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In the established historiography of trade in Asia, the emergence of Western trading empires invariably triggered the decline and dispersal of old trading networks. In this transregional ethnographic history of the Manangi, a Buddhist trading community from northern Nepal, Prista Ratanapruck provides counter evidence, elucidating how kinship, social, and religious institutions have facilitated the expansion of Manangi trade across South and Southeast Asia. Expounding on how social and moral values shape capital production, accumulation, and redistribution, Market and Monastery examines the entwining relationship between trade and the Manangi’s pursuit of social and spiritual aspirations, ultimately illuminating an intriguing form of capitalism.
“Market and Monastery is an exceptional contribution to the study of connected histories. The book explores the networks of the Nepali Manangi trading community, which linked the Himalayas to Southeast Asia. It combines meticulous ethnographic research with insightful theoretical analysis of capital production and transregional economies. In many ways, it represents a groundbreaking study of intra-Asian connections, poised to significantly influence future research and pedagogy on the subject.” • Tansen Sen, NYU Shanghai
“This illuminating ethnography follows the Manangi diaspora across South and Southeast Asia to reveal a society whose internal dynamics are structured by its external engagements. Ranatapruck uncovers the remarkable ways that this diaspora has coopted market forces in order to pursue religious merit. A must read for anyone interested in how to overcome the worst excesses of capitalism.” • Johan Mathew, Rutgers University
“From the Rothschilds and the Rockefellers to Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, economically successful people have often devoted their earnings to the needs of their community. Prista Ratanapruck’s close-up look at the business practices and community life of the Nepalese Manangi offers up a host of insights into the complex motivations underlying economic initiative and the interplay between competition and cooperation in closely knit groups. Reading a deeply researched analysis like hers makes us wish there were more case studies done in economics.” • Benjamin M. Friedman, Harvard University
“This carefully researched ethnography is essential reading to understand contemporary articulations of capitalism, kinship and religion. Through long-term engagement with Manangi business networks and their entwinement with religious institutions, Prista Ratanapruck illuminates the multiplicity of forces that underpin the reproduction of capital while raising questions on the new inequalities that such forces engender.” • Anna-Riikka Kauppinen, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva
Prista Ratanapruck received her B.A. in Economics and PhD in Anthropology from Harvard University. Currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Integrated Development Studies in Nepal, she has previously taught History at Rutgers University, as well as Anthropology at the University of Virginia, Chiangmai University in Thailand, and the Nepa School of Sciences and Humanities in Nepal. Her recent publications include journal articles in JESHO, Encounter, and in the co-edited volume, Radical Egalitarianism (Fordham 2011).
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Acknowledgements
Part I: Nodes Abroad : The Social Geography of the Manangi Trade Community
Chapter 1. A Community of Traders
Chapter 2. Manangi Rooming Houses Abroad
Part II: Local and Trans-Local Economies and Societies
Chapter 3. From Routes to Roots
Chapter 4. Kinship Arrangements and Economic Expansion
Chapter 5. Reinvestments in Nepal
Part III: Nodes at Home: Institutionalized Religious and Social Gatherings
Chapter 6. Money and Labor in Spiritual Transformation
Chapter 7. Pooling Resources for Work and Play
Glossary
Bibliography