Cultural strategies in the organization of trading diasporas

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Abstract
The conduct of long-distance trade requires finding solutions to a number of basic technical problems: the regular exchange of information about the conditions of supply and demand between traders; the speedy dispatch and transport of goods, particularly those that are perishable. A Diaspora must define its membership and its sphere of operation by defining its identity and exclusiveness within the contemporaneous setting. This is essential in order to prevent outsiders from infiltrating into its ranks and thus breaking its monopoly of the trade. Generalizations on evidence at the cultural level are of little value. Lorry parks within the Hausa quarters in Yoruba towns, the kola sheds in the local railway stations, and the cattle markets—these have been strategic places for the continuous and regular exchange of business communication. The trade in each commodity has its own organization and its own impact on the structure of the local communities and on the organization of the Diaspora as a whole.

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