Women Traders in Cross-Cultural Perspective: Mediating Identities, Marketing Wares (Cultural Memory in the Present) - Hardcover

Seligmann, Linda J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0804740526 ISBN 13: 9780804740524

Verlag: Stanford University Press, 2002

Inhaltsangabe

This innovative volume studies women traders as economic, political, and cultural mediators of space, gender, value, and language in ten diverse locales-Bolivia, Ghana, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Morocco, Nicaragua, Peru, and the Philippines. Its focus is on how these women move between and knit together household and marketplace activities.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Linda J. Seligmann is Associate Professor of Anthropology at George Mason University. She is the author of Between Reform and Revolution: Political Struggles in the Peruvian Andes (Stanford, 1995).

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This innovative volume studies women as economic, political, and cultural mediators of space, gender, value, and language in informal markets. Drawing on diverse methodologies—multisited fieldwork, linguistic analysis, and archival research—the contributors demonstrate how women move between and knit together household and marketplace activities. This knitting together pivots on how household practices and economies are translated and transferred to the market, as well as how market practices and economic principles become integral to the nature and construction of the household.
Exploring the cultural identities and economic practices of women traders in ten diverse locales—Bolivia, Ghana, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Morocco, Nicaragua, Peru, and the Philippines—the authors pay special attention to the effects of global forces, national economic policies, and nongovernmental organizations on women’s participation in the market and the domestic sector. The authors also consider the impact that women’s economic and political activities—in social movements, public protests, and more hidden kinds of subversive behavior—have on state policy, on the attitudes of different sectors of society toward female traders, and on the dynamics of the market itself.
A final theme focuses on the cultural dimension of mediation. Many women traders straddle cultural spheres and move back and forth between them. Does this affect their participation in the market and their identities? How do ties of ethnicity or acts of reciprocity affect the nature of commodity exchanges? Do they create exchanges that are neither purely commodified nor wholly without calculation? Or is it more often the case that ethnic commonalities and reciprocity merely mask the commodification of social and economic exchanges? Does this straddling lead to the emergence of new kinds of hybrid identities and practices? In considering these questions, the authors specify the ways in which consumers contribute to identity formation among market women.

Aus dem Klappentext

This innovative volume studies women as economic, political, and cultural mediators of space, gender, value, and language in informal markets. Drawing on diverse methodologies multisited fieldwork, linguistic analysis, and archival research the contributors demonstrate how women move between and knit together household and marketplace activities. This knitting together pivots on how household practices and economies are translated and transferred to the market, as well as how market practices and economic principles become integral to the nature and construction of the household.
Exploring the cultural identities and economic practices of women traders in ten diverse locales Bolivia, Ghana, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Morocco, Nicaragua, Peru, and the Philippines the authors pay special attention to the effects of global forces, national economic policies, and nongovernmental organizations on women s participation in the market and the domestic sector. The authors also consider the impact that women s economic and political activities in social movements, public protests, and more hidden kinds of subversive behavior have on state policy, on the attitudes of different sectors of society toward female traders, and on the dynamics of the market itself.
A final theme focuses on the cultural dimension of mediation. Many women traders straddle cultural spheres and move back and forth between them. Does this affect their participation in the market and their identities? How do ties of ethnicity or acts of reciprocity affect the nature of commodity exchanges? Do they create exchanges that are neither purely commodified nor wholly without calculation? Or is it more often the case that ethnic commonalities and reciprocity merely mask the commodification of social and economic exchanges? Does this straddling lead to the emergence of new kinds of hybrid identities and practices? In considering these questions, the authors specify the ways in which consumers contribute to identity formation among market women.

