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Capitalism Labour And Globalization

Vincent Rouzé
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CULTURAL CROWDFUNDING CDSMS
CULTURAL CROWDFUNDING
T
his new book analyses the strategies, usages and wider implications
of crowdsourcing and crowdfunding platforms in the culture
and communication industries that are reshaping economic,
organizational and social logics. Platforms are the object of considerable E D I T E D BY
hype with a growing global presence. Relying on individual contributions
coordinated by social media to finance cultural production (and carry
VINCENT ROUZÉ
out promotional tasks) is a significant shift, especially when supported by
morphing public policies, supposedly enhancing cultural diversity and
accessibility.
The aim of this book is to propose a critical analysis of these phenomena
by questioning what follows from decisions to outsource modes of creation
CULTURAL
and funding to consumers. Drawing on research carried out within the
‘Collab’ programme backed by the French National Research Agency, the CROWDFUNDING
book considers how platforms are used to organize cultural labour
and/or to control usages, following a logic of suggestion rather than overt
injunction. Four key areas are considered: the history of crowdfunding as Platform Capitalism, Labour
a system; whose interests crowdfunding may serve; the implications for
digital labour and lastly crowdfunding’s interface with globalization and
and Globalization
EDITED BY VINCENT ROUZÉ

contemporary capitalism. The book concludes with an assessment of claims
that crowdfunding can democratize culture.
CREATIVE INDUSTRIES | COMMUNICATION STUDIES | CULTURAL STUDIES
CDSMS C R I T I C A L D I G I TA L A N D
SOCIAL MEDIA STUDIES
THE EDITOR
Vincent Rouzé is Associate Professor of Information and Communication Sciences
at the University of Paris 8 and a member of the Centre for Media, Technology and
Internationalization Studies (Cemti). He is the author of Mythologie de l’iPod (2010)
and coedited the volume Financement Participatif: les Nouveaux Territoires du
Capitalisme (2019).
uwestminsterpress.co.uk
Cultural Crowdfunding:
Platform Capitalism,
Labour and Globalization
Edited by
Vincent Rouzé
Critical, Digital and Social Media Studies
Series Editor: Christian Fuchs
The peer-reviewed book series edited by Christian Fuchs publishes books that critically
study the role of the internet and digital and social media in society. Titles analyse how
power structures, digital capitalism, ideology and social struggles shape and are shaped
by digital and social media. They use and develop critical theory discussing the political
relevance and implications of studied topics. The series is a theoretical forum for internet
and social media research for books using methods and theories that challenge digital
positivism; it also seeks to explore digital media ethics grounded in critical social theories
and philosophy.
Editorial Board
Thomas Allmer, Mark Andrejevic, Miriyam Aouragh, Charles Brown, Eran Fisher, Peter
Goodwin, Jonathan Hardy, Kylie Jarrett, Anastasia Kavada, Maria Michalis, Stefania Milan,
Vincent Mosco, Jack Qiu, Jernej Amon Prodnik, Marisol Sandoval, Sebastian Sevignani,
Pieter Verdegem
Published
Critical Theory of Communication: New Readings of Lukács, Adorno, Marcuse,
Honneth and Habermas in the Age of the Internet
Christian Fuchs
https://doi.org/10.16997/book1
Knowledge in the Age of Digital Capitalism: An Introduction to Cognitive
Materialism
Mariano Zukerfeld
Politicizing Digital Space: Theory, the Internet, and Renewing Democracy
Trevor Garrison Smith
Capital, State, Empire: The New American Way of Digital Warfare
Scott Timcke
The Spectacle 2.0: Reading Debord in the Context of Digital Capitalism
Edited by Marco Briziarelli and Emiliana Armano
The Big Data Agenda: Data Ethics and Critical Data Studies
Annika Richterich
Social Capital Online: Alienation and Accumulation
Kane X. Faucher
The Propaganda Model Today: Filtering Perception and Awareness
Edited by Joan Pedro-Carañana, Daniel Broudy and Jeffery Klaehn
Critical Theory and Authoritarian Populism
Edited by Jeremiah Morelock
Peer to Peer: The Commons Manifesto
Michel Bauwens, Vasilis Kostakis, and Alex Pazaitis
Bubbles and Machines: Gender, Information and Financial Crises
Micky Lee
Cultural Crowdfunding:
Platform Capitalism,
Labour and Globalization
Edited by
Vincent Rouzé
University of Westminster Press

www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk
Published by
University of Westminster Press
115 New Cavendish Street
London W1W 6UW
www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk
Text © The Editor and the several contributors 2019

First published 2019
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The full text of this book has been peer-reviewed to ensure high
academic standards. For full review policies, see: http://www.
uwestminsterpress.co.uk/site/publish. Competing interests:
The authors have no competing interests to declare.
Suggested citation:
Rouzé, V. 2019 (ed). Cultural Crowdfunding: Platform Capitalism, Labour and
Globalization
London: University of Westminster Press.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.16997/book38 License: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0
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Contents
1. Introduction 1
Vincent Rouzé
Participation in Words 1
Toward Financial Participation: Cultural Crowdfunding 2
A New Paradigm for Production and Cultural Value? 4
Plan of the Book 6
Research Context 8
Notes and References 9
2. Crowdsourcing and Crowdfunding: The Origins

of a New System? 15
Vincent Rouzé
Crowdsourcing, Crowdfunding: One and the Same Thing? 16
Crowdfunding: A Revolution? 19
Crowdfunding: An Old Story Reinvented 20
1. A History Legitimated by the Internet21
2. A History Legitimated by Pre-Digital Collaborative
Cultural Financing and Production23
The Logic of Gift–Counter-Gift in Question 26
Conclusion28
3. Far from an Alternative: Intermediation Apparatuses 35

Vincent Rouzé
Defining the Alternative 36
Apparatuses Adapted to Market Strategies 39
1. Discussing the Typology of Platforms40
2. Generalist platforms40
3. Niche Platforms42
4. Local Platforms43
5. Combined Platforms 44
6. Integrated Platforms 44
vi Contents
The ‘Ecosystem’ as a Stimulus for Extensive Partnerships 45

Apparatuses for Political and Legislative Action 47
Platforms as Technical Apparatuses 48
Platforms for Artists and Creation? 49
Conclusion53
4. Participatory Cultural Platforms and Labour 59

Jacob Matthews and Vincent Rouzé
Towards Gamification, or Invisible Labour 61
Organizing and Optimizing Labour 63
1. Inside Platforms63
2. Project Creators64
3. The ‘Community’66
4. The Professional ‘Ecosystem’67
Train, Educate, Agitate 67
1. Promotional Discourses68
2. The Importance of Education70
Conclusion73
5. Globalization and the Logics of Capitalism 79

Jacob Matthews, Stéphane Costantini and Alix Bénistant
The Different Categories of Players Present in the Regions 82
A Diversity of Players, a Repertoire of Common Discourses 85
1. Project Creators and Endogenous Cultural Workers85
2. Platform Managers and Other Endogenous Entrepreneurs87
3. Exogenous Players and International Organizations89
4. National Public Players91
‘Pedagogical’ Guidance and Workforce Education 93
Conclusion95
Contents vii
6. General Conclusion 99
Vincent Rouzé
In the Service of Cultural Democratization? 100
Criticism of These Innovations 101
Living in Project Mode 103
References105
The Editor and Contributors 107

Index 109
CH A PT ER 1
Introduction
Vincent Rouzé
Participation in Words
The early years of the twenty-first century saw the emergence of the idea of a
‘collaborative’ web, a Web 2.0 where Internet users would actively participate
in producing content and creating value from it. Following the financial crises
and especially the dotcom crash, the term ‘Web 2.0’ was coined in 2005 by
the American entrepreneur and expert Tim O’Reilly, with a view to rebuild-
ing confidence among investors in the Internet (Fuchs 2008). O’Reilly was one
of the first to popularize the idea that the Internet would now be based on a
participative model in which the user would go from being a mere consumer
to a ‘content generator’ (Le Deuff 2007). An identical vision was implicit in the
notion of ‘social media’, which became common currency in the same period,
despite its vagueness. In line with these different discursive propositions, spe-
cialized technical and economic apparatuses or dispositifs1 for extracting value
from communication flows on the web began to emerge: search engines, blog-
ging platforms, content aggregators, virtual worlds, platforms for broadcasting
video, social networks, and so on. Distinctive to these platforms is their heavy
dependence on the contributions of their own user communities.
The discourses underpinning the participative and/or collaborative aspect of
the Internet, along with their ‘implementations’, all seem to come back to the
idea that pooling together the efforts of individuals can open up a better future,
How to cite this book chapter:

