Ecology and Exchange in the Andes

The volume represents a substantial contribution to our understanding of Andean rural society and the nature of the Latin American peasantry.

David Lehmann (Edited by)

9780521040341, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 17 September 2007

256 pages
22.9 x 15.3 x 1.5 cm, 0.391 kg

For centuries Andean civilization and ecology has afforded a special fascination for European travellers and officials. In this volume, eight writers - anthropologists, economists and historians working in Bolivia, Britain, France, Ireland and Peru - describe and analyse aspects of rural society in various Andean regions. They focus on the impact of capitalist development on both the peasant economy and the landed elite in the Andes and the ways in which that impact has been shaped by a specific Andean culture and a characteristic Andean ecology and climate. Their discussion of Andean specificity centres on the notion of verticality, first developed by John Murra to describe political and economic adaptation to climatic variation in the Andean eco-system. The volume represents a substantial contribution to our understanding of Andean rural society and the nature of the Latin American peasantry and peasant economy. It will appeal to all those interested in economic anthropology, Latin America, peasant studies and the capitalist world-economy.

List of contributors
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction: Andean societies and the theory of peasant economy David Lehmann
2. The role of the Andean ayllu in the reproduction of the petty commodity regime in Northern Potosi (Bolivia) Tristan Platt
3. Labour and produce in an ethnic economy, Northern Potosi, Bolivia Olivia Harris
4. 'Resistance to capitalism' in the Peruvian Andes Barbara Bradby
5. Production and market exchange in peasant economies: the case of the southern highlands in Peru Adolfo Figueroa
6. The Andean economic system and capitalism Rodrigo Sánchez
7. Property and ideology: a regional oligarchy in the Central Andes in the nineteenth century Fiona Wilson
8. Multi-levelled Andean society and market exchange: the case of Yucay (Peru) Antoinette Fioravanti-Molini'e
Glossary
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Microeconomics [KCC]