Cultivating Beyond-Capitalist Economies

abstract

Conceptualizations of the economy as diverse and multiple have garnered increased attention in economic geography in recent years. Against the debilitating mantra of TINA (there is no alternative), these conceptualizations use an ontology of proliferation to insist that many viable and vital alternatives to capitalism do, in fact, exist. I aim to contribute to this project with a close reading of the diverse formal and informal economic practices associated with the village of Puno in the Philippines. In doing so, I respond to calls for work that begins in the majority world and that focuses on the broader political project associated with diverse economies. Research in this area has frequently been critiqued for not paying sufficient attention to the unstable yet persistent exclusions that may endure in, and may even be enhanced by, alternative economies. With this article, I aim to investigate the ways that power relations work through the diverse economies of Puno and the ways that residents act to transform these relations. In doing so, I draw on the experiences of three residents of Puno and their involvement in three social movement organizations. I find that the economy is usefully understood as a site of struggle in which residents work to redefine themselves and the economy. The diverse spaces of their economic lives are neither strictly alternative nor mainstream, inherently oppressive nor radical. Rather, the people of Puno are engaged in willfully cultivating spaces-beyond-capitalism through which they transform the very meaning of economic practice.

Key Words:

• diverse economies
• alternative economic spaces
• Philippines
• social movements
• formal and informal economies
• ethnography

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank MASIPAG and the residents of Puno for their generosity, patience, and insights. Thanks also to Tanya Judd for her assistance with my field notes.

Notes

1 I use the term majority world to describe what are otherwise known as developing countries or the Third World. The term acknowledges that conditions of material poverty are the norm for the majority of the world’s population. It also attempts to avoid the connotations of lack that are associated with the term developing.

2 I made a total of 6 trips during this time: 6 months (2000), 12 months (2001–02), 3 weeks (2003), 6 weeks and 4 weeks (2004), and 1 week (2006). The interviews were undertaken in Tagalog, Kinaray-a, and English. I was accompanied by a research assistant who translated when the interview switched to Kinaray-a. In addition to helping with translation, she helped to validate my interpretation of the interviews; we spent an hour after each interview discussing the nuances and meanings of the interaction. All the interview quotes in the article have been translated.

3 It is this stripped-down definition of capitalism that informs by discussion of beyond-capitalist spaces in this article.

4 The practices referred to here are those through which commodities are produced by free wage labor for a market. Surplus labor in the form of value is appropriated by nonproducers (capitalists or the board of a capitalist firm, for example) through an exploitative class process from those who directly produce the commodities (Gibson-Graham 2006).

5 On 25 August 2009, the exchange rate was $1 = 49 pesos.

6 This program promoted the use of high-yielding varieties of seeds in conjunction with agricultural chemicals and the extension of credit.

7 The villagers started the Puno cooperative store in 1998 as a community organizing effort supported by a university in Iloilo.

8 A range of agencies facilitates overseas contract work for Filipinos in many industries including as nurses, domestic workers, and sex workers. Many OCWs find themselves in highly exploitative and sometimes coercive situations, yet working as an OCW is an important economic strategy and may also be a source of empowerment and pride for many Filipinos (Arnado 2003; Parreñas 2001).