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Women Traders in Cross-Cultural Perspective

MEDIATING IDENTITIES, MARKETING WARES

Stanford University Press

Copyright © 2001 Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8047-4052-4

Contents

Preface....................................................................................................................................ixAbout the Authors..........................................................................................................................xiIntroduction: Mediating Identities and Marketing Wares LINDA J. SELIGMANN.................................................................1PART I. GENDER IDEOLOGIES, HOUSEHOLD MODELS, AND MARKET DYNAMICS1. Nineteenth-Century Views of Women's Participation in Mexico's Markets JUDITH MARTI.....................................................272. Markets as Gendered Domains: The Javanese Pasar JENNIFER ALEXANDER AND PAUL ALEXANDER..................................................47PART II. FIELDS OF POWER3. Inside, Outside, and Selling on the Road: Women's Market Trading in South India JOHANNA LESSINGER......................................734. "Nursing-Mother Work" in Ghana: Power and Frustration in Akan Market Women's Lives GRACIA CLARK........................................103PART III. IDENTITY, ECONOMY, AND SURVIVAL IN THE MARKETPLACE5. Situating Handicraft Market Women in Ifugao, Upland Philippines: A Case for Multiplicity B. LYNNE MILGRAM..............................1296. Gender on the Market in Moroccan Women's Verbal Art: Performative Spheres of Feminine Authority DEBORAH A. KAPCHAN.....................1617. Hungarian Village Women in the Marketplace During the Late Socialist Period VA V. HUSEBY-DARVAS.......................................1858. Traditional Medicines in the Marketplace: Identity and Ethnicity Among Female Vendors LYNN SIKKINK.....................................209PART IV. RESEARCH AGENDAS9. Market/places as Gendered Spaces: Market/women's Studies over Two Decades FLORENCE E. BABB.............................................229Conclusion: Future Research Directions LINDA J. SELIGMANN.................................................................................241Notes......................................................................................................................................253References.................................................................................................................................271Index......................................................................................................................................299

Chapter One

Nineteenth-Century Views of Women's Participation in Mexico's Markets

JUDITH MARTI

ABSTRACT: At the end of the nineteenth century when Mexico was swept into the modern era, street vendors, many of them women, were still ubiquitous in large cities. They provided basic staples for the wealthy, yet they were the mainstay of the poor. Writers of the period presented conflicting portrayals of women vendors-as idyllic, exotic, primitive, or despicable. But how did vendors view themselves, as women and as traders? Petitions to city hall give voice to women otherwise silenced in the historical record by virtue of their illiteracy. Here, widowed vendors used prevailing ideology to their economic advantage, presenting themselves as vulnerable females responsible for dependent children. But from these documents one can also infer they were shrewd, knowledgeable, and, it appears, effective strategists. What underlying motives influenced the representation of self? Was the image calculated to bring about favorable rulings, or does it conform to and perpetuate nineteenth-century Mexican stereotypes? To what extent was it meant to influence city hall, and to what extent does it reflect prevailing ideology?

A researcher investigating public market and street-vending activity in Mexico City and Guadalajara during the nineteenth century would have to attribute a substantial role to women's participation. But who were these women, and what role did they play in society? From a variety of sources-complaints to city hall (ayuntamiento), records of fees paid by street and market vendors, health inspector reports, photographs, illustrations, newspaper articles, and travelers' accounts-one can construct a window on the world of nineteenth-century women vendors.

Who bought goods from women vendors? Photographs show women market buyers and sellers in front of the Mercado Alcalde in the dress of the indigenous poor, rebozos (shawls) covering their heads and shoulders. But since it is not possible to distinguish between the housekeeper in a wealthy household and the homemaker from a poor neighborhood, one cannot conclude that only the poor bought in public markets (CA, Mercado Alcalde, c. 1898-1902). From travelers' accounts one learns that the wealthy also bought basic necessities in markets, and from newspaper editorials, that the poor depended on public markets and street vendors for most of their goods.

What goods were sold by women vendors in the public markets and streets? In the source materials, one finds evidence for the sale of pottery as well as a number of other products. Pottery vendors figure in the official lists of fees paid to the city for permission to sell in Plaza Alcalde. Photographs of the Mercado Alcalde show women vendors sitting beside stacks of pottery piled on blankets outside the market (AHMG, caja 1234, paq. 152, leg. 61, 1883; CA, Mercado Alcalde, c. 1898-1900).

