Interethnic Trade Research Articles

КИЇВСЬКИЙ КОНТРАКТОВИЙ ЯРМАРОК НАПРИКІНЦІ XVIII – НА ПОЧАТКУ ХХ ст.

The article analyzes the role of the largest contract fair in the socio-economic development of Kyiv and Ukraine. The relevance is determined by the state of the historiographical situation regarding the socio-economic development of commodity-money relations that arose on the basis of an artificially created important trading area in Kyiv and dominate modern pro-European perspectives. The authors present the key concept of «contract fair» as a trading area for commodity-money and exchange relations. Based on the collected factual material, the main factors of the contract fair’s impact on the socio-economic development of Kyiv, as well as the conscious perception/understanding of reality by the population, the inclusion of Kyiv residents, Ukrainians and visitors in the life of the city, and changes in its infrastructure are highlighted. It is proved that an important element of Kyiv’s use in the socio-economic development of the Right Bank of Ukraine is its convenient geographical location. Kyiv was an important administrative unit of Ukraine in the historical period studied by the authors. Its status has been preserved to this day. The convenient location of the city and the interest of the Kyiv administration in developing trade relations contributed to the expansion of international relations between city traders and foreign trade institutions. The Russian Empire and Napoleon also had mixed interests in using Kyiv to their advantage. For the Russian Empire, it was an important strategic outpost in the Southwestern region, which served as a military base for Russia’s expansion to the south against Turkey; the spiritual center of East Slavic Orthodoxy. For Napoleon, it was an important military strategic direction. The socio-economic role of the contract fair is important for the development of interethnic trade and monetary relations and the further development of Kyiv. The presented scientific conclusions and generalizations are based on the study of archival materials, sources and literature of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Materializing Difference: Consumer Culture, Politics, and Ethnicity among Romanian Roma

Materializing Difference: Consumer Culture, Politics, and Ethnicity among Romanian Roma

Understanding Ethnolinguistic Differences: The Roles of Geography and Trade

Abstract I study the role of trade on inter-ethnic linguistic differences in the long run. I hypothesise that the geographic environment of neighbouring ethnic groups determines their potential gains from trade, and that the frequency of inter-ethnic trade—and resulting social interactions—shape the co-evolution of language. As a test of this hypothesis, I build a georeferenced dataset to examine the border region of spatially adjacent ethnic groups, together with variation in the set of potentially cultivatable crops at the onset of the Columbian Exchange, to identify how variation in land productivity impacts linguistic differences between adjacent ethnic groups. I find that ethnic groups separated across geographic regions with high variation in land productivity are more similar in language than groups separated across more homogeneous regions. I develop a model to theoretically ground this link between land productivity variation and inter-ethnic trade, and provide empirical evidence in support of this mechanism, including direct evidence of a causal link between land productivity variation and an ethnic group’s reliance on trade for food and subsistence in pre-modern times.

Del otro lado: el comercio interétnico de ganado el Carmen de río negro visto por un capitán de amigos de Chile (1781-82)

Se transcriben las noticias que en 1781-82 dio un capitán de amigos de Maque-gua a las autoridades de la frontera de Chile acerca de la nueva colonia española atlántica de Carmen de Río Negro, a partir de información transmitida por los indios huilliches. Se analiza el conocimiento que reflejan respecto al comercio in-terétnico que tenía lugar en esos años, comparando su suerte historiográfica con la del diario de Basilio Villarino.

Southeast Asia in the Ancient Indian Ocean World BAR International Series S2580 TOM HOOGERVORST pp., 157 including Linguistic Appendix, 60 b&w figures, 8 tables British Archaeological Reports, 122 Banbury Rd, Oxford, OX2 7BP, 2013, £31 (sbk), ISBN 978-140

Southeast Asia in the Ancient Indian Ocean World BAR International Series S2580 TOM HOOGERVORST pp., 157 including Linguistic Appendix, 60 b&w figures, 8 tables British Archaeological Reports, 122 Banbury Rd, Oxford, OX2 7BP, 2013, £31 (sbk), ISBN 978-140

Classification struggles, moral criticism and the interethnic trade of prestige goods between two Romanian Roma groups

This article analyses the politics of consumption through contesting discourses rationalizing the interethnic trade of silver beakers and tankards carried out between two Romanian Roma groups. The members of these groups regard such objects as scarce prestige goods and political trophies imbued with emotional and identity value. The examined discourses focus on consumer practices and value preferences attributed to the negatively defined, ethnic other, and give a central role to strategies such as classification (or definition) struggles, moral criticism and stereotyping. The analysis demonstrates how members of these groups attach different meanings to the concept of a good/normal/ideal life, and to dichotomies such as average standard of living and luxuries, morally acceptable and morally stigmatized modes of consumption, and consumer modernism and conservatism when they explain their consumer choices. The analysis furthermore shows how – through the strategies mentioned above – these Roma construct their respective ethnic interpretations of consumer moral superiority.