Rouzé, V. 2019. Introduction. In: Rouzé, V. (ed.) C ultural Crowdfunding: Platform
Capitalism, Labour and Globalization. Pp. 1–13. London: University of Westminster
Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16997/book38.a. License: CC‐BY‐NC‐ND 4.0
2 Cultural Crowdfunding: Platform Capitalism, Labour and Globalization
one of greater solidarity and equality. The preferred tool for this is the Internet
and, more broadly, digital technologies as a whole, through platforms for infor-
mation exchange, and especially for crowdsourcing (i.e. collectively produc-
ing and analyzing data), crowdfunding, and providing services (like Uber and
Airbnb). One can see that the principles of innovation, revolution, communi-
ties, action, and networking—are all very much present in digital discourses.
It is at somewhat paradoxical to observe elements of these discourses actually
suggesting a correspondence between their usages of the terms participation or
collaboration and the communist project itself, that of ‘an association, in which
the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all’
(Marx and Engels 2008: 62).
Looking past apparent points of overlap with Marx, a paradox indeed comes
into view: Does the discursive rhetoric of ‘empowerment’ and participation,
and the new services provided, really bring about individual liberation? Or are
these new forms of alienation, serving a ‘neo-’ capitalism whose power resides
precisely in mythification, in Roland Barthes’s (1972) sense, and in the naturali-
zation of everyday actions which may be simplified by digital technologies, but
which are also subject to new forms of control?
Toward Financial Participation: Cultural Crowdfunding
These questions formed the starting point of the present book, which is dedi-
cated more precisely to studying and analyzing cultural crowdfunding plat-
forms within a complex economic context, marked by heterogeneity and
inequalities within the different cultural sub-sectors, and among their various
players (Towse 2011). Such platforms have proliferated since the end of the
2000s—both those which use donation or crowdgiving models, financing pro-
jects in a disinterested, philanthropic way, and those which use reward-based
models, offering different tiers of ‘rewards’ depending on the amount given.
The best known include Indiegogo (US), Kickstarter (US), Kiva (US), Pledge-
Music (UK), Artistshare (US), Patreon (US), Ulule (France), KissKissBankBank
(France), Goteo (Spain), Slicethepie (UK), and Crowdculture (Sweden). These
platforms’ work essentially involves connecting many agents, either simulta-
neously or one after the other: Internet users and platform users (consumers,
broadcasters, or direct backers), creative workers, traditional players in the
cultural industries and neighbouring sectors (brands, sponsors, advertisers),
public or para-public institutions, charitable organizations, and NGOs.
Cultural crowdfunding platforms provide truly experimental terrain for
building new infrastructures, developing business models, increasing knowl-
edge of the motivations of participating users, and establishing regimes of par-
ticipation. As such, their models mainly based on gifts, with or without reward,
have been extended into numerous other economic and financial sectors.
Introduction 3
Today, they can be divided into four different models (crowdgiving, reward-
based, equity, and lending), which have received the backing of international
legal institutions—in France, the Banque de Prêt et d’Investissement (BPI) and
the Ministry for the Economy and Finance2. Distinctions between these models
are less a matter of thematic differences than of the different ways in which they
structure economic exchanges.
In the cultural sector, donation-based and donation/reward-based platforms
are the most common. The first allow philanthropist, altruistic funding of pro-
jects. Widely used for musical, literary, film and video-game projects, dona-
tion/reward-based platforms offer graduated perks according to the amount
contributed. However, in Western countries, with the support of favourable
legal and political frameworks, it is above all equity and lending platforms that
have brought crowdfunding into the market economy. Lending-based plat-
forms allow Internet users to lend money to third parties. As in mainstream
banking, the return will depend on interest rates. Equity-based platforms
enable users to invest in a project or business by becoming a shareholder and
receiving dividends. These two models, which are regulated by financial market
institutions and subject to the appropriate legislative frameworks, aim to let
citizens and ‘partners’ invest in startups or projects with larger budgets. Given
the potential for growth these models offer, their extension into domains other
than the cultural sector indeed seems to offer a promising answer to recent
financial crises and low investor confidence. These platforms have particularly
attracted the attention of economic and political institutions because they gen-
erate much higher rates of return and growth than (giving- and reward-based)
cultural platforms.3 Moreover, they can prove useful in allowing businesses to
bypass traditional sources of funding (business angels, banks, or venture capital
funds) (Kleemann , Voß, and Rieder 2008; Lambert and Schwienbacher 2010).
Since 2012, there has been consistent growth in these platforms and the
funding they raise. According to the Banque Public d’Investissement France,
between 2015 and 2016 growth in France was 40%, with 21,375 projects backed
and a total of €233.8m raised.4 Figures given by the KPMG/Crowdfunding
France Barometer show that, in France, crowdfunding in all its forms grew
from €167 million raised in 2015 to €336 million in 2017. According to the
Massolution annual report5, worldwide growth was distributed unequally
across geographical zones, with North America, Europe, and Asia at the fore-
front (North America $17.2 billion, Asia $10.54 billion, Europe $6.48 billion,
Oceania $68.6 million, South America $85.74 million, Africa $24.16 million).
Aside from economic considerations, crowdfunding platforms have raised
the hopes of a great many citizens with social, cultural, and economic projects,
who see these platforms as a possible means of funding. The platforms them-
selves have carefully used the media to communicate their success stories. In
France, for example, the crowdfunding campaign for the film Noob, a spinoff of
the web series of the same name, received €681,046 on Ulule, having asked for
€35,000, and the roleplaying game L’Appel de Cthulhu received €402,985, hav-
ing asked for only €10,000. New records keep on coming. In 2012, the Ameri-
can singer Amanda Palmer raised $1,192,793 on Kickstarter and had herself
photographed with a billboard reading ‘This is the future of music’, calling for
all artists to follow her lead. This led to an invitation to give a TED talk to pro-
mote ‘The Art of Asking’.6 We could list yet more successes that would lead us to
believe that the future of funding for cultural and social initiatives lies in these
forms of exchange between artists and their audiences, or between citizens.
Unfortunately, as we shall see, not all projects have such a happy ending, and
many fail to raise the amount they seek.
A New Paradigm for Production and Cultural Value?
This book is therefore situated at the centre of debates over potential shifts in
the production, promotion and financing of culture. Is reliance on these plat-
forms, and the corresponding use of social networks7, really something entirely
new which has been made possible by the collaborative web? Blurring the
lines between producers, consumers, and financial backers, these platforms
see themselves as instruments of ‘liberation’ and ‘value-sharing’ (Lemoine
2014) which try to bring about technological and socio-economic innovation
(Kuppuswamy and Bayus 2013). But do these mechanisms of monetized fun-
draising and exchange enable the promotion of marginal projects otherwise
side-tracked by the cultural and creative industries (Cassella and D’Amato
2014; Bannerman 2012)? We might also ask whether, as suggested in the work
of Boyer et al. (2016: 6), crowdfunding really participates in ‘the spirit of shar-
ing and permanent innovation’, and whether it constitutes a true ‘alternative’ to
existing financial institutions (banks, equity, business angels, and other venture
capitalists)—or whether it instead heralds the emergence of new intermediaries
in the cultural and creative industries (Matthews 2017).
More broadly, we want to ask how far these platforms are ‘opportunities’
(Kirzner 1973) for the emergence of new forms of ‘creative’ liberation and
emancipation, and new forms of disintermediation for creative work (Buben-
dorff 2014). Are we seeing a democratization and diversification of cultural
contents? Or do these systems just reinforce internationalized industrial log-
ics under the cover of ‘empowering’ users and citizens (Bouquillon and Mat-
thews 2010; Matthews, Rouzé and Vachet 2014)? Finally, following suggestions
by Daren C. Brabham (2013: 39), we wish to consider the attitude of state and
local authorities, who may see these modes of funding as an opportunity to
disengage themselves, leaving the financing of culture and heritage solely in the
hands of citizen-backers.
As illustrated by the work already cited, there is a vast literature on crowd-
funding. It generates more interest today than research on crowdsourcing,
which was dominant until the end of the 2000s. Hundreds of articles have
Introduction 5
been written on the subject. But this academic literature gives only incomplete
responses to the questions set out above. This is because researchers have not
taken an equivalent interest in the cultural and sociopolitical dimension, in
issues surrounding the democratization of creative work, and in the politics
and ethics of crowdfunding—although this final point is addressed by Scott
(2015). They have tended to focus more on the platforms themselves, the way
they work, and the moral and strategic added value that they contribute. This
existing literature can be classified into at least three categories.
The first, which is most prominent in economics-related disciplines, man-
agement sciences, and marketing, sees crowdfunding as a potential alternative
means for citizens and businesses to fund projects. Numerous works use math-
ematical models from microeconomics to analyze various players’ interests in
using crowdfunding (Belleflamme et al. 2014). Such strategic and economic
(Belleflamme et al. 2015) interests are also present in articles that emphasize
the importance for companies of integrating crowdfunding as a specific tool
within company strategy (Bessière and Stephany 2014; Berg Grell et al. 2015).
In fact, crowdfunding makes it possible to outsource tasks and to reduce the
need for fundraising and investment. However, according to Belleflamme et
al. (2012), nonprofit organizations are more successful at raising funds than
for-profit companies: a smaller interest in profitability supposedly increases the
chance of a successful campaign. Lambert and Schweinbacher (2010) make the
same observation but give a different possible explanation: within the crowd-
funding framework, companies are more inclined to concentrate on the quality
of their product or service rather than seeking profit. Another contribution by
Belleflamme et al. (2014) focuses on crowdfunding as a pre-sales system, dem-
onstrating the emergence of a threshold beyond which crowdfunding becomes
less viable than classical financing with a single investor. They also show the
importance of the benefits generated through ‘community building’ during
crowdfunding campaigns. These benefits (whose value is above all ‘informa-
tional’ and ‘communicational’) can be seen as a way to validate original ideas
with a specially targeted audience.
The second category of literature, which we will mention only briefly here, is
concerned with problems of national and international legislation stemming
from the extension of crowdfunding to all economic sectors. In the United
States, Barack Obama’s 2012 Jobs Act provided for regulated financial exchanges
through these platforms, and also allowed them to extend their activities—for
example, by offering equity or investment in companies (Cunningham 2012).
Since 2013, numerous European countries have also adopted legislation aimed
both at regulating these funding methods and allowing their potential expan-
sion to other economic sectors (Dushnitsky et al. 2016).
The third category of literature focuses on understanding the motivations of
project creators and backers. For a number of scholars (Gerber and Hui 2013;
Yang, Bhattacharya and Jiang 2014; Choy and Schlagwein 2016; Ryu and Kim
2016), motivations are analyzed according to models developed by behaviourist
psychology, such as the work of Ryan and Deci (2000). These last identify intrin-
sic motivations (pertaining to the individual) and show that motivations vary
from one person to another according to specific contexts (extrinsic motiva-
tions). References to this approach in research on crowdfunding aim to show
what entices people to take part and contribute financially, in order to optimise
campaigns and indicate what strategies should be pursued by project carriers.
The work of Ethan Mollick (2015) uses econometric methods to analyze the
practices of project creators on Kickstarter, and the factors involved in their suc-
cess or failure. Interestingly, he notes the importance of signals about the quality
and preparedness of the project and its creators: teaser videos, updates on the
progress of the project, the size of the team and their presence on digital net-
works—all of which involve implementing ‘signalling’ strategies. He also notes
a positive correlation between the creative output of a geographical area and the
success of a campaign. This importance of geography can also be seen in the sig-
nificant territorial differences in the number of projects proposed and funded, in
variations in the themes proposed, and in motivations associated with proximity
(Agrawal et al. 2010; Le Béchec et al. 2017).
This territorial question is also important in heritage conservation, where cit-
izens are more likely to become engaged in and support local projects (Guesmi
et al. 2015). Other studies that have looked at the motivations that drive Inter-
net users to participate in and back projects also demonstrate the importance
of affective and identity-based ties, and of supporting a cause which matches
one’s own values (Ordanini et al. 2011; Gerber and Hui 2013). Giudici et al.
(2013) extend this work, concentrating on the factors that determine the prob-
ability of a project’s success. They concentrate on the social capital of project
creators, distinguishing their ‘individual’ social capital (which is exclusive and
is measured by their presence on social networks) from their ‘territorial’ social
capital (distributed locally, and measured by their geographical proximity to
contributors). Their results suggest that individual social capital has a signifi-
cant positive effect on the likelihood of achieving fundraising goals, whereas
geolocalized (territorial) capital does not. In fact, the latter can act to the detri-
ment of the crowdfunding campaign, for it marginally weakens the effects of
‘signalling’ in relation to individual social capital. They nevertheless indicate
that, in favourable local conditions, good quality projects can easily raise funds
without recourse to these platforms.
Plan of the Book
The present volume takes up a number of questions raised in the aforemen-