Who were these nineteenth-century Mexican women vendors? Sources present conflicting images. One discovers from various sources that the vendors were usually poor, mostly indigenous, illiterate, responsible for children and other dependents, and, often, without a male counterpart. But newspapers presented conflicting images, regardless of gender. Vendors were depicted, on the one hand, as a stain on the image of the modern city of Guadalajara and, on the other hand, as merchants who made important economic contributions to that same city. Mexican and foreign writers of popular literature of the time also present conflicting images. Indigenous vendors are portrayed variously as ideal, picturesque, primitive, even despicable.

American novelist Stephen Crane writes romantically of the young vendors on the Viga Canal who sold wares from canoes: "Indian girls with bare brown arms hold up flowers for sale, flowers of flaming colors made into wreaths and bouquets" (1973, 434). But when he turns into "the narrow street leading away from the canal" he is appalled by the sight of "decrepit vendors of all kinds, [who] raised unheeded cries" (1973, 434).

Petitions that women vendors made to the Guadalajara city government present other kinds of contradictions. In these petitions, women vendors portrayed themselves as vulnerable, helpless, and dependent, at the same time that they showed themselves to be shrewd, knowledgeable, and effective strategists. What can one learn about these nineteenth-century Guadalajara women vendors-how they were viewed and, especially, how they viewed themselves-from the conflicts and contradictions of the historical record? Before one can approach that question, these women vendors should be located in the context of a rapidly growing urban setting of contrasts-of rich and poor, French caf pastries and a street vendor's sweets.

NINETEENTH-CENTURY GUADALAJARA: CITY OF CONTRASTS

During the thirty-plus years of Porfirio Diaz's dictatorship (1877-1910), Mexico was ushered into the modern world. Foreign capital fueled technological advances and the development of industry and agriculture. Railroads transported coffee, sugar, tobacco, oil, gold, silver, and manufactured goods to newly constructed ports and then abroad. Agribusiness replaced subsistence agriculture, and thousands of peasants forced off their lands flocked to Mexico's industrializing cities (Coatsworth 1981; Haber 1989; Johns 1997; F. Katz 1981; Knight 1998; Meyer, Sherman, and Deeds 1998). Guadalajara saw a dramatic rise in population with the influx of rural peasants seeking factory jobs and foreigners with capital investment seeking tax breaks. With the advent of industrialization, the face of Mexico's second largest city changed dramatically. Disparity grew between rich and poor, the latter an exploited workforce on whom industrialists and wealthy merchants depended (Muri Rouret 1983). Although the wealthy now bought luxury goods in elegant shops, the subsistence of Mexico's second largest city remained dependent upon traditional methods of distribution. In Guadalajara, public markets flourished, supplying all classes with basic necessities, and the call of street vendors continued unabated.

By 1900, Guadalajara had a population exceeding 100,000. Its population growth from 1877 to 1910 was tremendous, by some estimates an increase of 84 percent. By 1900, it had reached 101,208; in 1910 it stood at 119,468 (INEGI 1985; see Marti 1990, for other sources and a discussion of the problems related to using census materials).

French and American colonies grew, spurred by a favorable climate for foreign investment (Gallo Prez 1986; Muri Rouret 1983). Requests poured in from foreign firms interested in establishing businesses in Guadalajara. In 1900, Charles J. Whimple wrote of his interest in establishing a cookie factory for making cookies of wheat, rice, and corn and inquired about a tax exemption. Others asked about what industries already existed, the local power structure, and, always, what tax incentives they could expect (AHJ, Industria y Comercio, Fomento, F-9-900/GUA-23/AHJ and various).