War Signals: A Theory of Trade, Trust, and Conflict

We construct a theory of persistent civil conflicts, where persistence is driven by the endogenous dynamics of inter-ethnic trust and trade. In times of peace, agents belonging to two groups are randomly matched to trade bilaterally. Trade hinges on trust and cooperation. The onset of conflict signals that the aggressor has a low propensity to cooperate, harming future trust and trade. Agents observe the history of conflicts and update their beliefs over time. The theory predicts that civil wars are persistent. Moreover, even accidental conflicts that do not reflect economic fundamentals erode trust, and can plunge a society into a vicious cycle of recurrent conflicts (a war trap). The incidence of conflict can be reduced by policies abating cultural barriers, fostering inter-ethnic trade and human capital, and shifting beliefs. Coercive peace policies, such as peacekeeping forces or externally imposed regime changes, have no enduring effects.

War Signals: A Theory of Trade, Trust and Conflict

We construct a dynamic theory of civil conflict hinging on inter-ethnic trust and trade. The model economy is inhabitated by two ethnic groups. Inter-ethnic trade requires imperfectly observed bilateral investments and one group has to form beliefs on the average propensity to trade of the other group. Since conflict disrupts trade, the onset of a conflict signals that the aggressor has a low propensity to trade. Agents observe the history of conflicts and update their beliefs over time, transmitting them to the next generation. The theory bears a set of testable predictions. First, war is a stochastic process whose frequency depends on the state of endogenous beliefs. Second, the probability of future conflicts increases after each conflict episode. Third, accidental conflicts that do not reflect economic fundamentals can lead to a permanent breakdown of trust, plunging a society into a vicious cycle of recurrent conflicts (a war trap). The incidence of conflict can be reduced by policies abating cultural barriers, fostering inter-ethnic trade and human capital, and shifting beliefs. Coercive peace policies such as peacekeeping forces or externally imposed regime changes have instead no persistent effects.

“Made in Brazil”: Human Dispersal of the Brazil Nut (Bertholletia excelsa, Lecythidaceae) in Ancient Amazonia1

“Made in Brazil”: Human Dispersal of the Brazil Nut (Bertholletia excelsa, Lecythidaceae) in Ancient Amazonia. The Brazil nut, Bertholletia excelsa, is a colossal tree of terra firme forest whose seeds represent the most important non-timber forest product in Amazonia. Its peculiarly inefficient dispersal strategy and discontinuous distribution have led some to hypothesize anthropogenic origins, but evidence to date has been inconclusive. Here we present results of a multidisciplinary study addressing this question. A review of the geographic distribution of B. excelsa and comparison with that of similar Lecythis species suggest a number of anomalies that are consistent with a recent and wide colonization of Bertholletia. Published studies and field observations indicate that anthropogenic disturbance facilitates Brazil nut regeneration. Recent genetic studies showing no sequence diversity and no geographical structuring of within-population variability support a rapid and recent irradiation from an ancestral population. Historical linguistic analysis of indigenous terms for Brazil nut suggests a northern/eastern Amazonian origin for Bertholletia, with a concomitant spread of Brazil nut distribution or cultivation to the south and west. Such an expansion would have been particularly facilitated by the emergence of intensive bitter manioc cultivation and networks of interethnic trade beginning in the first millennium C.E. Together, ecological, phytogeographic, genetic, linguistic, and archeological data reinforce the hypothesis that ancient Amazonian peoples played a role in establishing this emblematic and economically important rainforest landscape.

Pastoralism and the Non-Pastoral World in the Late Pre-Columbian History of the Southern Andes (1000-1535)

Abstract Based on archaeological data, we discuss the various ways in which herding and herders articulated with other activities and actors in the South Andes during the last few centuries before the Spanish conquest of America. This relationship took different forms, including pastoral specialization and inter-ethnic trade, political/ethnic integration and redistribution, and economic diversification at a household level. This variability cannot be entirely accounted by environmental diversity, but was also a consequence of changing historical conditions, such as those related to endemic warfare during the fourteenth century or the integration of the area into the Inka state. In each of these scenarios, pastoralists found different ways of integrating with the non-pastoral world, both in practice and representation.

The Central Position of the Shan/Tai Buddhism for the Socio-Political Development of Wa and Kayah Peoples

This paper concerns work I have done on the China-Burma border between 2001 and 2007, with background of work with Shan both in Burma and in North Western Thailand. It will be about the place of the Shan and their Buddhism in the network of ethnic and trade relations on this border. It will raise questions about Shan Monastic traditions. On the one hand I have worked on the nature of Wa (Pirok) Theravada Buddhism and the history of the Wa ‘kingdom’ of Ban Hong, and the Shan have played a central role as source of knowledge about Buddhism and of kingship, providing models of both for these Wa. A number of interesting questions arise about the Shan sources of models of Buddhist monastic organisation here; and it is quite clear that Wa ‘kingship’ was based upon the Shan notion of a Caofa or Cao Mang. The second focus (during most of 2003, mostly at Ruili/Meng Mao) has been the cross-border, inter-ethnic trade system chiefly in gemstones and jade. In this context the Shan have played a central role as what anthropologists have called ‘cultural brokers’. The Shan uniquely have been in a position to mediate between conflicting Burmese, Chinese and Thai conceptions about precious stones, making this trade network work smoothly. Since the Shan on these borders know how to ‘be Chinese’ (as Tai Noe), to ‘be Burmese’ (as Tai Mao and/or Tai Tay), and even to ‘be within the Thai cultural ambience’.

