Rice was historically a “total social phenomenon” in Sierra Leone, molding rural identities through farming. Crop yields are rapidly declining, forcing change among people who once claimed to be “wealthy” from rice and now face severe food insecurity. In response to change, they can take out loans—offered by “strangers”—to continue farming rice, or they can “diversify” and farm alternative crops. Low rice yields largely condemn those who accept a loan to farming solely to pay their debts, a “poverty trap” that most cannot overcome. However, the majority of farmers in our study area accepted seed and tractor loans, arguing that rice is “the only way” to offer their children a better life through education—even as no children from the villages have procured waged jobs—as it is the only commercial crop that pays school fees. We argue that thinking in terms of fetishes offers a constructive analysis of the dissolution of total social phenomena. Devoting the next generation to the new “fetish” of education is paradoxically dependent on retaining one's commitment to the old fetish of rice, allowing the usurious stranger to profit from this paradox.

中文翻译：

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高利贷的陌生人和“更美好的明天”：塞拉利昂农村的农业贷款、教育和“贫困陷阱”

在历史上，水稻在塞拉利昂是一种“全面的社会现象”，通过耕作塑造了农村身份。作物产量正在迅速下降，迫使曾经声称靠大米“致富”但现在面临严重粮食不安全的人们做出改变。为了应对变化，他们可以通过“陌生人”提供的贷款继续种植水稻，或者他们可以“多样化”并种植替代作物。水稻产量低在很大程度上谴责了那些接受贷款以务农只是为了偿还债务的人，这是大多数人无法克服的“贫困陷阱”。然而，我们研究区的大多数农民都接受了种子和拖拉机贷款，认为大米是通过教育为他们的孩子提供更好生活的“唯一途径”——即使村里没有孩子找到有薪工作——因为它是唯一支付学费的经济作物。我们认为，从恋物癖的角度思考可以对整个社会现象的消解提供建设性的分析。矛盾的是，将下一代投入到新的“迷信”教育中，却依赖于保持对大米的旧迷信，从而让高利贷的陌生人从这一悖论中获利。