Barter and Social Regeneration in the Argentinean Andes

Despite the pervasiveness of barter across societies, this mode of transaction has largely escaped the anthropologist's gaze. Drawing on data from fairs in the Argentinean Andes, this book addresses a local modality of barter known as cambio. Bringing out its embeddedness within religious celebrations, it argues that cambio is practiced as a sacrifice to catholic figures and local ancestors, thereby challenging a widespread view of barter as a non-monetary form of commodity exchange. This ethnography of Andean barter considers processes of value creation, both economic and subjective, to further our understanding of how social groups create themselves through economic exchanges.

About the author

Olivia Angé is Associate Professor in Economic Anthropology at the Université libre de Bruxelles. She specializes in the study of material circulation, agriculture, and value creation in the Andes. Since 2005, she has conducted extensive fieldwork on barter fairs in the Argentinean cordillera. She is the co-author (with David Berliner) of Anthropology and Nostalgia (Berghahn, 2014).

Summary

Drawing on ethnographic data from fairs in the Southern Andes involving highland herders and lowland cultivators, Barter and Social Regeneration in the Argentinean Andesadvances an anthropology of the practice of barter, contributing to a fuller understanding of how social groups create themselves through material circulation.

Product details

• Authors: Olivia Ange, Olivia Angé
• Publisher: BERGHAHN BOOKS, INC
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.10.2021
• EAN: 9781800732117
• ISBN: 978-1-80073-211-7
• No. of pages: 236
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Social sciences (general); Argentina, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Economics / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Industries / Agribusiness, Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography, Social and cultural anthropology, Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and rural economics, Anthropology (General); Political and Economic Anthropology