Informal and Illicit Entrepreneurs: Fighting for a Place in the Neoliberal Economic Order

Galemba, Rebecca B.

doi:10.1111/j.1548-1417.2008.00010.x

Cited by 37 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…However, as studies of "illegal" activities in less developed countries have shown (e.g. Galemba 2008;Nordstrom 2007), many people involved in so-called "smuggling" or "trafficking" operations did not see themselves as criminals, seeking to subvert some mobility regime, but became de facto subverters once their activities were "illegalized" by the authorities, often under Western pressure, as shown in the case of coca production in Colombia or native rhino hunting in South Africa; while the tragic irresolvability of the Rohingya issue hinges to a considerable extent on the contrast between the representation of these people as "labor migrants" by state authorities while they themselves, and international organizations, represent them as [political] "refugees". This exposes a major ethical dilemma inherent in the attempts, led mostly by the more affluent Western countries, to fight the "illegal" production and "smuggling" or "trafficking" of goods, which constitute the basis of the livelihood of poor people in some countries in the emerging regions of the world.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Subversive mobilities

Cohen

2017

Applied Mobilities

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There has been an inherent bias in studies of "mobility regimes" toward the perspective of the authorities. This article suggests the concept of "subversive mobilities" to offer a novel perspective on the construct of mobilities regimes, by stressing the ways such regimes are penetrated by adversaries through diverse routes and practices, despite the regimes' various control and defense mechanisms. We investigate how "smugglers" make use of weaknesses in existing mobility regimes to facilitate their subversion, using three case studies of subversive mobilities, smuggling of Rohingya migrants, of Colombian cocaine and of South African rhino horns, to substantiate the potential of our approach. The subversive mobilities of all three case studies reveal some common traits: a multiplicity of routes and means of travel, informal personal networks based on trust and retribution rather than formal organization, and interconnected series of assemblages of differently involved actors. We claim that the continued success of "smugglers" to subvert the existing mobility regimes is their greater flexibility: they tend to be pro-active, initiating new routes and means of movement, and the cooperation of illicit and legitimate role-bearers, while the mobility regimes are mostly reactive, giving the former at least a temporary advantage over the latter. Our approach leads to a more inclusive and dynamic view of mobilities regimes, and enables a better understanding of why the "smuggling" of goods and "trafficking" in people is increasingly successful, despite the efforts of mobilities regimes to block these activities.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Subversive mobilities

Cohen

2017

Applied Mobilities

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“…These regulations, often under the guise of promoting safety and hygiene, mostly target people who are already marginalized in their societies (Swanson ). Like Galemba (), Lazar (), and others, I recognize the problems of the construction of the formal‐informal binary; however, informality remains a useful description of the work and lives of street vendors in Quito. In this context, the formal and the informal are not divided but are constituted by one another.…”

Section: Informality and Precarity In Ecuadormentioning

confidence: 93%

Encountering Work: Intergenerational Informality, Child Labor, and Malnutrition in Urban Ecuador

Hinrichsen

2017

Anthropology of Work Review

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This article examines the interconnections among informality, child labor, and child malnutrition in households at the bottom of the socioeconomic pyramid in urban Ecuador. Through qualitative interviews with 120 adult informal laborers, mostly street vendors, I elicited stories that not only revealed current labor conditions but also reflected upon whole lives engaged in informal work. Interviews uncovered lifelong structural conditions that perpetuate the social and economic inheritances of intergenerational work in the informal sector and intergenerational patterns of a broader, more inclusive form of child labor termed “encountering work.” Social, political, and economic factors related to informality and child labor maintain structural vulnerabilities that contribute to the emergence and exacerbation of syndemic health conditions, most notably through multiple forms of child malnutrition. The children of these 120 informal sector workers, especially those that encounter work in a variety of ways alongside their parents, demonstrate profound childhood nutritional failures that will likely impact them throughout their lives. The challenges related to intergenerational informality, child labor as encountering work, and child malnutrition can only be understood in the context of pervasive, intergenerational poverty. Encountering work is a survival strategy that allows families to subsist in an unequal society that can simultaneously perpetuate vulnerabilities and inequalities in health and opportunity.

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“…On the one hand, there are systemic connections between the supposedly separated formal and informal sectors. On the other, trading activities can be formal and informal, as well as legal and illegal, at the same time, making bipolar categories problematic (Galemba 2008). As Haugen (2019) shows in her article on intercontinental trade between China and Africa, traders in southern China's Guangzhou have mixed ways of moving goods to Africa by making use of formal channels including container shipments, air cargo, courier service, groupage (where people/companies consolidate their goods for shipment to reduce costs) and informal arrangements such as suitcase carriage, as well as grey practices such as buying and selling of luggage allowances via logistic brokers.…”

Section: Characterising Shadow Exchangesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Political Economy of Border Checkpoints in Shadow Exchanges

Ngo

Hung

2018

Journal of Contemporary Asia

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This introductory article revisits cross-border shadow exchanges in a comparative perspective and reflects on their theoretical implications. It explores the diversities and complexities of shadow operations and critically examines the concept of informality that is commonly used to describe such non-state-sanctioned practices. It further underlines the key role played by checkpoint politics in border governance. Border checkpoints serve both as a state institution in regulating border crossings as well as a political site where material and power exchanges among state and non-state actors are negotiated. Such negotiation of selective passage through statecontrolled gateways is often predicated upon the skilful manipulation of time and space by experienced traders and brokers.

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Informal and Illicit Entrepreneurs: Fighting for a Place in the Neoliberal Economic Order

Cited by 37 publications

References 17 publications

Subversive mobilities

Subversive mobilities

Encountering Work: Intergenerational Informality, Child Labor, and Malnutrition in Urban Ecuador

The Political Economy of Border Checkpoints in Shadow Exchanges

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