We, the Congolese, we cannot trust each other’. Trust, norms and relations among traders in Katanga, Democratic Republic of Congo 1

Dados Bibliográficos

ID9621039
AutoresBenjamin Rubbers (0000-0002-2399-7937, University of Liège, autor correspondente)
Ano2009
Volume60
Fascículo3
Páginas623-642
Data de publicação2009-09-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoBritish Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0007-1315 • E-ISSN: 1468-4446
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1468-4446.2009.01261.x
PMID19703180
OpenAlexW1883953611
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas15
Referências citadas33

Congolese traders in Katanga claim that they cannot trust their peers, customers, and employees. Existing literature about social capital in Africa does not enhance our understanding, as it tends to consider trust as depending on the degree of social knowledge. In the Congo, social proximity does not exclude suspicion, nor does social distance necessarily prevent trust. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, this article aims at developing a more detailed framework. It studies how Congolese traders negotiate two key norms for the building of economic trust – property and reciprocity – with non‐relatives, distant relatives, and close relatives

Blind trust · Democracy · Ethnography · Express trust · Negotiation · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Reciprocity (cultural anthropology) · Social capital · Social science · Social trust · Sociology · African Studies and Ethnography · African Studies and Geopolitics · Anthropology · Culture, Economy, and Development Studies · Law