tioned literature. But it is distinct both in terms of the resources it draws on and
the ways in which it approaches crowdfunding platforms. Looking beyond their
functions and their functional logic, and past questions of success and optimiz-
ing participation, it takes a critical socio-economic approach to the study of
Introduction 7
cultural crowdfunding platforms. Our hypothesis is that the development of

these platforms, and the discourses that accompany them, are indicative of a
capitalist ideology marked by the logics of ‘ecosystems’, of ‘project-based’ value
creation, and of an outsourcing of tasks, which attempt to conceal the forms
of labour and the social and financial apparatuses driving them. Beyond the
different models represented by crowdfunding platforms, the ecosystem they
claim to be a part of and the economic relations in which they are embedded
are characterized by systematic outsourcing of tasks. They therefore fall under
the paradigm of what Vincent Mosco (2016) calls the ‘new Internet’. Along with
the ‘cloud’ and ‘big data’, which denote intensified logics of control and sur-
veillance, crowdfunding platforms confirm the transfer of value production to
external entities.
Reinforcing the ideology of the ‘creative project worker’, entrepreneur of her/
his own project, these platforms are directly and indirectly complicit in driv-
ing a reconfiguration of labour. Economic liberalization and globalization tend
to absorb what were once ‘alternative’ experiments. This observation dovetails
with the analysis of Boltanski and Chiapello (2018) who, in the second edition
of The New Spirit of Capitalism, conveyed the importance of another city, the
project-based city. Governed by the proliferation of projects, by activity rather
than labour, by the need to make connections, this city displaces the orders of
judgement and size. In this city, quality and size are judged in light of one’s flex-
ibility, skill set, activity, and autonomy—in other words, one’s employability. As
a result, the distinction between private life and professional life ceases to exist.
In line with these analyses, crowdfunding platforms contribute toward a
managerial reorganization of the social world. In fact, beyond ‘creativity’, the
‘innovation ecosystem’, and the ‘experiences’ they propose, it does indeed seem
to us that such platforms involve ‘not just technical activity, but also imply
social engineering […]. The logics at work in the different platforms have been
designed, and this work of design is a political gesture’ (Rieder 2010: 51).
To clarify this debate, the book consists of the introduction followed by
chapters 2, 3, 4 and 5, and a conclusion. Each chapter offers a distinct but com-
plementary analysis of these questions. In the second chapter, we situate these
platforms in their historical context. Vincent Rouzé shows that, far from being
new, these phenomena have their roots in far older practices which they bring
up to date with the use of digital technologies—fundraising, iquib and tontines
are all examples of the existence of such practices before and without digital
technology. He traces the ideological foundations of the participation and col-
laboration underlying these platforms, showing that debates about the ideas of
crowdsourcing and crowdfunding typically operate with a ‘managerial’ con-
ception of participation.
In the third chapter, Rouzé approaches crowdfunding through the question
of the ‘alternative’. The alternative may be promised by this sort of apparatus,
or it may be more directly defined by these platforms’ work, where the expres-
sion ‘alternative finance market’ is used. In either case, we should question this
potential alternative, and its ‘disruptive’ character—in terms of the logics of

intermediation involved, the partnerships forged by crowdfunding platforms,
and the competing economic logics they establish. Rouzé shows how, far from
being ‘alternative’, these platforms are new intermediaries in this creative ‘eco-
system’, which effectively reinforce the tried and tested logics and strategies of
the capitalist cultural industry.
In the fourth chapter, Jacob Matthews and Vincent Rouzé address crowd-
funding from the perspective of labour—even though the ideology of digi-
tal technologies seeks to emphasize the ludic nature of the phenomenon and
leaves aside the issue of labour, both inside and on these platforms. This chapter
doesn’t consider project creators and platform employees separately: its origi-
nal contribution is to question their activity conjointly, as both participating in
the same logic of ‘polymorphic entrepreneurship’.
In the fifth chapter, Jacob Matthews, Stéphane Constantini and Alix Béni-
stant question the role played by crowdfunding platforms in processes of glo-
balization. The preceding chapters offer an overview and critical analysis of the
platforms and their models in Western countries, but what about the Global
South? Can we locate original endogenous models of crowdfunding in these
regions, or do we simply encounter exogenous models that reinforce Western
capitalist logics?
Research Context
All the chapters in this book are the result of research carried out within the
framework of the Collab research project, financed by the French National
Research Agency (ANR) and directed by Vincent Rouzé (2015–18). Quan-
titative and qualitative data produced and compiled within this programme
informs each chapter. As a part of this research program, we carried out
fieldwork with numerous players connected to these platforms in France, in
Europe (UK, Benelux, Spain), and in various countries in the Global South
(sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America). Bringing together qualitative data
collected as part of the ANR Collab and FDLEC8 research programmess, the
corpus is made up of more than 80 qualitative interviews with these play-
ers and with project creators in Europe (20), Ethiopia (8), South Africa (8),
Senegal (9), Burkina Faso (5), Colombia (4), Brazil (16), Mexico (7), and
Argentina (7).
We also use data collected through questionnaires, based on a representative
sample of the population. The beta phase of the questionnaire was administered
in three languages (English, Spanish and French) and received 260 responses
in French (from countries including Tunisia, Senegal and Canada) and around
50 in English and Spanish. Owing to concerns about the representativeness
of the sample, and faced with difficulties related to mode of administration,
we limited our initial processing to the French responses. On the basis of this
Introduction 9
beta phase, we were able to develop a questionnaire centred on a solely French

representative sample. This was self-administered online (over the Internet
using the CAWI method). The final sample was made up of responses then
categorised into three groups totalling 1,182 in all. These responses were from
people aged between 18 and 66 residing in metropolitan France, from all socio-
professional categories. The sample breaks down as follows:
Group 1: 312 people who had created a crowdfunding project (regardless of
the project)—that is, 312 people who had already raised funds (or tried to) for
one or more projects.
Group 2: 446 people who had already made pledges to crowdfunding pro-
jects (regardless of the project and the amount pledged)—that is, 446 persons
who had already contributed to the funding of one or more projects.
Group 3: 424 persons who had never pledged to or created a crowdfunding
project, including 194 persons who had never heard of crowdfunding, and 230
who had heard of crowdfunding but had never taken part in it.
The data collected from these participants made it possible to carry out a
quantitative analysis of the practices of project creators and of donors/backers,
as well as the third category of players mentioned above. This was done in order
to better understand the practices that take place on and through these plat-
forms, upstream and downstream of specific fundraising campaigns. Moreover,
the qualitative data collected allowed us to study the organization of ‘internal’
and ‘external’ labour around these platforms, and the logics of cultural homog-
enization and transnational normalization involved in their use.
Notes
1
Throughout this volume the term dispositif, translated in English by ‘appa-
ratus’, is used in accordance with the notion theorized by Giorgio Agamben
(2009). Broadening Michel Foucault’s earlier definition, Agamben envis-
ages it as ‘that which has the capacity to capture, guide, determine, control
and implement the gestures, conducts, opinions and discourses of living
beings.’ (p. 14).
2
https://www.economie.gouv.fr/entreprizas/crowdfunding-comment-se-
lancer, accessed 8 March 2018.
3
See the following reports: Crowdfunding Good Causes, NESTA (2016),
Moving Mainstream: The European Alternative Finance Benchmarking Re-
port (2015) or the EU Commission working document Crowdfunding in
the EU Capital Markets Union, available online at https://ec.europa.eu/info/
system/files/crowdfunding-report-03052016_en.pdf
4
http://www.bpifrance.fr/A-la-une/Dossiers/Crowdfunding-un-marche-
en-plein-essor/Le-marche-du-crowdfunding-francais-en-2016–34460,
accessed 10 March 2018.
5
Massolution’s annual crowdfunding industry report, 2015.
6
https://www.ted.com/talks/amanda_palmer_the_art_of_asking?language=
us accessed 10 March 2018
7
Dating back to 1954 when John A. Barnes was the first to use it—well be-
fore the inception of services now commonly defined as ‘social networks’
(Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc.)—this notion has since been adopted and
adapted by a number of disciplinary fields (Mercklé 2011).
8
‘Fondations, discours et limites de l’économie collaborative’, research pro-
gramme co-funded by the universities of Paris 8 and Leicester (2015–17)
led by Athina Karatzogianni and Jacob Matthews.
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CH A PT ER 2
Crowdsourcing and Crowdfunding: The

