THE WORK OF THE ANCESTORS AND THE PROFIT OF THE LIVING - SOME NZEMA ECONOMIC IDEAS

This article; based on fieldwork, explores the main economic categorie s of the Nzema, matrilineal farmers of South West Ghana, with the aim of reconstructing a local economic theory. The starting point is that any economic theory is logically founded in its own principles and tha t the internal coherence of a theory depends on its ability to represe nt the interests of the society to which it is applied. The work of an cestors appears as a founding idea in relation to other ideas like tha t of profit engendered by the work of the living. The author, however, analyses these categories, particularly emphasising the use of termin ology in various contexts of daily life and in the economic lexicon as a whole, in order to trace an unitary space in which the logic of a s ystem of thought could be considered. In order to verify the coherence of this system the author conducts a comparative analysis between the Nzema categories and the corresponding western categories organised a s different theories such as neo-classical marginalism, Marx's value o f work and, finally, Chayanov's theory founded on an utility concept. The central core of the Nzema's theory concerning work and profit is t hat the work of ancestors, first conceived as the ideological and juri dical basis for the rights of their descendants over cultivable land, turns as well into a profit producer to the advantage of the living un der the condition that it should be materialised as a means of product ion like, for example, the coconut trees, which were planted by the an cestors, and now produce a profit for their descendants.