Network Analysis in East Africa: The Social Organization of Urban Transients*

DAVID J A C 0 B S 0 N / Brandeis University

Des analyses sociologiques de villes en Afrique de l’Est et ailleurs, indiquent qu’elles peuvent &tre dkrites de fwon utile en tant que composantes de r6seaux sociaux. On a cherch6, rkemment, B classifier les propri6tbs structurales de plusieurs genres de dseaux. Cependant, on a n6glig6 l’analyse de facteurs sous- jacents B la persistance de ces rbaux. Cet article est centre sur la mobilit6 gdographique que l’on conqoit comme l’un ces facteurs. De cette mani&re, on est non seulement amen6 B mieux comprendre les r6seaux sociaux urbains mais aussi B sugg6rer une compl&te refonte de la th6orie sociologique urbaine classique. Sociological analysis of towns in East Africa, and elsewhere, indicate that they may be usefully described as composites of social networks. Recently much discussion has been directed towards a classification of the structural proper- ties of various kinds of networks. However, less attention has been paid to an analysis of the factors underlying the persistence of these networks. This paper focuses on geographical mobility as one such factor, not only as a means of understanding urban social networks but also to suggest a rethinking of clas- sical urban sociological theory.

Towns in East Africa, like towns elsewhere, are composed of discrete net- works, most of which extend beyond the urban centre to dserent hinter- lands or to other urban centres. Because of the non-localized nature of these networks, there appears to be confusion in urban social life when the unit of analysis is confined to the locality within the town’s boundaries. However, when networks are taken as the analytical units, they are seen to provide a context within urban life for continuing, ordered systems of social relations. This interpretation of urban social networks is not new in anthropological literature; for example, Cohn and Marriott (1958 : 1-9) have suggested it for India, and Gutkind (1965a:125) has done so for East Africa. However, less attention has been paid to an analysis of the factors underlying the persistence of these networks. This paper focuses on occupationally-based geographical mobility as one factor. An analysis of geographical mobility is important not only because it helps explain urban social networks in East Africa, but also because an understanding

* This paper was read in a symposium on ‘Vrban Social Networks: International Comparisons,” at the 48th Annual Meeting of the Central States Anthropological Society, Milwaukee, May 1969. 281

Rev. canad. Soc. & AnthJCanad. Rev. Soc. & Anth. 7(4) 1970

of its integrative, rather than disruptive, role necessitates a rethinking of classical urban sociological theory.

The networks described in this paper are based on observations of friendship behaviour among Africans in the town of Mbale, Uganda.l Mbale is a regional administrative and commercial centre of approximately 20,000, and its functional bases provide difEerent occupational opportd- ties which underlie the division of the Africans in the town into an elite and non-elite.2 These townsmen are in friendship networks which do not articulate with one another, a fact which is related in part to their d ~ e r e n t patterns of geographical mobility.

These various networks are socio-centric abstractions, although they are composed of overlapping friendship sets and thus have ego-centric properties as weL8 In other words, each individual has a few, friends with whom he spends most of his leisure time; these constitute his friendship set. Sometimes a man will be included in two, or more rarely, in three such sets. The individuals who participate in two or more sets link people to- gether to form an over-all network. In order to construct these networks, analysis is done of both former and current friendship sets, so that be- haviour at a future time, which is implied in the network concept, is in- ferred from the relation between past and present behaviour.

Friendships among the elite Africans in Mbale are contained within the elite and cut across ethnic lines. The elite’s friendship choices are limited to others who are also well-educated, employed in senior positions in the bureaucracies of government, para-government, or private firms, and rela- tively wealthy. In fact, most elite friendships are between men who are co-workers and most of these (82 per cent) are ethnically heterogeneous. Moreover, these friendship sets overlap with one another, forming, in composite, a single multi-ethnic elite network. The significance of the heterogeneity of this elite network is that it stands in sharp contrast to the divisive ethnic factionalism reported among the general Uganda population (Burke, 1964; Edel, 1965). In contrast to the friendships of elite Africans in Mbale, the friendships

of the non-elite Africans in the town are organized along ethnic lines. Friendships among the non-elite do not form a single multi-ethnic network; rather, the pattern is one of a series of discrete, ethnically homogeneous groups. Most non-elite Africans in the town live in “tribal enclaves,” a

1 Field work in 1965-66 was supported by a grant (MH 11477) from the National Institute of Mental Hedth, to which I express my appreciation.

2 The “eliie’’ includes senior civil servants and other high-ranking bureaucrats, while the “non-elite” includes skilled and unskilled labourers. My use of the terms “elite” and %on-elite” follows that of P. C. Lloyd (1966:4). See his discussion of the advantage and limitations of their use. In an earlier article (Jacobson, 1968), I have presented a fuller description of the social composition of the elite and non-elite Africans of Mbale.

3 My usage of the terms “socio-centric” and ‘‘ego-centric” as they apply to network analysis follows that of J. A. Barnes (1968). 282

pattern which has also been described by Gutkind for non-elite Africans living in other Uganda towns (1965b:395-396).

The divisions between elite and non-elite Africans and among the non- elite themselves are based on discontinuities in reciprocity, although reci- procity does obtain within each of the different elite and non-elite net- works. Gouldner makes a useful distinction between “reciprocity” on the one hand and “complementarity” on the other (1960: 168-169, 174-175). Complementarity means that one’s rights are another’s duties and vice versa; in this respect, the friendship role itself is only the mutual expecta- tions, in an abstract sense, which hold between friends at any given time. Reciprocity, by contrast, implies a series of transactions over time between individuals who claim a friendship relation.

