Fictitious commodification and agrarian change: indigenous peoples and land markets in Highland Ecuador

Geoff Goodwin

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Creating private property rights and establishing land markets were fundamental to the historical development of capitalism in the Global North and remain at the centre of capitalist development in the Global South. This article contributes to debates about these processes by analysing the relationship between land markets and indigenous peoples in Highland Ecuador. Building on Karl Polanyi's concept of fictitious commodities, it elaborates a new concept that makes an analytical distinction between the activation and development of land markets. The former refers to the occasional participation of actors in markets to secure land, whereas the latter relates to the establishment and expansion of markets that regulate the distribution and value of land through market prices. Focusing on indigenous land struggles in the late 20th century, this article shows that the activation of land markets created opportunities for indigenous peasants to secure land, whereas the development of land markets closed them down. Social and class differentiation among the highland indigenous population increased through this contradictory process. The article connects this historical analysis to recent developments in Ecuador to contribute to empirical and theoretical debates about contemporary land struggles and agrarian change elsewhere in the Global South.

Keywords: countermovement; fictitious commodities; Karl Polanyi; land markets; land reform (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J1 N0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 22 pages
Date: 2021-01-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-hme
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published in Journal of Agrarian Change, 1, January, 2021, 21(1), pp. 3 - 24. ISSN: 1471-0358

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:108860

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