Accepted Panels

In this paper, I attempt to explore how capital reconfigure spaces and cultures in a borderland context. To do so, I am particularly interested in understanding the worlds of merchants who belong to the Marwari community – a prominent trading caste in South Asia. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Northeast India, the paper aims to supplement economic analyses of the Marwari mercantile network by exploring how the network is both grounded spatially and reproduced culturally in the northeastern state of Manipur bordering Myanmar. By discussing some of the economic and socio-cultural practices adopted by Marwari merchants, the paper attempts to describe intergenerational experiences of the Marwari merchants in Manipur. In so doing, I primarily intend to delineate the logic and strategies through which merchants navigate distinctive spatial configurations including borderland. For instance, what does the logic which shape the geography of trade and capital tell us about social–spatial relations? Engaging with this specific question may allow us to critically reflect on dominant frameworks and pave the pathways for alternate understandings of space, networks, mobility, notion of home and belonging.