ABSTRACT

This article argues that brokers are key actors in the cross-border livestock trade between Kenya and Somalia, where formal regulations are weak or absent. We elucidate the economic and social rationales for livestock brokerage as well as a series of brokering practices taking place at the intersection of profit making, kinship and trust. Besides producing social capital based on trust, brokers facilitate the formalization of livestock trading by linking livestock production sites in southern Somalia to consumer markets in Kenya. Brokers thereby take on various roles and functions that contribute to integrating markets across fragmented territories. Based on extended fieldwork conducted in and around Garissa livestock market as well as in Nairobi, the paper outlines the political economy of livestock intermediaries in the important Somali-Kenyan cross-border livestock trade.

摘要

本文认为，经纪人是肯尼亚和索马里之间跨境畜牧贸易的主要参与者，那里正规法规薄弱或缺乏。我们阐明了牲畜经纪的经济和社会原理，以及在获利，亲属关系和信任的交汇处发生的一系列经纪实践。除基于信任产生社会资本外，经纪人还通过将索马里南部的畜牧生产基地与肯尼亚的消费市场联系起来，促进了畜牧贸易的正规化。因此，经纪人承担着各种角色和功能，有助于整合各个分散区域的市场。根据在加里萨（Garissa）牲畜市场内外以及内罗毕进行的广泛田野调查，