Origins of a New System?
Vincent Rouzé
The main purpose of this chapter is to examine the supposedly innovative

nature of crowdfunding. We will illustrate how ancient practices, whether
widely recognized or consigned to history, have been recuperated by players
in the digital world in order to surpass or update them through ‘innovation’,
but also to legitimate their own practices and stimulate a movement dependent
upon ‘creative’ users, or even a ‘creative class’ (Florida 2014). The chapter will
therefore address and challenge crowdfunding’s self-declared ‘revolutionary’
character—the claim that it necessarily represents the future of the financing
of culture, since it rests upon collaborative and collective forms of creation,
mutual assistance, financing, and participation.
In reference to the work of Michel Foucault, what interests us here is a first
attempt at an ‘archaeology’ of crowdfunding. Foucault emphasizes that archae-
ology is a ‘systematic description of a discourse-object’ (Foucault 1972: 156)
which, rather than reducing observed contradictions, instead focuses on the
history of ideas, multiplying discontinuities and describing ‘the different spaces
of dissension’ (Foucault 1972: 170). He adds that archaeology is the ‘interaction
of rules that, in a culture, determine the appearance and disappearance of state-
ments, their persistence or their disappearance, their paradoxical existence as
events and things’ (Foucault 2014: 708). The issue here, then, is to understand
How to cite this book chapter:

Rouzé, V. 2019. Crowdsourcing and Crowdfunding: The Origins of a New System?.
In: Rouzé, V. (ed.) C ultural Crowdfunding: Platform Capitalism, Labour and
Globalization. Pp. 15–33. London: University of Westminster Press. DOI: https://doi.
org/10.16997/book38.b. License: CC‐BY‐NC‐ND 4.0
how current platforms have been constructed on multiple ideological grounds,

all of them fertile, and how they are marked by ‘object-discourses’ that serve
‘reconfigured’ capitalist logics. For it is clear that the only new thing about
crowdfunding is its name. Its participative and financial logics existed long
before digital technologies and the Internet.
The first part of this chapter seeks to define the neologisms ‘crowdsourcing’
and ‘crowdfunding’. This is a subject of debate between those who argue that
crowdfunding should be seen as a particular type of crowdsourcing, and oth-
ers who believe it to be something separate. In the second part, we examine
the ‘revolutionary’ label often applied to these platforms, showing that, if any-
thing, this refers in fact to the ‘permanent revolution’ proper to capitalism. We
then situate the question of crowdfunding in continuity with a certain ideology
of the Internet, and show that the origins of the logic of gift and counter-gift
are pre-digital. We then question the logic of gift–counter-gift at work in the
majority of cultural crowdfunding platforms, and conclude by examining the
managerial and competition-led nature of these platforms. Far from generating
truly revolutionary practices, they transform participation into an operational
tool in the service of more traditional economic aspirations, ones that do noth-
ing to reduce inequality.
Crowdsourcing, Crowdfunding: One and the Same Thing?
To understand crowdfunding’s ideological basis, we must trace the word’s

semantic genealogy. Today, crowdfunding often occupies a significant place in
the discourse of political, economic, cultural, social, and even citizen players.
But it rests on a broader concept, from which it emerged: crowdsourcing.
This neologism designates a set of activities on the part of Internet users
(design, production, expertise, valuation, promotion, broadcast, distribution)
on specialized web platforms. Basing his own work on that of James Surowiecki
(2004)—who defends the idea of the ‘wisdom of crowds’ and the need to
develop ‘collective intelligence’, endorsed by the researcher Pierre Levy in the
late 1990s—the American journalist Jeff Howe (2006) has, strangely, become an
academic reference for understanding the phenomenon. Howe gives a useful
definition of crowdsourcing:
Simply defined, crowdsourcing represents the act of a company or insti-

tution taking a function once performed by employees and outsourcing
it to an undefined (and generally large) network of people in the form
of an open call. This can take the form of peer-production (when the
job is performed collaboratively), but is also often undertaken by sole
individuals. The crucial prerequisite is the use of the open call format
and the wide network of potential labourers (Howe 2006).
Crowdsourcing and Crowdfunding: The Origins of a New System? 17
Through a number of examples (including Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, Inno-

Centive, iStockphoto), he observes that new strategies are developing which
rely on communities to produce content, resolve problems and ‘innovate’
through the work of a large number of participating Internet users, who are
willingly described as a ‘crowd’.
This contemporary resurgence of the term ‘crowd’ tends to make each of its
supposed members’ singularities invisible, and to gloss over socio-economic
inequality. The fear expressed in early mass media studies of a supposed dis-
solution of the individual into unstable collectives, each with its own logic,
each adding up to more than the sum of their parts, finds its counterpart in
Surowiecki’s bestselling The Wisdom of Crowds. Surowiecki argues that aggre-
gating the information circulating between a weakly cohering set of individuals
can yield results (in terms of cognition, coordination and cooperation) that are
broadly superior to the performance of any individual member of the group.
He writes that, ‘in the right circumstances, groups are remarkably intelligent,
and are often smarter than the smartest people in them’ (Surowiecki 2004: xiii).
This implicitly recognizes the importance of systems that allow the activities of
these collectives of physically isolated individuals to be harnessed and stimu-
lated. It recognizes, in short, that crowdsourcing and crowdfunding platforms
are indeed dispositifs1 or apparatuses for the mobilization of economic players
(of labour and of capital). In the article cited above, Howe adds that crowd-
sourcing should therefore be defined as the outsourcing of tasks to a large num-
ber of persons in view of constructing a project or resolving a problem, but
from a strategic and economic perspective.
The issue is to put out a call for projects broad enough for a majority of ‘work-
ers’ to take part. The term ‘work’ or ‘labour’ is all-important here, since the
appeal is not made by a community, but on the initiative of businesses and/or
institutions. As Howe explains in Crowdsourcing: A Definition (2006), crowd-
sourcing therefore cannot be compared to the Harvard economist Yochai
Benkler’s concept of ‘commons-based peer production’, characterized by a
decentralized collective production that is network-based, modular and open
to all. The socio-economic model developed by Benkler (2006) is based on col-
lective and collaborative production by individuals. From this point of view,
hierarchical logics seem to disappear in favour of horizontal decision-making.
Unlike in capitalist economic strategies, financial compensation and return on
investment are either disregarded or relegated to secondary concerns.
Frank Kleemann, Günter Voß and Kerstin Rieder reinforce this opposition:
‘The essence of crowdsourcing is the intentional mobilization of creative ideas
and other forms of labour for commercial exploitation’ (Kleemann, Voß and
Rieder 2008: 22). The researcher Daren C. Brabham adds that crowdsourcing
is ‘a hybrid model that blends the transparent and democratizing elements of
open source into a feasible model for doing profitable business, all facilitated
through the web’ (Brabham 2008: 82).
This phenomenon is primarily analyzed in terms of ‘efficiency’, involving the

relations between the tasks to be accomplished, the populations concerned
and the returns (Corney et al. 2009; Geiger et al. 2011). It is overwhelmingly
viewed in terms of productivity (Huberman, Romero and Wu 2009) or ‘open
innovation’. Corney et al. (2009) propose that crowdsourcing can be defined
in terms of three dimensions. Firstly, they categorize crowdsourcing depend-
ing on the nature of the tasks (for instance, creation, value creation, or organi-
zation). They then outline a second dimension related to requirements (what
individual, collective and expert skills are needed). The third dimension con-
cerns the sort of remuneration offered (whether the work will be voluntary or
paid, for instance). The French researchers Schenk and Guittard (2011) use a
concept of crowdsourcing which encompasses the conclusions of earlier work,
setting their argument in a managerial framework. Doan, Ramakrishnan and
Halevy (2011) approach the problematic of crowdsourcing systems on the web
from a broader perspective: as well as classifying the nature of the tasks and
players that define the system, they also discuss the implicit or explicit nature
of the collaborative labour, and its impact on the objectives to be achieved. The
net outcome is a multiplication of activities, and dozens of potential defini-
tions of crowdsourcing. According to the Spanish researchers Estellés-Arolas
and González-Ladrón-de-Guevara (2012) there are at least thirty-six original
definitions, ranging across all disciplines.
This means the term can be applied indistinctly to multiple activities, digi-
tal or not. The label has become an ‘umbrella’ term (Geiger et al. 2011; Ridge
2014), an ‘all-encompassing’ and ‘generic’ label (Belleflamme et al. 2011: 3).
This often renders it ‘inoperative’ or, from the opposite point of view, makes
it flexible enough to apply to multiple activities that are difficult to distinguish
or define. In our quantitative study of a sample of French Internet users, only
9% were capable of giving a definition of crowdsourcing and citing specific
platforms and projects.
Nonetheless, in many respects these definitions intersect with the concept of
convergence developed by the American researcher Henry Jenkins (2006). On
the basis of his early research on fans, Jenkins suggests that participative cul-
ture marks a point of meeting and convergence between industrial and media
strategies, on the one hand, and user-produced content on the other. With the
same emphasis on ‘empowerment’ and collective intelligence, Jenkins sees this
as enabling a transformation of traditional industrial logic. From that point on,
the ‘ascendant innovation’ championed by researchers like Von Hippel (2005),
and the ‘anointing’ and ‘cult’ of the amateur described by the French researcher
Patrice Flichy (2010), were seen as emancipatory for individual and collective
alike. A majority of works and articles follow this common theme of a ‘posi-
tivist’ return of the amateur, concentrating on the development of new digital
usages, horizontal relations modifying the production and capitalisation cycle
and increased cultural democratization. However, some critical assessments
stand out, such as the work of former Silicon Valley entrepreneur Andrew Keen
Crowdsourcing and Crowdfunding: The Origins of a New System? 19
(2007) or that of digital media pioneer Jaron Lanier (2011), who both note
new forms of alienation and subjection. For proponents of the ‘positivist’
position it is ‘natural’ (in Roland Barthes’ mythological sense of naturalization)
that this turn toward the Internet user/citizen should be accompanied by a
financial commitment, allowing them to realize the projects they are most
passionate about.
Crowdfunding thus becomes the financial offshoot of crowdsourcing (Rouzé,
Matthews and Vachet 2014; Lebraty and Lobre-Lebraty 2015) The aim is not
just to invite ‘amateurs’ to produce content, but more generally to encourage
them to offer financial backing to whatever they are passionate about, sup-
porting projects run by their friends or which they believe in (a phenomenon
sometimes called ‘love money’). In this way, the financial aspect of the arrange-
ment disappears, and the participative, affective and experiential dimension
takes centre stage.
But other researchers claim that, while crowdfunding may be descended
from crowdsourcing, it is a distinct phenomenon. According to Belleflamme,
Lambert and Schweinbacher (2014), its primary aim is to optimize the flow of
information between manufacturers and consumers, particularly by allowing
the collection of consumer data, so that crowdfunding platforms can serve as
tools for evaluating the quality of goods and services for prospective consum-
ers. Ultimately, they see such platforms as promotional and marketing tools in
both business-to-business and business-to-consumer markets: Crowdfunding
can be seen as a concept that goes beyond simple fundraising: it is a way of
developing industrial activities through the process of financing (Belleflamme,
Lambert and Schweinbacher 2014: 586). For others, the difference between
crowdfunding and crowdsourcing is related to collaboration: in crowdsourc-
ing, participants influence content; in crowdfunding, they never do.
This brief etymological and epistemic detour allows us to discern the main
issues related to crowdfunding platforms. First of all, the protean logic of
crowdsourcing is answered by the segmented logic of crowdfunding, as well
as the importance of logics of outsourcing and gearing responses to a strategic
demand produced by the greatest number. Far from the logic of the ‘commons’
the term initially flirted with, most players think of crowdfunding in terms
of efficiency and the experience of the citizen/social actor. This paves the way
for the development of its financial aspect, which combines the outsourcing of
content production with the outsourcing of modes of financing, the reduction
of risk on the part of consumers/investors, and the development of devolved
modes of labour.
Crowdfunding: A Revolution?
Given the above definitions, it is intriguing how often crowdfunding is