By the end of the nineteenth century, as Guadalajara was swept into the modern era, engineering and architectural changes were transforming the city. The central streets of the capital were paved, and a sewage system and potable water cost the city almost four and one-half million pesos. The rich could now enjoy indoor plumbing. In 1882, the principal square was illuminated for the first time, by incandescent light with a generator of 20 horsepower. By 1907, electric trolleys were replacing trolleys drawn by mules. Rail and telegraph linked Guadalajara to Mexico City, and subscriptions for the telephone could be had for 3 pesos monthly for a line of 1 kilometer or less.

The upper class looked to Europe and the United States for style and status, and parts of Guadalajara took on the appearance of a European city. Bronze and marble neoclassical sculptures, ordered from U.S. catalogs and coveted in France and Italy, decorated plazas, parks, and public buildings. Government buildings were refurbished and a new congressional wing added. The beautiful neoclassical Teatro Degollado was finally completed and the Biblioteca Pblica del Estado built.

The wealthy now lived in European-style mansions. The house commonly known as the "Casa de los Perros" (House of the Dogs) for its two canine statues, which dates from this period, boasts a stone facade, Corinthian columns, and stained-glass windows that illuminate the ballroom.

While public works catered to the rich, the ranks of the poor swelled, populating a portion of the city bereft of modern technology. The city was divided into two parts, "occidental" (west) and "oriental" (east), separated by the San Juan de Dios River. The former was lit with electricity, the latter with oil lamps; the one, a series of uniform blocks and paved streets, the other, groups of irregular blocks and "a poor reputation" (De Szyszlo, quoted in Gallo Prez 1986, 18; Gallo Prez 1986; Muri 1982; Muri Rouret 1983).

The Plaza de Armas, Guadalajara's principal square, reflected these contrasts in both culture and class. During the Porfiriato (the rule of Porfirio Diaz), the square was transformed from an open Spanish square with fountain, market, and public trough for mules to an elegant French square complete with a kiosk from Paris (Muri Rouret 1983). The neoclassical statues, Cuatro Estaciones (Four Stations), which still stand in the corners of the Plaza today, were ordered by catalog from the J. W. Fiske firm in New York. And the ornate kiosk, site of band concerts, came from the Fundacin de Arte Du Val d'Osne, Paris. On Thursday and Sunday evenings, from six to nine, the military band played pieces from Lohengrin and Tanhausser, Liszt rhapsodies and Beethoven overtures (Muri 1982, 41). Gibbon's description of these serenades underscores the division of classes, segregated within the space of a square: "The gentlemen congregate to form a crowd in the center, the middle classes stroll on the sidewalks and the masses revolve around the periphery enjoying the music" (Gallo Prez 1986, 18).

Modernization had come at the cost, however, of a growing gap between the rich and the poor. A factory worker in Guadalajara in 1910 earned 50 centavos a day, enough to pay for rent and a meal of corn, beans, and potatoes that could be spiced with chile or sweetened with sugar, leaving perhaps 7 centavos for all other expenses (AHJ, Gobernacin "Lista de precios para 1910," s.f. 1910, cited in Muri 1982, 159). The wealthy, meanwhile, were served French- and American-style pastries that cost 35 centavos apiece at Guadalajara's famous cantinas, such as the La Fama Italiana. Or they dined out for 3 pesos-the amount of a factory worker's weekly wages-in the fancy Chinese Wong-Tong Restaurant. Fifty centavos, a worker's wages for a day, bought a bottle of Spanish or French wine to accompany the repast (Muri 1981).

San Francisco Street was lined with French establishments selling fashionable cloth and hats, while dry goods and hardware stores were owned by German merchants (Gallo Prez 1986). The wealthy bought clothes at Seor Casadevant's La Ciudad de Pars and hats at La Sombrerera Tardn, as well as imported sweets at the Pastelera Lins. Imported perfumes and pharmaceuticals could be bought at several fine stores, including Orendain, Cosas de Viejos, and a branch of the Gran Droguera de Lzaro Perez e Hijo, which received new shipments each month from Dresden, Hamburg, Leipzig, London, New York, and Philadelphia (Muri 1982).

