ABSTRACT
The demographic regime of African peripheral capitalism is frequently characterized by high fertility and a high incidence of migrations. Migrants leave Niger from October through December and return the following April and May to prepare and cultivate their fields during the rainy season, which begins in May or June. Seasonal migrations are also very important to the Nigerien state, which had a history of heavy dependence on migrant earnings during the colonial and postcolonial periods. The differences between the cruel methods of the Voulet-Chanoine mission and what became standard procedures of the French administration were those of both degree and kind, but violence was a frequent tool of colonial domination throughout Niger. Appropriation by the French military of peasant production and labor was soon stepped up through imposition of a head tax. Administrative offices, quarters, warehouses, granaries, and other out-buildings were required, as were stables, wells, and even gardens.
