Africanist anthropology has tended to paint social relations on the continent in a positive light, giving the impression that a pro-social relationality will provide the poor with economic assistance in moments of need. This article troubles these accounts by turning to Kenya, where a history of socioeconomic stratification has created a landscape of class closure. Rather than generously give, upwardly mobile families seek to distance themselves from potential requests for material assistance. Meanwhile, they valorize their own hard work as the source of their success, encouraging the poor to follow suit: to pursue economic independence. In this context, the article underscores the work of relation-making as poor families attempt to keep social relationships with wealthy locals open by practising ‘civility’: hiding their anticipation of material support by concealing economic distress whilst outwardly performing their own success. Taking inspiration from F.G. Bailey's classic work on ‘stratagems and spoils’, the article emphasizes the interested, conscious effort of making relations as a means of combating economic exclusion in an unequal world.

中文翻译：

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“依赖亲友的人死得很惨”：肯尼亚城郊的阶级封闭和文明策略

非洲人类学倾向于以积极的眼光描绘非洲大陆的社会关系，给人一种亲社会关系将在需要时为穷人提供经济援助的印象。本文通过转向肯尼亚来解决这些问题，在肯尼亚，社会经济分层的历史造成了阶级封闭的局面。向上流动的家庭不会慷慨地给予，而是寻求与潜在的物质援助请求保持距离。与此同时，他们将自己的辛勤工作视为成功的源泉，鼓励穷人效仿：追求经济独立。在这种情况下，文章强调了建立关系的工作，因为贫困家庭试图通过实践“礼貌”来保持与富裕当地人的社会关系开放：通过隐瞒经济困难来隐藏他们对物质支持的期望，同时表面上表现出他们自己的成功。从 FG Bailey 关于“计谋和战利品”的经典著作中汲取灵感，这篇文章强调了有兴趣、有意识地努力将建立关系作为在不平等世界中对抗经济排斥的一种手段。