ABSTRACT
The basic assumption is that, in the domestic community, biological reproduction should be viewed not as a 'natural process' (in the line of Malthus), but rather as a political-economic process (in the line of Marx). A new and rather original elaboration upon Marx's view on demographic developments is to be found in Meillassoux's recent theories on the 'domestic' community (a model based on the old African agricultural communities). According to Meillassoux, biological reproduction played an essential part in the functioning of communities of this type. But, in several aspects, Meillassoux did not appear to be fully consistent in his application of Marx's premise to domestic organizational patterns. The example of the Nyakyusa, to be analysed here, suggests that, in this type of community also, demographic reproduction was not directly determined by the objective requirements of the production process (as Meillassoux sometimes seems to think), but rather by the political interests of the 'domestic' authorities — the elders.
