Conversations in Colombia : the domestic economy in life and text

Drawing upon their joint fieldwork, the authors cast this book as a conversation involving themselves, a Colombian rural people, and the writings of past economists. In their view, the material practices of the rural folk constitute a house model of the economy, and the Colombian voices provide a window on prior European fold conversations about the house. The house and the corporation have been the principal modes of material organization in Western life: the former is older, but the latter now predominates. The authors suggest, through use of the Colombian conversations, that textualists of the past transformed and inscribed similar folk voices for their emerging theories of the corporation and the market. They argue that economic knowledge is not simply the product of a scientific community but is often appropriated from folk practices. By situating the knowledge gained from fieldwork within their own traditions, and by using that knowledge to reflect upon the origins of contemporary wisdom, the book implicates the modern-day ethnographer, rural folk, and economist as participants in a long conversation. Conversations -- The Strength Of The Earth -- The House -- The Base -- The Advance And The Increase -- Work For The House -- Remainders -- The House And The Market -- Making Savings -- From House To Corps. Stephen Gudeman, Alberto Rivera. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 195-201) And Index. This collaborative study in economic theory is cast as a sort of conversation, implicating not only the authors (an American economic anthropologist and a Colombian colleague) but also the rural Colombian people, who contributed the raw materials for the conversation