Class Dynamics at the Margins: Capitalist Relations Among Shea Nut Collectors in Burkina Faso and Ghana

Abstract

In recent decades, the increasing international demand for shea nuts has resulted in changes to the livelihoods of women collecting and processing these nuts in West Africa. Market integration of shea nut collectors affects social dynamics as capitalist relations and significant income differences among the collectors emerge. Using survey data, we establish a typology to describe shea nut collectors, based on the financial capital that they invest in shea and their other sources of income. We show that a small group of collector-traders is able to benefit from the shea boom through the sale of shea nuts purchased from other collectors at a lower price. Conversely, a larger group of dedicated and diversified collectors are compelled to sell their nuts at a low price for their subsistence. This interdependence highlights capitalist relations, income gaps and social differentiation among the collectors. This process intersects with gendered access to ownership and income control. Our analysis challenges common assumptions about the potential of market integration to achieve win–win scenario and shows that unequal development is constitutive of such approaches. Despite the limited role of shea nut collection in household income, we argue that the social differentiation at play shares similarities with that observed for cash crops in other cases of agrarian change. We conclude by highlighting that shea nut collectors need to be perceived as a heterogeneous group, navigating the intricacies of capitalist market integration with different interests and opportunities.