Hawkers and containers in Zarya Vostoka: How “bizarre” is the post-Soviet bazaar?

Saulesh Yessenova

A chapter in Markets and Market Liberalization: Ethnographic Reflections, 2006, pp 37-59 from Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Abstract: Economic liberalization in the countries of the former Soviet Union in the late 1980s provoked a spontaneous explosion of entrepreneurial activities and small trade that lead to an expansion of local marketplaces – the bazaars. This study locates the bazaar within the transition to a market economy. The discussion is guided by questions addressed in social theory and ethnographic studies of the marketplace. How “bizarre” is the post-Soviet bazaar? Does it resist the transition to a market economy or is it a conduit of emerging markets? Ethnographic data for this study stems from the bazaar in Zarya Vostoka situated at the outskirts of Almaty, Kazakhstan. This bazaar is a remarkable example of post-Soviet transformation from a small site of market exchange (the barakholka) to a profitable commercial enterprise. Contrary to the scholarly arguments that insist on a conceptual difference between the marketplace and true markets, this study argues that this bazaar is a dynamic enterprise and an integral part of emerging markets in post-Soviet Kazakhstan.

Date: 2006
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:reanzz:s0190-1281(05)24002-7

DOI: 10.1016/S0190-1281(05)24002-7

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