Maintaining peace across ethnic lines: New lessons from the past

This policy overview draws upon two studies, one theoretical and one empirical, to explore lessons from medieval Indian Ocean trade for supporting ethnic tolerance in contemporary settings. The overview begins by sketching a model of inter-ethnic trade and violence in environments where there are 'local' and 'non-local' ethnic groups. The model suggests that three conditions are necessary to support peaceful coexistence between these groups over time: Complementarities between groups, a high cost to replicate or expropriate the source of another group's complementarity, and a mechanism to share the gains from inter-group exchange. The article then describes how these conditions were satisfied among Hindu and Muslim traders in medieval Indian ports from the rise of Islam to European ascendance in the 17th century. The article characterizes the institutions that emerged to bolster religious tolerance in these towns during the medieval period and that continued to support religious tolerance two centuries after the decline of Muslim dominance in overseas trade. Finally, the article draws lessons from the theory and India's institutional legacy to understand why ethnic tolerance fails and how tolerance may be fostered in contemporary settings.

Commoditizing the Vessels of Identity: Transnational Trade and the Reconstruction of Rarámuri Ethnicity

This article examines the relationship between ethnicity and trade among Indians and non-Indians in the Sierra Madre of northwest Mexico, specifically among the Tarahumara or Raramuri (as they call themselves) of southwestern Chihuahua and the Mestizo and Anglo-American traders with whom many of them now interact. As commodities traverse ethnic, regional, and international frontiers there occur transformations in the meaning, function, and appearance of the items and the economic transactions within which they are embedded. Here I explore how interethnic trade based on ties of fictive kinship becomes increasingly monetized and impersonal as utilitarian articles in Raramuri communities become commodities for Mestizo traders and objets d'art for collectors in the United States. The analysis is also concerned with the social means by which traders insert themselves into existing exchange systems in the process of manipulating the identity of persons and things according to the cultural tastes (which, ipso facto, are the economic demands) of foreign consumers. As such, the article not only offers a preliminary ethnography of the nexus between the local economy and a transnational market but also explores how the process of increasing commoditization is transforming the logic and practice of reciprocity in what until recently has been one of the more remote regions of North America. Some excellent descriptions of various aspects of Raramuri society and economy already exist in the literature (Bennett and Zingg 1935; Bye 1976; Fried 1969; Kennedy 1963, 1978; Lumholtz 1902; Merrill 1978, 1983; Passin 1942; Pennington 1983). There are also specific discussions of Raramuri material culture (Beardsley 1985; Fontana 1979a, 1979b; Pastron 1974; Pennington 1963), ethnohistorical reports on Raramuri economy and interethnic exchange (Gonzalez Rodriguez 1982,1987; Sheridan and Naylor 1979), as well as an important study on the impact of the logging industry on these people (Lartigue 1983). The following, however, represents the first ethnographic account of the contemporary trade in Raramuri commodities and how it articulates with the traditional economy.

Le sel d'Otavalo (Equateur): Continuités indigènes et ruptures coloniales

From indian economy to colonial economy: salt exploitation in northern quito Abstract This article offers a discussion of the exploitation and distribution of salt through a case study of Las Salinas, a village of the Otavalan ethnic group (north of the Audiencia of Quito) in the sixteenth century. At the same time, it provides a perspective on the history of that village through the centuries. By an examination of a key product such as salt in an Indian society, it is possible to bring out the main features of its economic organisation, and the approach adopted by this society resembles those which are found in pre-colombian Perú and Colombia, the exploitation is carried out inside a multi-ethnic island, and distribution through a complex network of intra and inter-ethnic trade. In the sixteenth century, the ecology of Las Salinas, which is warmer than the rest of the Otavalan territory, along with its control of the «salted earth», made it a privileged village and the richest of the whole ethnic group. In the seventeenth century, there was a progressive disintegration: the Indian village disappeared, condemned by demographic decline and Spanish land seizure. Las Salinas was refounded in the eighteenth century, with a mixed population, basically black, and without any aboriginal Indians: salt exploitation was entirely in Spanish hands within a truly colonial system. In 1978 what still exists is the inheritance of that second foundation but the traditional exploitation is to be condemned in the short term, as it gives no profit in a liberal economy.