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Abstract
This paper considers the relationship between anthropology and the interdisciplinary field of commodity studies through an examination of an important commodity chain in the Asia-Pacific, the live reef fish for food trade. Using an ethnographic perspective, I focus on how particular social relationships within this commodity chain have significant implications for two key concerns of commodity studies—the distribution of benefits through commodity chains and how commodity chains are regulated. The social relationships between fishers and traders provide a powerful avenue for relative economic prosperity for fishers, yet the forms of social relationships that operate between fishers, traders and regulators mean that regulation of the trade is not being implemented. This analysis provides an example of how an ethnographic lens can provide a useful perspective that can contribute to an interdisciplinary dialogue on commodity chains.
Notes
Acknowledgements. Thanks to Greg Acciaioli, Sarinda Singh and the anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper, and to Jenny Sheehan of Multimedia Services at the Australian National University for producing the map. The research for this paper was supported by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University, and the Resource Management in Asia-Pacific Program at the Australian National University.
In this paper I do not intend to refer to anthropological debates about the nature of what a ‘social relationship’ is; I use the term in a deliberately, broad holistic sense.
See also Derks (Citation2010) for a related case examining the position of Cambodian fishermen in Thailand.
See also McCarthy (Citation2006) for a similar discussion of how informal patron–client relationships among various actors at the district level prevent effective policy change in the forestry sector in Aceh, Indonesia.