Negotiating Development: African Farmers and Colonial Experts at the Office Du Niger, 1920-1960

An in-depth examination of the interaction between French colonial development theory and practice at the Office du Niger in what was then French Soudan (Mali). - Focusing on the Office du Niger's irrigation project it analyses how and why development policies emerge, persist and change - The author argues that Africans not only influenced farming and marketing practices, but also re-shaped French concepts of rural development, as well as transforming French colonial perceptions of Africans and African societies. - Of importance to historians of colonialism in African as well as to scholars, students and policy makers working on issues of development theory and practice.