Publication Date

9-2012

Document Type

Article

Abstract

This paper investigates gendered patterns of corruption and access to illicit networks among female cross-border traders near the Senegambian border. Despite a discourse of generosity and solidarity, access to corrupt networks is mediated by class and gender, furthering social differentiation, especially insofar as it depends on geographic and socio-economic affinity with customs officers, state representatives and well-connected transporters. Issues of organisational culture, occupational identity and interpersonal negotiations of power represent important sources of corruption that require an understanding of the actual dynamics of public administration. While smuggling depends on contesting legal and social boundaries, the most successful traders (and transporters) strive to fulfil ideal gender roles as closely as possible. Ironically, trading on poverty and feminine vulnerability only works for relatively affluent women.

Publication Title

Journal Of Modern African Studies

Volume

50

Issue

3

First Page

421

Last Page

445

DOI

10.1017/S0022278X12000183

Publisher Policy

Publisher's PDF

Open Access Status

OA Deposit

Comments

© 2002 Cambridge University Press. Available on publisher’s site at http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X12000183.

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