Markets of Dispossession

NGOs, Economic Development, and the State in Cairo

Business & Finance, Economics, Economic Development, Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Sociology, Urban, Anthropology
Cover of the book Markets of Dispossession by Julia Adams, George Steinmetz, Julia Elyachar, Duke University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Julia Adams, George Steinmetz, Julia Elyachar ISBN: 9780822387138
Publisher: Duke University Press Publication: October 26, 2005
Imprint: Duke University Press Books Language: English
Author: Julia Adams, George Steinmetz, Julia Elyachar
ISBN: 9780822387138
Publisher: Duke University Press
Publication: October 26, 2005
Imprint: Duke University Press Books
Language: English

What happens when the market tries to help the poor? In many parts of the world today, neoliberal development programs are offering ordinary people the tools of free enterprise as the means to well-being and empowerment. Schemes to transform the poor into small-scale entrepreneurs promise them the benefits of the market and access to the rewards of globalization. Markets of Dispossession is a theoretically sophisticated and sobering account of the consequences of these initiatives.

Julia Elyachar studied the efforts of bankers, social scientists, ngo members, development workers, and state officials to turn the craftsmen and unemployed youth of Cairo into the vanguard of a new market society based on microenterprise. She considers these efforts in relation to the alternative notions of economic success held by craftsmen in Cairo, in which short-term financial profit is not always highly valued. Through her careful ethnography of workshop life, Elyachar explains how the traditional market practices of craftsmen are among the most vibrant modes of market life in Egypt. Long condemned as backward, these existing market practices have been seized on by social scientists and development institutions as the raw materials for experiments in “free market” expansion. Elyachar argues that the new economic value accorded to the cultural resources and social networks of the poor has fueled a broader process leading to their economic, social, and cultural dispossession.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

What happens when the market tries to help the poor? In many parts of the world today, neoliberal development programs are offering ordinary people the tools of free enterprise as the means to well-being and empowerment. Schemes to transform the poor into small-scale entrepreneurs promise them the benefits of the market and access to the rewards of globalization. Markets of Dispossession is a theoretically sophisticated and sobering account of the consequences of these initiatives.

Julia Elyachar studied the efforts of bankers, social scientists, ngo members, development workers, and state officials to turn the craftsmen and unemployed youth of Cairo into the vanguard of a new market society based on microenterprise. She considers these efforts in relation to the alternative notions of economic success held by craftsmen in Cairo, in which short-term financial profit is not always highly valued. Through her careful ethnography of workshop life, Elyachar explains how the traditional market practices of craftsmen are among the most vibrant modes of market life in Egypt. Long condemned as backward, these existing market practices have been seized on by social scientists and development institutions as the raw materials for experiments in “free market” expansion. Elyachar argues that the new economic value accorded to the cultural resources and social networks of the poor has fueled a broader process leading to their economic, social, and cultural dispossession.

More books from Duke University Press

Cover of the book Bodily Matters by Julia Adams, George Steinmetz, Julia Elyachar
Cover of the book The Abolition of Slavery and the Aftermath of Emancipation in Brazil by Julia Adams, George Steinmetz, Julia Elyachar
Cover of the book Globalizing Afghanistan by Julia Adams, George Steinmetz, Julia Elyachar
Cover of the book Percussion by Julia Adams, George Steinmetz, Julia Elyachar
Cover of the book The Criminals of Lima and Their Worlds by Julia Adams, George Steinmetz, Julia Elyachar
Cover of the book Attachments to War by Julia Adams, George Steinmetz, Julia Elyachar
Cover of the book Orientalism and Modernism by Julia Adams, George Steinmetz, Julia Elyachar
Cover of the book Melodrama by Julia Adams, George Steinmetz, Julia Elyachar
Cover of the book Paper Families by Julia Adams, George Steinmetz, Julia Elyachar
Cover of the book Global Shadows by Julia Adams, George Steinmetz, Julia Elyachar
Cover of the book Fatal Advice by Julia Adams, George Steinmetz, Julia Elyachar
Cover of the book Mad Toy by Julia Adams, George Steinmetz, Julia Elyachar
Cover of the book Sex, or the Unbearable by Julia Adams, George Steinmetz, Julia Elyachar
Cover of the book South Koreans in the Debt Crisis by Julia Adams, George Steinmetz, Julia Elyachar
Cover of the book A Primer for Teaching African History by Julia Adams, George Steinmetz, Julia Elyachar
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy