Embodying Exchange: Materiality, Morality and Global Commodity Chains in Andean Commerce

by Juliane M ller

Overview

Addressing the infrastructural, social and legal complexities of a global commodity chain, this book uses an ethnographic analysis of the encounter between multinational corporations and popular traders in the Bolivian Andes. It offers a situated account of the everyday work of chain (un)making, and practices of translation, accommodation and contention. It highlights traders’ collective action, understanding of economic concepts and regulatory principles, and traces the circulation of goods and money beyond market exchange. All in all, it aims to comprehend the reproduction of the native trading system amid global connections, and to humanize our understanding of the economy by grounding it in everyday life, bottom-up socio-material infrastructures and morality.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781805392637
Publisher:	Berghahn Books
Publication date:	02/02/2024
Series:	The Human Economy , #11
Pages:	274
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

Juliane Müller is Professor of Social Anthropology (Serra Húnter Programme) at the University of Barcelona. This is her fourth monograph, the first in English.

Table of Contents

List of Figures
Acknowledgements

Introduction

Part I: The Materiality and Morality of Andean Commerce

Chapter 1. Extra-legal Marketplaces: Past, Present and Future
Chapter 2. Commercial Infrastructure, Spatial Regulation and Situated Economic Ethics

Part II: Traders and Multinationals in La Paz and the Region

Chapter 3. Buyer-Seller-Loyalty and the Limits of Corporate Branding
Chapter 4. Disrupted Cell Phone Supply Chains: Circulatory Authority and Disputes over Ownership

Part III: Embodying Exchange

Chapter 5. Self-Account Trading, Social Interdependencies and Commercial Histories
Chapter 6. The Enmeshment of Commercial and Ritual Cycles: The China Connection of the Fiesta De Jesús Del Gran Poder
Chapter 7. ‘Wealth-in-People’: Gifting and Sharing Amidst Growing Economic Inequality

Conclusion

References
Index

Editorial Reviews

“The main strength of the book is its detailed description of interactions with multinational electronics companies who are rendered dependent on the powerful traders of Huyustus … one of the most exciting aspects of this book was that it is based on long-term and multi-site fieldwork.” • Kate Maclean, UniversityCollege London

“It is a highly interesting book based on a well-researched phenomenon. It analyzes a relevant topic that hasn't been investigated so far: the commercial link between technology multinationals and 'popular' markets.” • Matías Dewey, University of St. Gallen

From the Publisher