described as revolutionary. In 2013, the French website Mediapart published
an article titled ‘What Is Crowdfunding and Why is it Revolutionary?’2 In the

same year, a book appeared with the title The Crowdfunding Revolution: Social
Networking Meets Venture Financing (Lawton and Marom 2013). A few years
later, an article in Forbes declared that ‘Santander Joins the Crowdfunding
Revolution’.3
Is the financing of projects by supposedly numerous and unknown donors,
in a horizontal community-based fashion, really revolutionary? If we look at
the dictionary definition of ‘revolutionary’, applying it to crowdfunding plat-
forms implies that they ‘overturn established principles; transform modes of
thinking and action and procedures of fabrication’ by allowing collaboration
and forms of horizontal participation. The use of the term is not neutral. In
the case of crowdfunding, it refers to a wider conception. Texts such as those
of CerPHI (Centre d’Étude et de Recherche sur la Philanthropie) [Cazemajou]
2013), with evocative titles like ‘Crowdfunding as an Innovative Technology
for Financing and Promoting Business Projects’, emphasize the revolutionary
character of these platforms:
It can be argued that crowdfunding [is] an innovative financial service;

the main idea is based on cooperation in the form of the collective fund-
ing of different kinds of projects to achieve set objectives, implemented
through capital formation, which comes in small amounts from a large
not previously known number of people on the basis of open competi-
tion using Internet technologies. (Hryhoruk and Prystupa 2017)
Berg Grell, Marom and Swart (2015) add that we must embrace this revolu-
tionary character by integrating crowdfunding as a new instrument, whether
internal or external, in the service of businesses—an instrument that promotes
cohesion, team spirit and competition.
The revolutionary dimension of crowdfunding, then, seems to rest upon the
innovative nature of the way in which it generates collective cooperation to
finance projects on the basis of open competition. This tells us everything we
need to know. All of these terms illustrate the necessity of a ‘permanent revo-
lution’.4 But this is not the revolution of the emancipation of the people and
the proletariat, reinventing themselves on an egalitarian basis, which Marx and
Engels, and later indeed Trotsky proposed, rather, it is that of capitalist exploi-
tation, an economic, ‘open’, ‘innovative’, ‘competitive’ revolution which occurs
in a context of cyclical crises.
Crowdfunding: An Old Story Reinvented
As we have seen, discourses about crowdsourcing and crowdfunding both con-

ceptualize and facilitate the creation of economic models that transform existing
relations between the sphere of production and that of consumption5, formerly
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
I wished to go out again to look for my friend the bull elephant, but
I was unable to put my foot on the ground in consequence of my
injured instep. After our evening meal, which we had taken under the
trees outside the tent, George and I had an interesting chat with El
Hakim about elephant-hunting, upon which subject he was a
veritable mine of information. He had shot elephants persistently for
the previous four years in Somaliland, Galla-land, and the country
round Lake Rudolph, having killed over 150, on one occasion
shooting twenty-one elephants in twenty-one days—a fairly good
record. Commenting on the size of the tusks obtainable in the
districts north of the Waso Nyiro River, he mentioned that his largest
pair weighed just over 218 lbs., and measured 9 feet in length.
Naturally, exciting incidents, when in pursuit of his favourite quarry,
were numerous. Once he sighted a solitary bull feeding in the open
plain some little distance away from his camp. Snatching up an 8-
bore rifle and two or three cartridges, he started in pursuit. On
proceeding to load his weapon, he found that in his hurry he had
brought away the wrong cartridges! They were by a different maker
than those usually used in the rifle, and there was a slight difference
in the turning of the flange, which caused them to jam a little. He
forced them in, and, by an exercise of strength, closed the breech.
After a careful stalk he reached a favourable position for a shot,
and, taking aim, banged off. The rifle exploded with a terrific report,
the barrels blowing off in his hands, fortunately without doing him
any injury—the explosion of 10 drams of powder being too much for
the incompletely closed breech-locking grip. There was El Hakim
with the butt of his rifle in his hand and the barrels in the other,
vaguely wondering in what manner the beast would kill him, and, no
doubt, feeling very much de trop. The elephant, who was hit in the
shoulder, turned towards him, and, after regarding him with a
prolonged stare, turned away again, and moved slowly off as if a
bullet in the shoulder was of little or no consequence, leaving his
discomfited assailant considerably relieved.
Another time he took the same 8-bore—which, by the way, had not
been repaired—and started in pursuit of a herd of elephants. He
loaded the weapons, and, after closing the breech, bound it round
and round very tightly with a leather bootlace. On the first discharge,
stock and barrels again parted company; whereupon he handed the
useless weapon to one of his bearers, and, taking an old Martini in
exchange, rushed off after the herd, and bagged three more
elephants.
In Somaliland, one of the favourite amusements of his party was
riding out, mounted on light Somali ponies, to bait wild elephants.
Their shikaries would perhaps locate a couple of the animals in a
small clump of trees, where they were resting during the heat of the
day. One of the party would then ride up and fire a pistol at one of
them. The result, of course, would be a scream of rage, and a
furious charge by the insulted animal. Horse and rider would at once
make themselves scarce. The elephant would seldom charge more
than 100 yards or so away from cover, but at that distance, or under,
would halt and then slowly return, thus giving another member of the
party a chance. With a wild shout another horse and rider would
gallop at full speed across the elephant’s path, just out of reach.
Round would come the huge beast in another attempt to put an end
to what it justly considered a nuisance—an attempt foredoomed to
failure. One after another the horsemen would gallop up to the now
thoroughly infuriated beast, shouting and firing pistols, provoking
ugly rushes first at one and then another of them—for all the world
like a lot of schoolboys playing touch. Sometimes one or other of
them had a narrow escape, but somebody would nip in at the critical
moment and divert the elephant’s attention. A slip or a fall would
have meant a horrible death from the feet and tusks of the enraged
pachyderm; but the ponies were as agile as their riders, and enjoyed
the fun every whit as much.
We had no ponies, and playing with elephants in that manner
would not have been sufficiently amusing when mounted on a mule,
which had a habit of violently shying whenever it was urged faster
than a moderate trot. El Hakim once had a very unpleasant
experience through this mule’s aggravating peculiarity. He was riding
ahead of the safari, when he noticed a herd of elephants feeding a
mile or so in front. Taking his rifle from the bearer, he trotted after
them. The elephants moved slowly on, and disappeared over a ridge
some distance ahead. El Hakim urged the mule faster, but, in spite of
his efforts, on gaining the top of the ridge, he had the mortification of
seeing his quarry moving off at an ever-increasing speed. Fearing
that he would lose them after all, he jammed his spurs into the mule,
and raced away down the slope for all he was worth.
It was fairly steep, the ground being covered with loose stones,
some of which, displaced by the mule’s hoofs, rolled and clattered
downhill after him, and so frightened the animal that she
incontinently bolted. El Hakim’s whole energies were now
concentrated on keeping his seat, his rifle, and his presence of mind.
Just as he felt that he was gradually succeeding in getting his
agitated steed under control, she shied at a clump of cactus, and
shot him clean out of the saddle, and over the cactus, into the
clinging embrace of a well-developed wait-a-bit thorn which was
growing on the other side. When the men had finally cut him out, he
had quite given up the idea of shooting elephants that day, turning
his attention instead to his numerous abrasions. Besides, the
elephants were by that time miles away.
After the evening meal, when we generally sat in front of the
camp-fire smoking, George and I used, figuratively speaking, to sit at
the feet of El Hakim and listen for hours to his yarns of elephant-
hunting. It was very seldom we could get him to speak about his
experiences, but when in the mood to talk, his tales were well worth
listening to.
We had some hazy idea that elephants were shot at something
like a hundred yards’ range with a powerful large-bore rifle, which
mortally wounded them at the first discharge. Once I asked El
Hakim, off-hand, at what range he generally killed his elephants.
“Oh,” he replied, “anything from five to twenty yards!” and went on
to explain that it was much safer to shoot big game at short range.
“Always stalk your beast carefully,” said he, “and get close enough
to be certain of your shot; then hit him hard in the right place, and
there you are!”
It certainly sounded very simple, and I must say that El Hakim puts
his own precepts into practice with conspicuous success; but a
beginner does not find it so very easy. The temptation to fire at say
eighty or a hundred yards, is well-nigh irresistible. It seems so much
safer, though in reality it is much more dangerous—a fact which is
rather difficult of assimilation by the novice.
“Besides,” El Hakim would remark in conclusion, with the air of
one propounding an unanswerable argument, “it is more
sportsmanlike.”
Another advantage of the short-range shot is this: Suppose a herd
of elephants is located. If the conditions of wind, etc., are favourable,
one can, with ordinary care, get right up to them, near enough to pick
out the finest pair of tusks, and drop their owner with a bullet through
the brain. If a ·303 is used there is no smoke, while it makes a
comparatively small report, which is most likely attributed by the rest
of the herd to the effect, and not the cause, of their comrade’s fall. A
second and even a third elephant can often be obtained under these
circumstances, before the herd realizes what is happening and
stampedes.
This rule of careful stalking till near enough to make the result of
the shot certain holds good with all big game, though there are
certain other factors to be considered, such as the angle to your line
of sight at which the beast aimed at is standing, and also light, etc.
One can go into any club or hotel billiard-room in those parts of
Africa where big game is to be found, and listen to conversation on,
say, lion-shooting. The chances are that nine out of ten men present
have “had a shot at a lion;” but only a very small percentage have
actually bagged their beast. In these days of small-bore, high-power
rifles, a man can shoot at a stray lion at six hundred yards, and he
may be lucky enough to wound it or even, perhaps, kill it; but surely
that is not “playing the game.”
On the afternoon of the day after the Somalis left for the Waso
Nyiro, N’Dominuki came into camp with a chief named “Karama,”
who wished to make “muma,” or blood-brotherhood, with me, to
which I consented. It was rather a long affair. They brought a sheep
with them, which was killed, and the liver cut out and toasted.
Karama and I then squatted on the ground facing each other, while
our men on the one side, and Karama’s friends on the other, formed
a circle round us. A spear and a rifle were then crossed over our
heads, and N’Dominuki, as master of the ceremonies, then took a
knife and sharpened it alternately on the spear-blade and the gun-
barrel, reciting the oath of “muma” meanwhile. It was a long,
rambling kind of oath, amounting in fact to an offensive and
defensive alliance, with divers pains and penalties attached, which
came into operation in the event of either or both the blood-brothers
breaking the said oath. At the conclusion of N’Dominuki’s speech the
assembled spectators shouted the words “Orioi muma” three times.
Three incisions were then made in my chest, just deep enough to
allow the blood to flow, and a similar operation was performed on
Karama. N’Dominuki then ordered the toasted sheep’s liver to be
brought, which, on its arrival, was cut into small pieces, and a piece
handed to both Karama and me. A further recitation of the penalties
of breaking the oath was made by N’Dominuki, and again the
spectators shouted “Orioi muma.” Karama and I then dipped our
pieces of liver in our own blood, and amid breathless silence
exchanged pieces and devoured them. This was repeated three
times to the accompaniment of renewed shouts from the spectators.
The remainder of the liver was then handed round to the witnesses,
who ate it, and the ceremony was concluded, it only remaining for
me to make my new blood-brother a present.
The next morning our final preparations were completed, and
N’Dominuki having come over early, we turned all the animals we
were leaving behind over to him. He bade us adieu, with a wish that
we might return safe and sound, and, what is more, he sincerely
meant what he said.
After leaving our late camp we plunged once again into the thorn
forest, which we soon crossed, emerging into the sparsely vegetated
highland I have mentioned before as extending to the northward.
The sun was very hot, and travelling slow and laborious, not so
much from the nature of the ground, perhaps, as from the soft
condition of the men after their long rest. The ground, nevertheless,
made walking a wearisome task, as the loose pebbles and quartz
blocks turned our ankles and bruised our shins.
THE AUTHOR MAKING BLOOD-BROTHERHOOD WITH KARAMA.

