Informal Trade, Contrabando and Prosperous Socialities in Arequipa, Peru
Titel:
Informal Trade, Contrabando and Prosperous Socialities in Arequipa, Peru
Auteur:
Ødegaard, Cecilie V.
Verschenen in:
Ethnos
Paginering:
Jaargang 73 (2008) nr. 2 pagina's 241-266
Jaar:
2008-06
Inhoud:
The article explores trading activities at an outdoor market in the city of Arequipa, Peru, with the intention of discussing how notions of 'the market' are negotiated in terms of moralities. More specifically, it seeks to address the way in which the moralities of 'the market' are made the object of negotiation in a context where trade is of a more or less informal kind. In particular, the article describes the practices of smuggling (contrabando) across the border with Bolivia, an issue that has been only briefly discussed in the literature on the Andes. The argument is that the practices of petty trade and 'informality', ritual payments and brujeria (harmful acts, or witchcraft) in the market context should not necessarily or exclusively be seen in terms of resistance as is often suggested. Instead, these practices should be seen in terms of Andean notions of reciprocity and circulation as significant for the establishment and maintenance of prosperity, that is, prosperity understood as relationally created.
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