People in between: the Matawai Maroons of Suriname

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18
Conclusion

In this part we have elaborated on some of the recent developments in Matawai tribal and urban societies. We have indicated the interdependence of the two segments and pointed to the fact that both are becoming increasingly involved in the wider Surinamese society.

As has been frequently observed migration may have positive effects on the area of origin. This is often the case when migration is circular or seasonal, when close contacts are maintained and monetary remittances are sent to relatives in the village. Moreover, returning migrants may develop new initiatives or may use the money they have earned to invest in small-scale enterprises in the village. The positive function migration may have, has been emphasized in studies of Watson (1958) and van Velsen (1960).

However, more often migration has less positive effects for the area of origin. Migration and in particular labour migration tends to be selective in the sense that the most capable persons are among the migrants (but see for a critical review on selective migration, Hofstee 1952). It may result in a decline of the local food production (see Nolan 1974). In this context we may also refer to the extensive neo-Marxist literature in which the decline of the domestic mode of production and the proletarization of the migrant workers are stressed (Amin 1973; Amselle 1976).

In the case of the Matawai, the effect of migration on the home community is closely related to the phase of the migratory process. The rate of migration and the consequences for the area of origin, varies in the upriver and downriver areas. In the upriver area where

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migration started only recently, most of the men are engaged in seasonal work in the coastal area and return after a period of three to four months in boats loaden with city goods. A number of young men now live more or less permanently on the coast. These migrants, who often maintain close relations with their relatives in the villages, have created new labour opportunities by temporary employing relatives in house building and boat making. Several of the older men no longer participate each year in wage labour on the coast and remain in the village during the labour season. In the middle- and downriver villages where migration has a longer tradition, the situation is quite different. Most men are away and the few older men who remain in the village belong almost all to the category of village functionaries.

To analyse the consequences of migration in the different areas, it is apt to consider migration as a process in which successive decisions are made by the individual migrant. Following the vocabulary of the Cultural Ecologists we may call this process adaptive strategy (Bennett 1976; Whitten and Whitten 1972; Graves and Graves 1974). In the course of the decision making process the migrant will exchange options in the tribal area for new ones in the coastal area. The loss of options in the village will be particularly great when his career coincides with a flow of people from his home village to the coast. Many of the men, for example, who work in the coastal area plan to return when they reach superannuation age. However, the chance that an individual will return dimishes if most of his relatives have joined him in the city and his home village is largely deserted. There is a certain point in the process of adaptation to town life (that may be indicated by the number of people who work in specific city jobs such as taxi-driver or shopkeeper), when the migration process becomes irreversible and return migration becomes increasingly unlikely.

The significant point as regards policy making for the interior is that conditions of the migrant community are as relevant as the situation in the tribal villages. Developments in both areas are inseparable. Therefore, policies should aim at affecting the migrant community as well as the tribal villages.