Historical research on the West African path of economic development: The case of textile industry

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K13548
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 07070:Economic history-related
• Research Institution: Waseda University
• Principal Investigator: Kobayashi Kazuo 早稲田大学, 政治経済学術院, 准教授 (00823189)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 西アフリカ / 発展径路 / 繊維産業 / 熱帯 / 季節性 / 大西洋奴隷貿易 / 労働力

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this project, I have explored the developmental path of West Africa from the precolonial to postcolonial periods, focusing on the textile industry. In my monograph, a Japanese book, I discussed it during the precolonial period in details. In the meanwhile, in an article publihsed from the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History, I highlighted continuities in textile production such as seasonality, gender-based division of labour, and weaving technology, from the precolonial period to later periods.

Free Research Field

経済史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

季節性、土壌の質、繊維産業の性別役割分業や技術など、植民地化以前における地域経済や繊維産業の特徴の一部が、現在においてもみられる点が確認された。また、南アジアや東南アジアなど他の熱帯地域との比較研究を進める上での参照軸を提供したことが考えられる。