In Guadalajara, public markets continued to be an important mainstay of the city, and street vendors selling goods could be found on every corner. Although the wealthy most found to their liking imported goods, upperclass women still sent their housekeepers to the markets (Brocklehurst 1883), while the lower classes depended on the markets for almost all their needs. According to one newspaper editorial, any decline in market and street vendor activity would have had a negative impact on the poor (BPE, La Gaceta de Guadalajara, May 11, 1902).

Market vendors sold basic goods like grains, meats, vegetables, and fruits at the three principal markets-Mercado Alcalde, Mercado Corona, and Mercado Libertad (San Juan de Dios)-and the thirteen or more markets located in portals and plazas throughout the city. Mercado Libertad was know for its ices, Mercado Alcalde for pottery, Mercado San Juan de Dios for tamales (various sources, see Marti 1990).

Street vendors were ubiquitous. They sold on street corners, in plazas and public gardens, under portals, beside railroad tracks, outside churches and public buildings, and from the shelters of doorways. Fashionable San Francisco Street was lined with mestizo boys selling refreshments, ice cream, and sweets in the shade of the portals. In the Plaza de Armas, groups of vendors sold sugarcane, peanuts, and tequila next to the kiosk where the band played. Vendors sold aguas frescas (flavored waters) in the main park, La Alameda, and fruit in the Jardn de Santo Domingo. Students could buy fried foods from vendors in the Plazuela de la Universidad. In the streets, vendors hawked fish, tortillas, pottery, newspapers, and milk. They went from house to house carrying their goods in baskets and on their backs, pushing carts, and pulling mules (various sources, see Marti 1990). Street vendors were so plentiful that a local newspaper complained about the lack of structures to house them (BPE, La Gaceta de Guadalajara, May 11, 1902).

NEWSPAPERS: THE VENDOR-IMPEDIMENT OR CONTRIBUTOR?

In late-nineteenth-century Mexico, as a traditional way of life gave way to modern advances, vendors were seen alternatively as an embarrassment and impediment to change, or as an important component of the economy, supporting thousands of the city's laboring poor.

Newspaper editorials often used the issue of vending to support or criticize local government. The debate between two Guadalajara newspapers, Diario and La Patria, is illustrative. These newspapers argued over the advantages and disadvantages of hosting festivals. Fairs traditionally attracted large numbers of vendors and customers. La Patria painted a picture of vendors and the customers they attracted as members of the least-important class (la clase nfima del pueblo), in essence, the class that doesn't count, charritos, or cowboys, a term that refers to men, equated with rusticism, lacking in culture, who spend money on cockfights rather than commerce. Thus not only did vendors and their unsavory customers not benefit the city, but they were also a stain on the city's image. The newspaper blamed government for allowing this activity with their command to "be happy, buy, sell." If a "higher class of people" (such as themselves) were involved in running the festival-and I think one can read into this statement, benefited from the profits-then the newspaper would have been willing to back the local government and its festivals.

An opposite view was given by the Diario. It argued for more feast days in order to increase commerce for the city and to "give more business to those selling goods." The newspaper clearly argued for the expansion of vending activity and backed city government that supported vendors (BPE, El Correo de Jalisco 16 July 1, 1895). Hence two images of vendors were presented in the city's papers-that of the uncouth rustic and of the respected merchant. Clearly, their debate on street vending masked deeper concerns-support of or opposition to the government in power and, more important, who had control over revenues accrued from street fairs.

POPULAR LITERATURE: VENDOR AS IDYLLIC, VENDOR AS EXOTIC, VENDOR AS DESPICABLE

Whereas newspapers often presented conflicting images of vendors to serve political ends, the popular literature consumed by Mexican and foreign elites depicted vendors, especially women vendors, in romanticized accounts of travel in exotic lands. Such accounts portrayed the women either as bathed in a quaint or even mysterious light, or as dark and forbidding, products of a corrupting environment.

(Continues...)

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Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Stanford University Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2002
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0804740526
• ISBN 13: 9780804740524
• Einband: Tapa dura
• Anzahl der Seiten: 322
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar