Informal Trade,<i>Contrabando</i>and Prosperous Socialities in Arequipa, Peru

Ødegaard, Cecilie Vindal

doi:10.1080/00141840802180520

Cited by 17 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…These differ from universal market models (Gudeman 2008) and may even be illegal, but they produce positive socioeconomic outcomes, jobs, and income, as well as expectations of upward mobility and well-being. From Guatemala ( Thomas 2013Thomas , 2016 to Argentina (Dewey 2020), Ecuador (Antrosio and Colloredo-Mansfeld 2015), Peru (Ødegaard 2008;Gandolfo 2013), and Bolivia, self-account traders and small-scale producers exhibit productivity in the face of state and corporate projects that aim to marginalize their practices. In 2016, young Bolivian employees of the Asian multinationals I interacted with still marveled about an incident that had happened a couple of years before:…”

Section: The Electronics Trade In Bolivia and The Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Limits of Corporate Chains and Brand Management: “Loyalty” and the Efficacy of Vernacular Markets in the Andes

Müller

2021

Cult. Anthropol.

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This article offers a nuanced ethnographic description of the encounter between multinational corporations and the economic actors who distribute and commercialize their commodities. By analyzing the labor of lower-level employees and the strategies of the middle management of Samsung Electronics Bolivia against traders’ practices and understandings and the vernacular market infrastructure, I offer a substantive interpretation of the obstacles and unintended outcomes of corporate commodity chain and brand management as it expands into an “emerging” market such as that in Bolivia. Street vendors, shopkeepers, and wholesalers are teased with personalized attention, gifts, and monetary incentives to sell the high-priced premium brands and build legible inventory, but they have remained notoriously disloyal. By focusing on the agreements and tensions between corporations and traders about how to move, store, categorize, advertise, and price the products, this article engages with the literature on urban marketplace trade and commercial transactions, counterfeit commodities, and economic power in globalized markets and supply chains. To think about the appeal and effectiveness of vernacular market channels and arrangements offers a conceptual lens to critically address the efficiency paradigm in supply-chain thinking, as well as to analyze discrepancies and power struggles not only among economic actors (such as traders and corporations) but also between different forms of valuation that co-exist and compete in markets. RESUMEN Este artículo ofrece una detallada descripción etnográfica del encuentro entre empresas multinacionales y los actores económicos que distribuyen y comercializan sus mercancías. Al analizar la labor y las estrategias de los empleados de Samsung Electronics Bolivia frente a las prácticas y visiones de los comerciantes, así como la infraestructura social, material y afectiva del mercado vernáculo, ofrezco una interpretación sustantiva de los obstáculos en la gestión corporativa de la cadena de productos (supply chain management) y en el marketing (branding) a medida que se expanden hacia mercados “emergentes” como el boliviano. Al centrarme en los acuerdos y las tensiones entre las empresas y los comerciantes sobre cómo mover, almacenar, categorizar, valorar y comercializar los productos, este artículo reconsidera la literatura sobre el comercio de las plazas de mercado, las mercancías falsificadas y los procesos de economización. Pensar en el atractivo y la eficacia de los canales y arreglos del mercado vernáculo ofrece una lente conceptual para abordar críticamente el paradigma de la eficiencia en el pensamiento sobre las cadenas de suministro, y permite observar discrepancias y luchas de poder no sólo entre unos agentes económicos (como los comerciantes y las empresas), sino también entre diferentes formas de valoración que conviven y compiten en los mercados.

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Section: The Electronics Trade In Bolivia and The Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Limits of Corporate Chains and Brand Management: “Loyalty” and the Efficacy of Vernacular Markets in the Andes

Müller

2021

Cult. Anthropol.

