heart of understanding the “border,

heart of understanding the “border,” for the foundation of the Shabe border identity is precisely the point at which a sense of “deep placement” and locatedness in the region meets the act of transborder exchange, with all its associated sociopolitical processes, networks, relations, and possibilities for making money. The “border” has been forged by emphasizing both residential claims and economic claims to involvement in the processes of transborder trade.
Shabe border residents assert control over nonlocal movement in their region in two ways. First, they tax goods and people who pass through their communities. During the dry season, they erect roadblocks to stop traffic so that they can impose a toll on all passing vehicles. When trucks carrying groups of migrant laborers pass through the region, an additional head tax is levied on each passenger.³ ' Large trucks are charged more than cars, yet truckdrivers who regularly pass through and who maintain good relationships with the towns are charged less than unfamiliar truckdrivers. This suggests different levels of relations between nonlocals and border residents, but it is important to point out that no nonlocal cars, trucks, or persons (except police, customs officials, and other state representatives) are allowed to pass through the border region without paying a fee; toll-free passage is a privilege reserved only for members of the “border.”
During the rainy season, when the Okpara is full and can only be crossed by canoes, locals charge a steep fee for transporting nonlocal passengers and goods across the river. Canoe work is an important cooperative activity between villages on either side of the river and is supported by a highly organized system of labor. At the primary cross-border route, teams of local young men participate in weeklong shifts; they are supervised by two elders, one from each village on either side of the river. Every week two teams of two young men---one team from each villag work the canoes. One member of each team is assigned responsibility for collecting and recording transport fees and the other is designated as chief rower. At the end of the day, the canoes are locked up and the teams pool all their money and then divide it in half. The men then return to their respective villages and remit the day’s income to the responsible elder, who pays the workers a percentage of the earnings and deposits the remainder in a village savings box. Every able-bodied local man aged 1 8 to 40 years is given the opportunity to work one week of every season, and the elders maintain lists of available workers and assign the shifts. If there are men who have not had an opportunity to work by the end of the rainy season, when the river waters recede and vehicles and pedestrians can once again cross the dry riverbed, they will be the first ones assigned shifts at the beginning of the following season.''
It is significant that local in the context of canoe work is clearly defined by the elders as continuous and upstanding residence in the Okpara region for at least two years. Eligibility for participating in “being the border” by controlling trade and traffic movement across the river is determined by length of residenc not by kinship or ethnicity—pending their record of upstanding and respectable good citizenship. A further key point about membership in the “border” is revealed by the flow of money into and out of the toll savings boxes. In Ogbori, Nigeria, and lbere, Bénin, toll profits are used only for common village needs such as the construction and improvement of market stalls or other public buildings or for food and drink expenses for welcoming prestigious village visitors. In Papo, the second Béninois town, the money remaining in the savings box at the end of every calendar year is equally divided among all adult residents, women as well as men. In each case, it is members of the “border” who reap some small profit from the taxation of goods and people, whether collectively or individually. And in Papo, where the revenues are equally divided, the privilege of receiving a portion of the profits is again defined by continuous residency inthe area—not by kinship, ethnicity, or gender. The second way in which border residents actively involve themselves in the passage of people and goods through their region is by acting as mediators between nonlocal traders and customs guards. Nonlocal traders seek the brokerage services of locals in negotiating bribes with the guards. Generally, the greater the value and quantity of goods being brought through

Kết quả (Việt) 1:

Trung tâm của sự hiểu biết "biên giới", cho nền tảng của bản sắc biên giới Shabe là chính xác điểm mà tại đó một cảm giác "vị trí sâu" và locatedness trong vùng đáp ứng việc trao đổi transborder, với tất cả các liên quan đến quy trình sociopolitical, mạng, quan hệ, và khả năng cho việc kiếm tiền. "Biên giới" đã được giả mạo bằng cách nhấn mạnh yêu cầu bồi thường dân cư và kinh tế tuyên bố với sự tham gia trong quá trình thương mại transborder.Shabe biên giới cư dân assert kiểm soát đối với các phong trào nonlocal của vùng theo hai cách. Trước tiên, họ thuế hàng hóa và những người đi qua cộng đồng của họ. Trong mùa khô, họ dựng các rào chắn để ngăn chặn giao thông do đó, rằng họ có thể áp đặt một số trên tất cả các xe đi qua. Khi xe tải mang nhóm của người lao động di cư qua vùng, một bổ sung đầu thuế được áp dụng trên mỗi hành khách. ³ ' xe tải lớn phải trả nhiều hơn xe ô tô, nhưng truckdrivers người thường xuyên đi qua và những người duy trì mối quan hệ tốt với các thị trấn phải trả ít hơn truckdrivers không quen thuộc. Điều này cho thấy các cấp độ khác nhau của mối quan hệ giữa nonlocals và cư dân biên giới, nhưng nó là quan trọng để chỉ ra rằng không có nonlocal xe ô tô, xe tải hoặc người (ngoại trừ cảnh sát, các quan chức hải quan và đại diện tiểu bang khác) được phép đi qua vùng biên giới mà không phải trả một khoản phí; điện thoại miễn phí qua là một đặc ân dành riêng chỉ dành cho thành viên của "biên giới".During the rainy season, when the Okpara is full and can only be crossed by canoes, locals charge a steep fee for transporting nonlocal passengers and goods across the river. Canoe work is an important cooperative activity between villages on either side of the river and is supported by a highly organized system of labor. At the primary cross-border route, teams of local young men participate in weeklong shifts; they are supervised by two elders, one from each village on either side of the river. Every week two teams of two young men---one team from each villag work the canoes. One member of each team is assigned responsibility for collecting and recording transport fees and the other is designated as chief rower. At the end of the day, the canoes are locked up and the teams pool all their money and then divide it in half. The men then return to their respective villages and remit the day’s income to the responsible elder, who pays the workers a percentage of the earnings and deposits the remainder in a village savings box. Every able-bodied local man aged 1 8 to 40 years is given the opportunity to work one week of every season, and the elders maintain lists of available workers and assign the shifts. If there are men who have not had an opportunity to work by the end of the rainy season, when the river waters recede and vehicles and pedestrians can once again cross the dry riverbed, they will be the first ones assigned shifts at the beginning of the following season.''It is significant that local in the context of canoe work is clearly defined by the elders as continuous and upstanding residence in the Okpara region for at least two years. Eligibility for participating in “being the border” by controlling trade and traffic movement across the river is determined by length of residenc not by kinship or ethnicity—pending their record of upstanding and respectable good citizenship. A further key point about membership in the “border” is revealed by the flow of money into and out of the toll savings boxes. In Ogbori, Nigeria, and lbere, Bénin, toll profits are used only for common village needs such as the construction and improvement of market stalls or other public buildings or for food and drink expenses for welcoming prestigious village visitors. In Papo, the second Béninois town, the money remaining in the savings box at the end of every calendar year is equally divided among all adult residents, women as well as men. In each case, it is members of the “border” who reap some small profit from the taxation of goods and people, whether collectively or individually. And in Papo, where the revenues are equally divided, the privilege of receiving a portion of the profits is again defined by continuous residency inthe area—not by kinship, ethnicity, or gender. The second way in which border residents actively involve themselves in the passage of people and goods through their region is by acting as mediators between nonlocal traders and customs guards. Nonlocal traders seek the brokerage services of locals in negotiating bribes with the guards. Generally, the greater the value and quantity of goods being brought through