THE “GREEN CAMP.” (See page 162.)
After two hours’ toiling we found ourselves on the edge of the

tableland looking down a sharp declivity to the plain beneath, which
stretched out in desolate barrenness as far as the eye could reach. It
was a dreary khaki-coloured landscape, with peculiarly shaped hills
in the extreme background. In the middle distance were belts of
dusty-looking thorn trees, while here and there mounds of broken
lava reared up their ugly masses to add to the general air of
desolation. Somewhere ahead of us, about four days’ march, was
the Waso Nyiro; and beyond that lay the desert again, stretching
away up towards Lakes Rudolph and Stephanie, and thence onward
to the hills of Abyssinia and Somaliland. The country we should have
to cross in order to reach the Waso Nyiro was, as far as we knew,
waterless, with the exception of one tiny brook, which flowed
northward from M’thara, probably emptying itself into the Waso
Nyiro. We followed it, therefore, in all its multitudinous windings, as,
without it, we should have been in a sorry plight indeed.
As we descended to the plain the heat appreciably increased. We
met several rhinoceros on the road, but we discreetly left them to
their meditations. Apparently there had once been grass on the
plain, but it had been burnt, and during the passage of our safari a
fine, choking black dust arose, which, in combination with the dust
from the dry red soil, formed a horrible compound that choked up our
ears, eyes, noses, and throats in a most uncomfortable manner. For
four hours we marched, and then camped on the banks of the
stream.
Innumerable rhino tracks crossed in every direction, leading us to
suppose that we were camped at the place where the brutes usually
drank. George, hearing the shrill cries of some guinea-fowl from the
opposite bank, sallied forth with the shot-gun, and soon the sound of
many shots in quick succession showed that his energy was reaping
its reward. He returned presently with eight birds, which were a very
welcome addition to our larder.
We turned in early. During the night I was awakened by the sound
of torrents of rain beating down on the tent. I rose and looked
cautiously out. A noise from El Hakim’s tent at once attracted my
attention, and gazing in that direction I saw El Hakim himself, clad
only in a diminutive shirt, busily engaged in placing the ground-sheet
of his tent over the stacked loads. He was getting splashed
considerably. I did not disturb him, but retired once more to my
blankets, perfectly satisfied that the loads were being properly
looked after.
In the morning the sky was as clear as crystal, while the parched
earth showed no traces of the heavy shower that had fallen during
the night. We travelled over the same kind of country as that
traversed the day before, dry brown earth, burnt grass, and loose
stones being the most noticeable features, if I except the ubiquitous
rhinoceros, of which truly there were more than “a genteel
sufficiency.” In fact, they proved a terrible nuisance, as we had
sometimes to make long détours in order to avoid them. They were
not only capable of doing so, but seemed only too anxious to upset
our safari. The men were mortally afraid of them, and much
preferred their room to their company.
After a couple of hours on the road we saw in the distance a large
swamp, which we had not previously noticed, surrounded for a
radius of a mile or so by thorn-bush, which grew a great deal thicker
than on other parts of the plain. The quantity of game we saw on the
road was simply incredible. Vast herds of oryx, zebra, and grantei,
roamed over the landscape; ostriches and giraffes were also in sight,
and, of course, rhinoceros. It is a sportsman’s paradise, and as yet,
with one or two exceptions, untouched.
When we reached the swamp the safari was halted to allow the
stragglers to come up. While waiting I saw something sticking out of
the grass a hundred yards away, to which I called El Hakim’s
attention. He observed it attentively through the binoculars for a
moment, and then turned to me with an exclamation of satisfaction,
softly observing, “Buffaloes, lying down.” Taking his ·450 express,
and motioning the few men with us to be silent, he started to stalk
them, followed by myself with the Martini rifle. We crawled down very
cautiously to leeward, and after half an hour’s careful stalking, during
which we advanced only fifty yards, we ensconced ourselves in a
favourable position in the reeds fringing the swamp. We were
considering the advisability of a further advance, when our fools of
men who had been in the rear reached the spot where we left the
others, and on learning that a whole herd of the dreaded “mbogo”
(buffalo) were in such close proximity, promptly climbed the adjacent
trees, from which safe and elevated position they carried on an
animated discourse on the merits of buffalo meat as an article of
diet. As a consequence we had the mortification of seeing the old
bull prick up his ears and listen, then slowly rise and sniff the air. The
indications were apparently unsatisfactory, for the whole herd rose
slowly to their feet, and, after a preliminary sniff, moved slowly off
over a rise in the ground, and out of range. Words would not express
our feelings!
El Hakim and I vehemently consigned our indiscreet followers to
the hottest possible place known to theology, but even that did not
comfort us. We decided not to give up, but to go on and follow the
herd, although it was extremely unlikely that they would allow us to
get within range, as the buffalo is a very keen beast, especially when
once alarmed. However, to our surprise and delight, we found, when
we had breasted the rise, that the herd (about thirty head) had halted
about two hundred yards away. We then noticed several very young
calves among them, which at once explained why they were so
deliberate in their movements. They were, however, on the look-out,
and directly we appeared they saw us. The cows with their calves
took up their station in the centre of the herd, while the bulls faced
outwards, something after the manner of soldiers forming square.
Most noble and majestic they appeared, with their huge, powerful
bodies and immense frontal development of horns. They had an air
of savage grandeur and ferocity about them that commanded my
highest admiration.
There were a few stunted thorn trees standing about, and we took
up a position behind one of them. As I have said, we were about two
hundred yards away, and as they showed no disposition to run, we
thought we might venture to walk boldly to another tree some
distance nearer to them. There was a certain amount of risk of being
charged in so doing, but we chanced it, and were perfectly
successful in our design, though our quarry were manifestly uneasy.
Sitting down, we waited patiently in the scorching sun for over an
hour, in order to let them settle down again, so that we might
approach still nearer. They gradually resumed their feeding, but not
without much sniffing of the air on the part of the bulls, coupled with
many suspicious glances in our direction.
El Hakim thought that the best thing to do would be for me to go to
another tree a hundred yards to the right. Once there we would both
crawl gradually within range, and then act as circumstances might
direct. I started off for the tree, and arrived without accident, although
the old bull, the guardian of the herd, sniffed severe disapproval.
They were evidently getting used to our presence, but it was highly
improbable they would tolerate our nearer approach, should they
observe it. We again waited, and then, watching El Hakim, I saw him
crawl stealthily on his stomach towards another tree fifty yards
nearer the herd. I followed suit on my side, suffering considerably in
so doing.
The vertical sun beat fiercely down, and, flattened out as I was, I
felt its full effects on my back, which was protected only by a flannel
shirt. The ground was covered with sharp pebbles and quartz
crystals; and the long sharp thorns, blown down from the trees,
pricked me cruelly, while I was tormented by a raging thirst. That fifty
yards’ crawl took us twenty minutes; it seemed an age. When I
arrived, panting and gasping, at my tree, I was bleeding freely from
numerous cuts and scratches on my chest, elbows, and knees.
However, we were now within easy range of the herd, and after
resting a few minutes to steady ourselves, we prepared for action.
Looking over to my left, I saw El Hakim raise his rifle, so, taking aim
at the largest bull I could pick out, I let drive, followed a fraction of a
second later by El Hakim. My beast jumped, staggered a few paces,
with the blood streaming in showers from his mouth and nostrils, and
then toppled over dead, shot through the lungs. El Hakim’s beast
also staggered a few paces and went down, evidently mortally
wounded. We had neither of us shot at the big bull, as at the moment
of firing he was behind some of the other animals. We had then two
