Taking Copies from China Past Customs: Routines, Risks, and the Possibility of Catastrophe

Gordon Mathews

Journal of Borderlands Studies, 2015, vol. 30, issue 3, 423-435

Abstract: This paper seeks to add to our understanding of “low-end globalization” by exploring the processes through which copy goods are transported from China to various African countries. It begins by discussing low-end globalization and high-end globalization, different forms of globalization involving different forms of regulation and morality. It then considers copies, knock-offs, and contraband and their distinctions, and discusses African logistics agents in south China, and their major concerns in their work. It then examines the specific issue of how to get copies past customs in China. It then explores corruption, particularly in Kenya and Nigeria, and how this serves as an ongoing burden as well as aid for traders and logistics agents. Finally, it returns to the issue of copies—within the context of low-end globalization, copies may represent something beneficial to many of those who consume them, as a cheaper alternative to the goods of Global-North luxury that they cannot afford.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1080/08865655.2015.1068210

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