Gibson, Katherine, Hill, Ann, and Law, Lisa (2018) Community economies in Southeast Asia: a hidden economic geography. In: McGregor, Andrew, Law, Lisa, and Miller, Fiona, (eds.) Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian Development. Routledge, Abingdon, UK, pp. 131-141.

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Abstract

Researchers have long recognized practices of mutual aid, reciprocity and sharing as prevalent features of everyday community life in Southeast Asia. Such practices are often represented as persistent vestiges of pre-capitalist societies and variously categorized as aspects of “informal economies”, “patron-client” relations or “social capital”. In debates about capitalist development these ‘relict’ practices are seen as standing in the way of modern economic growth, as something to be overcome or enrolled into the mechanics of transition to market capitalism—that is, they are harnessed into a narrative of either decline or transcendence. However, such a framing obscures the valuable role mutual aid, reciprocity and sharing may have played in shaping responses to social, economic, political and environmental threats over the long durée. It is clear that these practices contribute to local social safety nets and act to support households in the event of misfortune or calamity, even today (Ong and Curato 2015). While they may be ill fitted to capitalist development trajectories, they are well suited as survival strategies and may potentially contribute to development trajectories more suited to life in the Anthropocene , the age we have entered in which human systems have become a geological force capable of destabilising earth systems (Steffan et al 2015). This chapter outlines an intellectual framing that situates mutual aid, reciprocity, sharing and other ‘community economic practices’ within a diverse economy in which the trajectory of change is not dominated by the capitalist development narrative but is up for negotiation.

Item ID:	53741
Item Type:	Book Chapter (Research - B1)
ISBN:	978-1-138-84853-5
Keywords:	community economies, Southeast Asia, patron-client relations, social capital
Funders:	Australian Research Council
Date Deposited:	19 Jul 2018 00:44
FoR Codes:	44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4406 Human geography > 440601 Cultural geography @ 50% 44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4499 Other human society > 449901 Studies of Asian society @ 50%
SEO Codes:	91 ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK > 9199 Other Economic Framework > 919999 Economic Framework not elsewhere classified @ 50% 97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970116 Expanding Knowledge through Studies of Human Society @ 50%
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