Economic circuits in Madagascar: “Agencing” the circulation of goods, accounts and money

Abstract

Recent economic sociology literature has focused on the circulation of goods along discontinuous economic spaces as a widespread modality of value creation. This paper explores how these “in-between” spaces are open to stabilized chains of transactions that maintain resilience against disruptions and uncertainties. It argues that the day-to-day circulation of actors, goods, and money in and between markets leads to an “economic circuit.” We define an economic circuit as a socio-technical and spatialized chain, which organizes on a regular and continuous basis the circulation of goods and payments between “kinship” partnerships. Exchanges are circular, assembling heterogeneous media and transfers, and relying on financial arrangements as a crucial mode for ensuring transaction continuity. To develop this idea, the paper draws upon the case of the small-scale fishing trading networks in Madagascar. It aims to explore the mundane arrangements and the “socio-technical agencements” operating across the whole chain of goods circulation.

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