Abstract
This chapter focuses on African traders as examples of participants in globalization from below. It draws on the concepts of time and space to explore the changing nature of the social networks that these traders rely on to manage their businesses as traders. The basic argument is that over time, as trading has evolved to incorporate an inter-continental crossborder trading system in the more traditional intra-continental crossborder trading system, the nature of social networks that underpin these trading systems has also changed. While intra-continental crossborder traders rely mostly on kin-based networks for support in their purchasing destinations, inter-continental crossborder traders relied initially on nationalistic networks. Over time, the social networks developed to offer support to inter-continental crossborder traders have also changed in two fundamental ways. They have extended beyond national ties as the basis for membership in these networks to a more professional basis for membership. In addition, the locations of these social networks have expanded beyond one node on the globe to two nodes on the globe; there are now social networks in the countries of origin as well as social networks in the purchasing destinations.
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Darkwah, A.K. (2019). African Women and Globalisation. In: Yacob-Haliso, O., Falola, T. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of African Women's Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77030-7_118-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77030-7_118-1
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