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“…Supporting the practical norms which are in place to counter difficulties, unpredictability and uncertainties, personal relationships also play an important role (Odegaard 2008;Staudt 1998;Mahmoud 2008). Traders constantly try to personalize their various engagements with state agencies in order to reduce the unpredictability of the trade.…”

Section: The Moral Economy Of Cross-border Trade In North-western Ugandamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, personal relations are not only important in countering the unpredictability of the cross-border trade for traders (Odegaard 2008;Mahmoud 2008;Staudt 1998), but also for state agents: it has been demonstrated above that they also find themselves in a rather unpredictable and hostile environment, and are in constant negotiation with traders and the wider community. Personalizing the relationship between trader and government official creates advantages for both parties.…”

Section: The Moral Economy Of Cross-border Trade In North-western Ugandamentioning

confidence: 99%

Regulation, Cross-border Trade and Practical Norms in West Nile, North-Western Uganda

Titeca¹,

Herdt²

2010

Africa

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This article describes how cross-border trade in West Nile, north-western Uganda to a large extent takes place outside of the legal framework. This does not mean that this trade is unregulated. We make use of the concept of ‘practical norms’ to show the existence of regulation within this trade, which diverges both from official norms and social norms (‘moral economy’). The article describes how these practical norms emerged and how they are enforced. First, it is shown how the moral economy of cross-border trade plays an important role in their articulation. Second, we ask which practical concerns play a role in sustaining these norms and how deviations from them activate open power struggles. And third, we show how concrete events have played a role in their emergence.

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“…These names are often biblical – such as Jerusalén – or refer to a heroic Incan past, and can be seen to reflect the spiritual dimensions involved in people's hopes for future well‐being. As I argue elsewhere (Ødegaard 2006; 2008; 2010), people's quest for an urban or modern way of life is influenced in different ways by the significance of ritual relationships and offerings, believed to influence people's success in the urban context and representing an alternative source of power (see also Harvey 2001: 199). Indeed, people perceive well‐being and prosperity to be intimately connected to acts of reciprocity, between people as well as in relation to landscape.…”

Section: Mobility As Place‐makingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sources of danger and prosperity in the Peruvian Andes: mobility in a powerful landscape

Ødegaard

2011

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

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This article argues for the importance of understanding questions of mobility in both ritual and cosmological senses. In the rural Andes, people negotiate their spatial situatedness through reciprocal means that they see as central for the fertility of the land and animals as well as for the well‐being of the community. The article discusses how this relational understanding of the powerful surroundings is reproduced or changed as people move to an urban context. It explores the extent to which the relationship to land and the animated surroundings is important for the understanding of movement and mobility as such: for example, as actualizing sources of danger as well as prosperity. Drawing on the works of Lefebvre and de Certeau, the article suggests a reformulation of the distinction between place and space in order to explore how people engage in making places out of spaces in processes of mobility. Mobility is thus presented as a process of place‐making. Résumé Cet article souligne l'importance qu'il y a à comprendre les questions de mobilité au sens rituel aussi bien que cosmologique. Dans les Andes rurales, on négocie sa situation dans l'espace par des moyens réciproques, perçus comme essentiels à la fertilité de la terre et des animaux et au bien‐être de la communauté. L'auteure discute la manière dont cette compréhension relationnelle d'un environnement puissant est reproduite ou modifiée lorsque les gens passent à un contexte urbain. Elle explore l'importance de la relation à la terre et à l'environnement animé pour la compréhension du mouvement et de la mobilité en tant que tels, par exemple comme sources de danger et de prospérité en constante actualisation. Sur la base des travaux de Lefebvre et de Certeau , l'article propose une reformulation de la distinction entre lieu et espace, afin d'explorer la façon dont les gens transforment des espaces en lieux dans le cadre de processus de mobilité. La mobilité est ainsi présentée comme un processus de création de lieux.

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Informal Trade,Contrabandoand Prosperous Socialities in Arequipa, Peru

Cited by 17 publications

References 7 publications

The Limits of Corporate Chains and Brand Management: “Loyalty” and the Efficacy of Vernacular Markets in the Andes

The Limits of Corporate Chains and Brand Management: “Loyalty” and the Efficacy of Vernacular Markets in the Andes

Regulation, Cross-border Trade and Practical Norms in West Nile, North-Western Uganda

Sources of danger and prosperity in the Peruvian Andes: mobility in a powerful landscape

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