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Addressing the infrastructural, legal and moral complexities in contemporary world trade, this book uses an ethnographic analysis of the interface of multinational brand manufacturers and popular traders in the Bolivian Andes. It offers a situated account of traders’ understanding of regulatory principles, and traces commercial dynamics beyond the limits of what we use to define as economic. It aims to humanize our understanding of the economy by grounding it in everyday life and morality.
“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, University College London
“It is a highly interesting book based on a well-researched phenomenon.” • Matías Dewey, University of St. Gallen
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