magnificent beasts down, and did not want more, but the herd would
not move away. They smelt the two carcases stamping and pawing
the ground, but did not budge an inch.
The big bull gazed round, seeking an assailant; but we were well
under cover. Suddenly he turned, exposing his shoulder. Two rifles
spoke simultaneously, but he did not go down. Once more we fired
together, and again he was struck, but still kept his legs. Yet again
we fired, and had the satisfaction of seeing him settle down on his
hind quarters. To our great delight, the herd then moved off, and we
were able to walk cautiously up to within ten feet of the big bull, as
he sat propped up on his fore legs, bellowing defiance. Such a
spectacle of impotent rage I had never previously witnessed. He
made most herculean efforts to rise, but being unable to do so, he
rolled his blood-shot eyes, while foam dripped from his massive
jaws. He was the very picture of helpless though majestic rage. I
took pity on the noble beast, and planted a Martini bullet in his neck,
smashing the spine, thereby finishing him for good and all. We
carefully examined him, and, an instance of the splendid vitality of an
old bull buffalo, found all our six bullets planted in his left shoulder,
so close together that they could have been covered with an
ordinary-sized plate. Three were mine and three were El Hakim’s.
We could easily distinguish them, as, though our rifles were of the
same bore (·450), those from El Hakim’s Holland and Holland were
clean-cut and symmetrical, while my heavier Martini bullets,
propelled by half the charge of powder used by El Hakim, made a
more ragged hole. We tossed for the head, and I won.
Four men were required to carry it into camp, when it was severed
from the body. The horns were magnificently proportioned, and in
perfect condition. The horns of my first beast also were quite up to
the average.
As by this time it was long after midday (our stalk having lasted
three hours), we determined to camp near the edge of the swamp.
We dubbed it “Buffalo Camp,” and decided to stop there the next day
in order that the men might cut up the dead buffaloes and dry their
meat into biltong. We left their entrails where the beasts had been
shot, with men to protect them from the vultures till sundown, in the
hope that during the night they might attract lions.
Jumbi reported in the afternoon that two of the porters had
deserted on the road, and, worst of all, they were carrying, one a
load of food, and the other a load of the Venetian beads which were
to buy us food from the Rendili. We sent Jumbi with six men back to
endeavour to apprehend them.
Our camp was situated only about half a mile or so from the grave
of Dr. Kolb, whom Mr. Neumann met at M’thara. In reading
Neumann’s book[7] a pathetic paragraph (in the light of after events)
met my eye; it ran thus:—
“Here I had the honour of introducing my companion (Dr. Kolb) to
my esteemed brother N’Dominuki, and to the rhino, an animal whose
acquaintance he had not yet made. He had shot hippos in the Tana,
but felt rather desponding about his chances about bagging a ‘faro.’
However, I promised him that he should have that satisfaction, and
my pledge was fulfilled the first time he went out with me. After that
he shot many. He was, I believe, a first-rate shot, though somewhat
hampered in the bush by the necessity of wearing spectacles.”
Soon after those words were written Dr. Kolb was killed by a
rhinoceros under particularly affecting circumstances. El Hakim was
travelling in company with him at the time, but on the fatal morning
he was some half hour’s march in the rear, and arrived only in time
to see the end. I got the story from El Hakim, and can vouch for its
truth as far as he was concerned in it.
It appeared that Dr. Kolb was walking at the head of his men,
when he saw a half-grown rhinoceros in the path. He was carrying a
Mannlicher rifle, the magazine loaded with soft-nosed bullets. He
immediately fired, dropping the rhinoceros dead in its tracks. The
mother rhino then sprang up from the grass, where she had been
lying until then unobserved and probably asleep, and charged down
on to Dr. Kolb and his party. She caught his gun-bearer first, and
tossed him two or three times, her horn transfixing both the man’s
thighs. Dr. Kolb meanwhile was pouring magazine fire into her, but
failed to stop her, and she charged him in turn. He turned and fled,
but was overtaken in a very few yards, and hoisted into the air, falling
behind the rhinoceros, who passed on and disappeared. Her long
sharp horn entered the lower part of his body from behind, and
penetrated upwards for some distance. His men carried him into the
shade of a bush, and there El Hakim found him half an hour later. He
was quite conscious, and in no pain. El Hakim urged him to permit
him to examine his injuries, but Dr. Kolb assured him that he was
fatally wounded, and, like a true scientist, detailed his symptoms for
El Hakim’s benefit. He was quite calm and collected, and asked El
Hakim for a stimulant, and brandy was immediately supplied. Dr.
Kolb then referred to his watch, and calmly remarked that he had
twenty minutes more of consciousness and half an hour of life, his
prognosis proving correct in every particular.
The next morning as we were occupied in superintending the
manufacture of the biltong, a shout of “Simba! simba!” (Lions! lions!)
caused us to eagerly examine the landscape. Trotting unconcernedly
past our camp, not more than four hundred yards away, were a
superb lion and lioness. El Hakim, George, and I followed at once,
and discovered them loitering about some distance from the buffalo
entrails. We laid down near the remains, hoping they would come for
them, and so give us a shot, and watched them for some time.
They were a magnificent pair. Although the lion is known to be
rather a skulking brute than otherwise, there is such a suggestion of
latent power combined with careless grace in its carriage, that it
compels one’s admiration and causes lion-shooting to appear an
eminently desirable method of passing one’s time. These two lions
came gradually nearer, evidently attracted by the buffalo meat, but
when they were about two hundred yards away, in spite of our
caution, the lioness spotted us, and she immediately growled, and so
put her lord and master on the alert. Presently, to our great
disappointment, they turned and walked slowly away, stopping now
and again to look round and growl. We followed them, and at times
when they halted a little longer than usual, we almost got within
range—almost, but not quite, they invariably moving on again when
we approached closer than they judged expedient.
This game continued until we were several miles from camp, and,
notwithstanding our ardour, we were getting tired. Eventually they
retired to a patch of bush, but just as we were making arrangements
to beat it, the lioness emerged, and laid down in the grass out of
range, being presently joined by her mate. The old game of follow-
my-leader then recommenced, and after six hours of this we got
rather sick of it. On the way they were joined by another male, a
beautiful black-maned brute, the sight of which revived our flagging
energies, and we continued the chase, but to no purpose. In spite of
our efforts they kept a long way ahead, and finally went on at a trot,
leaving us far in the rear, quite out-distanced, and extremely
disgusted. We returned to camp after a fruitless tramp of about
seven hours.
Jumbi returned in the evening with one of the deserters; he had
been unable to secure the other. The captured culprit was the man
who had carried the load of food, which he had deliberately burnt. It
was really wicked. Food which was so hard to obtain, and which
before long would be so sorely needed by our men, had been
deliberately destroyed, and for no object, that we could ascertain,
beyond sheer perversity. The delinquent was ordered a flogging—
and got it. The other deserter, who had not been recaptured, had
also burnt his load of Venetian beads, which were particularly
valuable in view of our proposed stay among the Rendili.
I had the three buffalo heads buried in a large ant-heap against
our return, as we were unable to carry them about with us, and to
have hung them in the trees would have exposed them to theft from
wandering Wandorobbo or stragglers from the Somali caravan. The
ants were very large, being quite an inch in length, and of a bright
scarlet colour; they died on exposure to the air and light. They bit
very fiercely, drawing blood whenever they fastened their immensely
powerful jaws. The men who buried the horns suffered considerably
about the legs, but I was consoled by the thought that the horns
would be safe from the hyænas while in charge of such powerful little
warriors.
FOOTNOTES:
[7] “Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Africa,” by Arthur H.
Neumann (1898), p. 126.
CHAPTER IX.
JOURNEY DOWN THE WASO NYIRO.
Arrival at the Waso Nyiro—The “Green Camp”—The “cinder-heap”—

