GEOGRAPHICAL NARRATIVE OF SOCIAL CAPITAL: A CASE STUDY OF KARENGA SUB-COUNTY

Abstract

Social capital, understood as norms and networks that facilitate collective action, is the supposed ‘missing link’ to development initiatives for poverty alleviation. The World Bank’s adoption of the concept as a condition for localized development piqued the interest of formal organizations who have mobilized the concept as their tool for development initiatives. This paper argues that this is a concern because a clear understanding of the processes in social capital that result in development outcomes is lacking. In other words, what is social capital? Based on a three-weeks qualitative research in the rural area of Karenga sub-county, northern Uganda, this paper seeks to provide a geographical narrative through a processual analysis of how social capital is formed, maintained, and disbanded, thus producing institutions of inclusion and exclusion. 14 in-depth key informant semi-structured, and 16 focus-group interviews were conducted. This research reveals the realities of grounded individuals’ and communities’ attempts to make the best of their situation within their social network. More importantly, the geographical narrative reinserts context and agency which are sorely lacking in social capital literature. This research also shows that linking ties that are sensitive to the material context are indeed important for sustainable social capital. It then goes on to demonstrate the dynamic nature of its outcomes by presenting social capital relationship with social inequalities. In doing so, the research problematizes the simplistic notion that norms and networks are causal explanations for development outcomes. Going beyond this critique, I argue that for social capital to be valuable as an explanation and causation to local development, it has to be redefined as an emergent effect of activated power relation.