Tribesman, trader, peasant and proletarian: The process of transition from pre-capitalist 'Natural Economy' to a capitalist mode of production in the Hinterland of the Kimberley Diamond Fields during the 19th century.

African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented October, 1978The concern of this paper is to attempt a critical investigation of the significance and implications of the penetration of capitalism and the colonial state into the geographical area of Griqualand West and British Bechuanaland in the 19th Century. The focus will be on the nature of the transition (‘transitional conjuncture’, ‘articulation of modes of production’) from pre-capitalist ‘natural economy’ to capitalist modes of production in the context of the industrializing political economy centred on the Kimberley Diamond Fields. More specifically, an attempt will be made to look at the evolving relationships between that emergent capitalist 'centre' and the immediate hinterland, examining the effects of the penetration of merchant capital (+- 1760-1860s), and of the industrialization process (from 1870 to 1900) on the societies and peoples of that region