One conation underlying an orderly social relationship is the confidence which each party to it has of the other’s reliability in meeting role obliga- tions.’ That is, reciprocity or exchange in a social relationship requires some estimation of the other person’s trustworthiness to fulfill his duties at some future time. Estimates of reliability or social credit can be made in several different ways which are usually based on an evaluation of a per- son’s past behaviour and its implication for future behaviour. Knowledge of past behaviour may be based on first-hand experience or indirectly by reputation. Another possibility is by association; that is, an unknown indi- vidual‘s social credit may be established on the reliability of the people with or to whom he is related.s However, trust may also be estimated on the expectation of future behaviour alone. Of course, the principle holds for distrust, as well. For example, in Liebow’s study of negro streetcorner men, the instability of their current friendships is directly related to their expectations of problematic future association (1967: 64-71 ) ; (204-207). Thus, for both elite and non-elite Africans in Mbale, knowledge of past inter- action as well as anticipation of future interaction provide the foundations for present interaction. The probability of future association lends credibility to current relationships, and among townsmen in East Africa, common mobility patterns increase that probability.

It is in this sense that the elite’s geographical mobility is conducive to reciprocity and sustains their friendship network. The elite work for or- ganizations which transfer their senior employees regularly and frequently. The central government, for example, moves its senior civil servants from post to post fairly often so that 73 per cent of the elite Africans in Mbale had lived in the town for less than three years. Related to the frequency of moves, 63 per cent of the elite had worked and lived in more than three Werent towns in Uganda. Evidence of the importance for elite friendships of movement from town to town is the proportion of current friendships

4 C. Arensberg (1968:156) among others, also relates the stability of cunrent ex- changes to positive expectations to future interaction.

5 See Eric Wolfe’s discussion of family filiation and social credit ratings (1966). 283

first established in other towns. Of a sample of elite friendships, about 30 per cent were first made in Mbale, but the remaining 70 per cent were first made elsewhere through work in the major towns of Uganda. There fore, a sipiicant condition for their friendships in Mbale is that these men were together at some work place prior to their Mbale posting and were brought together again through their current assignments.

The elite’s mobility, their movement from town to town, keeps them encapsulated in their own friendship network. Elite Africans arrive in Mbale and make contact with friends they know from other towns. They move from one town to another with the names of their current friends’ friends. In what appears to be a very fluid social situation marked by a high mobility rate among the elite, the newcomer fits into the local seg- ment of an elite friendship network which extends throughput Uganda. Because the elite are transferred from town to town, they are able to, and expect to, meet, over time, many elite Africans and to see again those they have met before. They are aware of continuing social relations among the elite. By giving a sense of confidence in the continuation of their friendships, the elite’s mobility encourages them to participate in the system in any one place and time.

The non-elite Africans of Mbale are also geographically mobile, but they have a different pattern of movement which has important consequences for their relationship to the elite and for their relationship to one another. When the non-elite move into and out of Mbale, they usually move back and forth from their natal homes, rather than to other towns. Of those non-elite Africans who live in Mbale and work in wage employment, 58 per cent have been in town for less than five years. Yet, even with their transience in Mbale, the non-elite Africans have not worked in many towns: 67 per cent have worked in only one town other than Mbale and only 14 per cent have worked and lived in more than three different towns in Uganda. Thus, the circulation of non-elite Africans is primarily between town and country and contrasts with the movement of elite Africans which is primady from town to town. The elite are essentially urban-based, the non-elite are rural-based, and the two do not meet, over time, in different towns.

Furthermore, the occupationally-based mobility patterns of elite and non-elite Africans in Uganda suggest that towns there will remain com- posites of unarticulated networks. The geographical mobility of both elite the non-elite Africans is tied to their work, and it thus seems likely that the elite network will remain urban-based, while the non-elite networks will remain rural-based. Limited occupational opportunities will continue to separate elite and non-elite Africans. Most elite Africans in Uganda work in government employment; there are few in commerce, since most large-scale trade in the country is controlled by Asians (Fallers, 1964: 125, 145-7; Goldthorpe, 1965:60-63). As senior civil servants, the elite Afri- cans’ work lives are spent in Uganda’s towns, which are administrative 284

and service centres, and correspondingly their network is and will remain urban and nation-wide. In contrast to the elite, most non-elite Africans in Uganda are unskilled

workers who must supplement their wages with either cash-cropping or subsistence agriculture. Correspondingly, the chances of the non-elite breaking away from their rural base are minimal. Without an urban social welfare system and limited in their incomes, the non-elite are of economic necessity, if for no other reason, forced to retain links with their home areas and the security provided there. Thus as Ekan has suggested, it is quite probable that despite the attraction of town life, the non-elite African in East Africa will remain part of a system of rural-urban circular migra- tion (1967581-589). As present merences in their occupations and related patterns of geographical mobility support the lack of articulation between the networks of elite and non-elite and among the non-elite, so it is likely that future trends will maintain that separation between these social networks in the towns. Thus, the fact and the expectation of a common pattern of mobility is

basic to order within dif€erent urban social networks. This view of mobility as an integrative factor in urban social organization differs from the one offered by Wirth in the now classic “Urbanism as a Way of Life” (1964 [1938]). There it was argued that transient populations “comprise the fluid masses that make collective behaviour in the urban community so unpredictable and hence so problematical” ( 1964: 75-76). This argument also marks more contemporary urban sociological analysis, e.g., Cloward’s and Ohlin’s statement that geographic mobility is one of the “forces making for instability in the social organization of some slum areas ... Forces of this kind keep a community off balance, for tentative efforts to defelop social organization are quickly checked. Transiency and instability become the overriding features of social life” (1960:172).6 That geo- graphically mobile “fluid masses” comprise urban populations in East Africa is indeed the case, but that these transient urban populations are unordered is clearly not so. This description of urban social networks pro- vides one means of understanding urban social order, and this analysis indicates that mobility is basic to that order.

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