Overview
Illuminates how mobile traders were perceived and described
Shows how commodities enable and shape trading encounters
Examines how the availability of certain narratives in the archive delimits historical understanding
This book is open access, which means that you have free and unlimited access
Buy print copy
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Table of contents (14 chapters)
-
Front Matter
-
Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
This open access book uncovers one important, yet forgotten, form of itinerant livelihoods, namely petty trade, more specifically how it was practiced in Northern Europe during the period 1820–1960. It investigates how traders and customers interacted in different spaces and approaches ambulatory trade as an arena of encounters by looking at everyday social practices. Petty traders often belonged to subjugated social groups, like ethnic minorities and migrants, whereas their customers belonged to the resident population. How were these mobile traders perceived and described? What goods did they peddle? How did these commodities enable and shape trading encounters? What kind of narratives can be found, and whose? These questions pertaining to daily practices on a grass-root level have not been addressed in previous research. Encounters and Practices embarks on hidden histories of survival, vulnerability, and conflict, but also discloses reciprocal relations, even friendships.
Reviews
“The volume assembles case studies on practices of petty trade – often regarded as marginal – and highlights just how common they were throughout Europe. The book shows how such highly ambiguous and diverse activities or trades served the needs of consumption, bartering and entertainment. By reading sources against the grain, the individual chapters depict everyday routines and encounters of sellers and residents, while also reconstructing sellers’ agency and tactics. Overall, this book opens up new perspectives while drawing a highly differentiated and multifaceted picture of practices often neglected by historians because they do not fit neatly into traditional categories of work or trades.” (Sigrid Wadauer, University of Vienna, Austria)
Editors and Affiliations
About the editors
Jutta Ahlbeck is a Researcher and Docent of History of Ideas. She is affiliated with Åbo Akademi University and University of Oulu, Finland.
Ann-Catrin Östman is a Senior Lecturer and Docent of History. She is affiliated with Åbo Akademi University, Finland.
Eija Stark is a Researcher and Docent of Folklore Studies. She is the Development Manager of the Finnish Literature Society, Finland.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Encounters and Practices of Petty Trade in Northern Europe, 1820–1960
Book Subtitle: Forgotten Livelihoods
Editors: Jutta Ahlbeck, Ann-Catrin Östman, Eija Stark
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98080-1
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: History, History (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2022
License: CC BY
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-98079-5Published: 16 June 2022
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-98082-5Published: 16 June 2022
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-98080-1Published: 15 June 2022
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XIV, 353
Number of Illustrations: 27 b/w illustrations, 5 illustrations in colour
Topics: Social History, European History, Economic History