The camp on fire—Scarcity of game—Hunting a rhino on mule-
back.
Next morning we continued to follow the course of the little stream
which issued, greatly diminished in size, from the opposite side of
the swamp. The country grew more barren as we advanced. Great
gravelly areas alternated with brown earth, and now and again an
outcrop of quartz or lava occurred. The universal thorn tree was the
only member of the vegetable world that seemed to be able to draw
any sustenance from the arid soil, with the exception of a few cacti
and small aloes. Rhinoceros there were in plenty, and several giraffe
loomed on the horizon. We were also greatly excited to observe
elephant tracks, two or three days old, trending north-eastward
towards the Waso Nyiro. In the distance we could see frowning cliffs
of pink gneiss, and due north, some peculiarly shaped hills, one in
particular being an almost exact replica of the Great Pyramid of
Cheops at Ghizeh. Another to the left of it consisted of a pyramidal
base, surmounted by a columnar peak that by some agency or other
had been split vertically into two unequal portions, which remained
sticking boldly upwards like a couple of gigantic teeth. Standing out
prominently to the north-north-west was the massive outline of
Mount Lololokwe, 3000 feet above the level of the surrounding plain,
while behind it, one point more to the westward, Mount Gwarguess
reared its stately head 2000 feet higher.
To our great annoyance and dismay, the little stream we were
following, which had been dwindling in size for some miles, now
disappeared completely into a subterranean passage. It was eleven
o’clock in the forenoon, so we crept into the scanty shade afforded
by some thorn trees, and rested in preparation for a long march to
the Waso Nyiro in the afternoon.
The heat was intense, and the atmosphere most remarkably dry
and clear. Small objects at long distances stood out with remarkable
distinctness. The hills, at the foot of which flowed the Waso Nyiro,
seemed not more than an hour’s march distant.
About two o’clock, having rested sufficiently, we once more forged
ahead, bearing more to the north-east than in the direction we had
hitherto followed. We encountered the same soft crumbling brown
earth, with loose stones on the surface. Aloes, morio trees, and thorn
trees were the only vegetation, and even they were only sparsely
distributed. The country was formed of long rolling ridges, which we
traversed at right angles. It was a weary and tiresome march. Each
time we climbed a ridge we looked eagerly forward for a sight of the
longed-for Waso Nyiro. Again and again we were disappointed, each
ridge exactly resembling the last. At four o’clock in the afternoon we
entered a small belt of thorn trees and dodged a couple of rhinos
who were love-making just inside, and would no doubt have
resented being disturbed. When we once more emerged from the
thorn belt we gazed over a broad plain which sloped gently down to
a range of dun-coloured hills some miles away. The Waso Nyiro, we
knew, flowed at the foot of these hills, and once more we pressed
forward, momentarily forgetting our fatigue in our eagerness to reach
the desired goal.
I was walking with my Martini over my shoulder, when I was
considerably startled by a noise from my left, which caused me to
hurriedly bring my rifle to the ready. It was a long-drawn growling
grunt, and my first thought was of lions. Closer attention, however,
solved the mystery. It was the cry of a zebra, one of a herd of
Grevy’s beautiful zebra which were congregated over half a mile
away. The cry of the zebra is very like a long-drawn growling whistle,
and in the distance, when too far off to hear the whistle, the growl
very much resembles that of a lion. There were large herds of oryx in
sight, and a few rhinoceros and water-buck.
The sun sank gradually lower in the western heavens, and we
were still apparently no nearer the range of hills we were making for,
so deceptive are the apparent distances in the clear atmosphere. But
just as dusk had fallen, our eyes were gladdened by the sight of a
large clump of Doum palms growing in the centre of an open green
space a mile away. We made towards them, and feasted our weary
eyes on the beautiful green expanse stretching out before us.
A spring emerged from the earth here, perhaps the same stream
we had followed in the morning, and which had so disappointed us
by suddenly disappearing. The water was quite warm, and
impregnated with mineral salts; so much so as to be almost
undrinkable. It welled up into a hole in the rocks about 20 feet long
and 12 feet wide by 4 feet deep, forming a lovely natural bath,
overgrown with varicoloured mosses and ferns. The overflow
meandered through the grass for 100 yards or so in a little stream a
foot deep with a pebbly bottom fringed by dark green rushes, and
then spread out into a swamp overgrown with tall papyrus reeds 10
or 12 feet high. There were two or three acres of good green grass
on one side of the swamp, to which our animals rushed with
whinnies of delight the instant they caught sight of it, and ate and ate
as if they would never stop. We crossed this little stream, and
pitched the tents under some large thorn trees. We christened the
place “Green Camp.” It was about 3500 feet above sea-level, and
over 1000 feet lower than M’thara.
There was a splendid specimen of the Doum palm on the other
side of the camp, which can be seen in the photograph of the Green
camp. The Doum palm (Hyphæne Thebaica) is called m’lala by the
Swahilis. It is a very graceful palm, and grows to a great height on
the Waso Nyiro, and was to be found everywhere along the banks of
the river. The stem divides into two branches a few feet from the
ground, each branch again and again dividing and being crowned
with its canopy of broad, flat, fan-shaped leaves. The fruit, about the
size of a potato, is mostly hard uneatable kernel, with a layer of
moist fibre, about half an inch thick, contained in a reddish bitter rind.
It reminds one of eating chopped cocoanut fibre, with a sweetish,
slightly astringent flavour. George and I ate quantities of it later on,
as also did the men, when we were without other vegetables.
While we were pitching the tents a rhinoceros emerged from
among the papyrus, where he had been wallowing in the swamp,
and trotted towards us. A shout soon caused him to change his
mind, and off he went full gallop for the Waso Nyiro, which, I should
have remarked, was about half a mile distant.
The country outside the camp was covered in places with large
white patches of mineral salts, principally carbonate of soda and
sulphate of magnesia; but we searched in vain for any common salt.
There was very little soil, and the men who were driving in the tent-
pegs struck rock three or four inches below the surface. A violent
gale of wind came on at sundown, and it needed the most
extraordinary precautions, in the way of extra guy-ropes to the tents,
to prevent them being blown bodily away.
After supper we held a consultation to decide what form our plans
should take. First and foremost, we wished to find the Burkeneji and
Rendili peoples, in order to trade for ivory. These people are
nomads, and wander at will over the immense tract of desert country
bounded, roughly, on the north by Southern Somaliland, on the south
by the Waso Nyiro, on the west by Lake Rudolph, and on the east by
the fortieth degree of longitude. They have one or two permanent
settlements, notably Marsabit, some eight or ten days’ journey to the
north of the Waso Nyiro, and at Mount Nyiro, situated some two or
three marches south of Lake Rudolph. There was every sign that
there had been a long drought (we found afterwards that no rain had
fallen for three years), and it was more than likely that they had
come south to the Waso Nyiro, as was their habit when water was
scarce in the arid country to the north.
After a little deliberation, therefore, we determined to follow the
course of the Waso Nyiro down-stream—that being, of course, to the
eastward—in order to try to discover the Rendili, whom we were very
anxious to find.
We started soon after daybreak the following morning. The
weather was perfect, being dry, warm, and clear; we felt it a pleasure
to be alive. We followed the river, as there was, of course, no other
water. The course of the Waso Nyiro is always clearly defined by the
belts of Doum palms that fringe the banks, and by the greater
greenness of the vegetation in its immediate vicinity. At first we
thought that if we followed the general direction of the river, viz.
eastward, we should never be far from the water, whether it was in
sight at the moment or not. Two or three days’ journey, however,
undeceived us on that point. The river, as a matter of fact, winds
about in a most extraordinary manner, and on several occasions
when, thinking we were near the river, we halted for the purpose of
camping, we found, owing to an utterly unexpected turn, that it was
really miles away. Consequently we adopted the more fatiguing but
safer course of following it in all its windings.
Just such an experience befell us on the morning we left “Green
Camp.” Away to the eastward of that place, and about ten miles
distant, was a mass of gneiss rock known as Mount Sheba, towering
500 feet above the plain, and 3500 feet above sea-level. We knew
the river flowed within a mile or two of it, but on which side, whether
to the north or south, we were uncertain. We therefore made for the
north end of the mountain, as, if the river flowed to the south, we
should necessarily meet it, while if it went to the north we should still
be going right.
The first hour’s march was fairly easy. Level stretches of sand
covered with patches of mineral salts, and dotted with stunted thorn
trees, offered no great impediment to our progress. Several
rhinoceros were browsing about, one brute being right in our path.
We cautiously approached and shouted at him, but he did not seem
disposed to move. On approaching nearer we saw that he was
wounded, a great hole in his ribs showing that he had been fighting
his brother rhinoceros, and had, apparently, considerably the worst
of the argument. Rhinoceros are inveterate fighters amongst
themselves; and of all the animals shot during the expedition there
was not one who did not show healed or partially healed wounds
somewhere in the region of the ribs. As this particular beast would
not move, I started forward with the intention of shooting him, but he

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Cultural Crowdfunding Platform

Capitalism Labour And Globalization

Capitalism in the Platform Age: Emerging Assemblages of

Capitalism Unleashed Finance Globalization and Welfare

Labour Mobilization, Politics and Globalization in

Capitalism Inequality and Labour in India 1st Edition

The Truth About Nature: Environmentalism In The Era Of

Advances in Crowdfunding: Research and Practice Rotem

Globalization, Labour Market Institutions, Processes

German Conquistadors in Venezuela The Welsers Colony

EDITED BY VINCENT ROUZÉ

CREATIVE INDUSTRIES | COMMUNICATION STUDIES | CULTURAL STUDIES

University of Westminster Press

Text © The Editor and the several contributors 2019

Cover design: www.ketchup-productions.co.uk

Print and digital versions typeset by Siliconchips Services Ltd.

ISBN (Paperback): 978–1-912656–38-7

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-

To read the free, open access version of this book

2. Crowdsourcing and Crowdfunding: The Origins

3. Far from an Alternative: Intermediation Apparatuses 35

The ‘Ecosystem’ as a Stimulus for Extensive Partnerships 45

4. Participatory Cultural Platforms and Labour 59

5. Globalization and the Logics of Capitalism 79

The Editor and Contributors 107

How to cite this book chapter:

Toward Financial Participation: Cultural Crowdfunding

A New Paradigm for Production and Cultural Value?

Plan of the Book

The present volume takes up a number of questions raised in the aforemen-

cultural crowdfunding platforms. Our hypothesis is that the development of

potential alternative, and its ‘disruptive’ character—in terms of the logics of

beta phase, we were able to develop a questionnaire centred on a solely French

Agamben, Giorgio. 2009. What is an Apparatus?, trans. by David Kishik and

Burkett, Edan. 2011. A Crowdfunding Exemption? Online Investment Crowd-

Lambert, Thomas, and Armin Schwienbacher. 2010. An Empirical Analy-

Through Innovative Service Platforms, Journal of Service Management,

Crowdsourcing and Crowdfunding: The

The main purpose of this chapter is to examine the supposedly innovative

How to cite this book chapter:

how current platforms have been constructed on multiple ideological grounds,

Crowdsourcing, Crowdfunding: One and the Same Thing?

To understand crowdfunding’s ideological basis, we must trace the word’s

Simply defined, crowdsourcing represents the act of a company or insti-

Through a number of examples (including Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, Inno-

This phenomenon is primarily analyzed in terms of ‘efficiency’, involving the

Given the above definitions, it is intriguing how often crowdfunding is

an article titled ‘What Is Crowdfunding and Why is it Revolutionary?’2 In the

It can be argued that crowdfunding [is] an innovative financial service;

Crowdfunding: An Old Story Reinvented

As we have seen, discourses about crowdsourcing and crowdfunding both con-

THE AUTHOR MAKING BLOOD-BROTHERHOOD WITH KARAMA.

After two hours’ toiling we found ourselves on the edge of the

Arrival at the Waso Nyiro—The “Green Camp”—The “cinder-heap”—

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