matriculation number 20331535 What kind of thesis are you submitting? PhD Thesis Bachelor-, Master- or PhD-Thesis English: Declaration of Authorship I hereby declare that the thesis submitted was created and written solely by myself without any external support. Any sources, direct or indirect, are marked as such. I am aware of the fact that the contents of the thesis in digital form may be revised with regard to usage of unauthorized aid as well as whether the whole or parts of it may be identified as plagiarism. I do agree my work to be entered into a database for it to be compared with existing sources, where it will remain in order to enable further comparisons with future theses. This does not grant any rights of reproduction and usage, however. The thesis has been written independently and has not been submitted at any other University for the conferral of a PhD degree; neither has the thesis been previously published in full. German: Erklärung der Autorenschaft (Urheberschaft) Ich erkläre hiermit, dass die vorliegende Arbeit ohne fremde Hilfe ausschließlich von mir erstellt und geschrieben worden ist. Jedwede verwendeten Quellen, direkter oder indirekter Art, sind als solche kenntlich gemacht worden. Mir ist die Tatsache bewusst, dass der Inhalt der Thesis in digi taler Form geprüft werden kann im Hinblick darauf, ob es sich ganz oder in Teilen um ein Plagia t handelt. Ich bin damit einverstanden, dass meine Arbeit in einer Datenbankeingegeben werdenk ann, um mit bereits bestehenden Quellen verglichen zu werden und dort auchverbleibt, um mit z ukünftigen Arbeiten verglichen werden zu können. Dies berechtigt jedochnicht zur Verwendung oder Vervielfältigung. Diese Arbeit wurde in der vorliegenden Form weder einer anderen Prüfungsbehörde vorgelegtno ch wurde das Gesamtdokument bisher veröffentlicht. 02.09.2020 ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Date, Signature ii Abstract Women in Rural Development: The Case Study of the Office du Niger in Mali 1960 to 2010 by DIENABOU BARRY The Office du Niger [hereafter, ON] in Mali was created by the French colonial authorities in 1932 with the goal of establishing a textile industry and producing rice for the local population. When the former colony of Soudan became independent in 1960, the ON came under the authority of the new Malian state and was nationalized. In the following years, the new Malian authorities made this enterprise in the heart of the Malian development process with an emphasis on achieving food self-sufficiency and increasing food exports. In the context of decolonization and the Cold War, the Malian government has followed the socialist model of development. Specially, its new statesman, Modibo Keita formulated a resolution which was approved in September 1960. According to this resolution, new economic structures were supposed to be established to build a socialist economy by investing into Mali’s people, both men and women as the basis and main driver of the nation’s development. Since then, the ON absorbed a large share of public investment, and collective work at the village level was promoted. Farmers, men as well as women, became organized in agricultural associations in order to increase productivity and to raise the living standard of dwellers. Over times, political changes occurring in Bamako as well as decision-making in the level of the ON management level did influence the functioning of the irrigation scheme, not to mention the international community. This study investigates the historical evolution of women’s situation in the ON and the role they have played in the rural development process initiated through the lens of the irrigation scheme from 1960 to 2010. By analyzing the historical situation of women and their role, this research project came down to asking whether during the study period there a possible change of their position over time was, or whether they remained in the background. This study key results reveal how during the entire period between 1960 and 1970, women farmers situation in the ON villages did not change in terms of rural development policy, because they were simply seen as family members, mothers and wives as well as simple observers of the development process that was underway in their communities. Rural development policy in force at the time did not iii Abstract consider women's interests and concerns. Changes in women’s socioeconomic situation and role in the ON started to occur only from the first half of the 1980s with the international community influence through the structural adjustment reforms. By using archival documents, in-depth interviews and secondary literature, this study entend to show when and how these changes occurred and what all this tell us about women in rural development in the Office du Niger. iv Acknowledgement I thank God for the courage and the many blessings upon my journey to take me far into completing my Doctor of Philosophy degree. I am very grateful to the Volkswagen Foundation which funded the research project and made possible this dissertation. I am also very thankful to the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) which provided me stipend for the short period of six months from January to June 2020 within the framework of the STIBET III stipend program. This stipend greatly helped me completing the dissertation. I cannot even begin to thank professors Dr. Marc Frey and Corinna R. Unger for trusting me to perform this work as a PhD candidate by providing supervisory roles in carrying out this research, they teached me the spirit of independence and initiative in intellectual development and construction. Their time, comments as well as suggestions and advices accompanied me throughout the realization of this work. I want these two professors, who believed in my intellectual and human capacities, find here all my gratitude. I want to thank Prof. Dr. Julia Tischler for accepting to be an external for my Dissertation Committee although; it is of considerable inconvenience for her to travel from Switzerland especially in this context of many restrictions due to Corona virus crisis. Thanks to Dr. Svenja Frischholz and Bianca Maria Bergmann who put me in very good working conditions at Jacobs University Bremen and helped this research project get successful. Many thanks to Mr. Emil Schreyger, who from the start of this research project received me at his home in Zurich, Switzerland for a long interview, that revolved round his knowledge about the Office du Niger. His advices and encouragements were extremely helpful, may he find here all my gratitude. I am very thankful to Professor Cheikh Ibrahima Niang, specialist on Social Anthropology and Environment Sciences and all members of the SAHARA Program (Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS Research Alliance for West Africa Program) specially Oumy Touré. My stay among the professor's group helped me understand the qualitative research approach and all the assets a young historian like me can gain by integrating in her research a socio-anthropological approach. v Acknowledgement Also, many thanks to Professors Boubacar Barry (University Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar), Babacar Fall (University Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar), Ousseynou Faye (University Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar), Isaie Dougnon (University of Fordham, United States and University of Bamako, Mali), Vittorio Morabito, and Amidu Magasa (University of Bamako) who were kind enough to bring me their suggestions and advice for a good process of this thesis. I am incredibly grateful to Mr. Seiba Diallo, at that time head of the ON's documentation services. Mr. Diallo opened the doors of the ON's archives to me whenever I felt the need. I could access these archives even on Saturdays and Sundays, on days when these archives were closed to the public. This situation was possible due to the permission I got from Seiba Diallo, who gave me the keys to the premises through his assistant. I sincerely thank Mr. Yacouba Coulibaly who opened the doors of the Nyeta-Conseil research institute (Ségou, Mali) to me and made a very large number of documents available to me, not to mention the facilities he provided me during my field visits. I am thankful to the staff of Jacobs University Library, Staats-und Universitätsbibliothek Bremen, German Overseas Institute in Hamburg, Archives in Savigny-Le-Temple and Courneuve Aubervilliers at Paris, National Archives of Senegal at Dakar, National Archives of Mali at Bamako, and Office du Niger Archives at Ségou. I thank all my colleagues at Jacobs University Bremen, Aliya Tonkobayeva, Verena Kröss and Karen Bugow for being such interesting and wonderful colleagues who have facilitated my participation in this large project on the International History of Rural Development due to their listening and sharing spirit; Patience Bonsu for her support from the beginning up to the end of this dissertation writing; Maty Sané for her kind advices and suggestions and Dr. Sabur Olarotimi Badmos for very fruitful advices, and the last tunings of this dissertation thesis. These lovely people have been the family away from my home. All of whom, suffered, my inappropriate jokes and emotional outbursts with so much of tolerance, that I am unable express my gratitude towards them even if they might not understand the necessity in doing so. I am very thankful to Jacobs University community for teaching me how to accept and respect diverse nationalities and cultures from different countries.