Cattle Market as Culture: Actors, Social Interactions and Bazaar Economy The Case Study of Chiang Wang Market in Mueang District, Yasothon Province

Abstract

This article examines a cattle market, conceptually framed by market as culture, in which actors create social interactions within the bazaar economy, using an ethnographic approach to observe the Chaing Wang Market in Sawang Sub-district, Mueang District, Yasothon Province. This study has found that this market is a significant economic center within the region and for transborder trade. There are diverse actors across four groups: cow farmers, nai hoi (middlemen), large-scale cattle purchasers, and foreign buyers from Vietnam and Cambodia, as well as state officials and other market merchants. Actors in the cattle market interacted socially, reflecting the rules and roles they learned to make transactions mutually acceptable at the local level. Their social interactions displayed the bazaar economy. That is, the market does not stably present a formalized institution.  For instance, pricing was not fixed, which opened the door to bargaining. In addition, the market, as an institution, mirrors multiculturalism; therefore, languages are considered part of the market’s diverse culture. Understanding languages for communication might not be considered successful trading. Merchants and buyers must be able to make sense of other languages circulating in the market, including a particular one used in the cattle business, as well as nonverbal communication that supports successful negotiation.