ABSTRACT
Akha vendors bring a range of different forms of capital with them and are able to accumulate further resources during and after migration. The success or failure of an actor within the field of Akha souvenir businesses is related to his or her endowment of capital while the various forms of capital are unevenly distributed among players in the field of ethnic minority micro-businesses. Street vendors find different economic and political structures at various sale and migrant destinations and develop their own strategies in order to tackle or circumvent existing constraints and become successful at the international tourist marketplace. Strategies and everyday activities as social practice can operate on the conscious and on the unconscious level. That said, actors are active agents having goals, aspirations, and future expectations, but such intentions are limited by their endowment of capital and their capacity of mobilizing and transforming the various forms of capital. However, to explain and understand Akha strategies in the field of ethnic minority enterprise with rational choice and intention-led action only fails to recognize embodied dispositions that are acquired through social experience and operate as an organizing principle of thought and action under the level of consciousness. The differential social, political, and economic dynamics of urban Akha souvenir business can be fruitfully further analysed in terms of a typology based on four principle variables or dilemmas:
• Social cohesion versus competition and individualization • Politico-legal constraints versus mobility • Economic opportunities versus exploitation • Cultural capital versus discrimination
Social cohesion versus competition and individualization For Akha micro-entrepreneurs, the mobilization of insider social capital has served as a prerequisite for gaining information; establishing security, cohesion, and sociality; and reducing expenses. This social cohesion is based on collective experiences of discrimination in the context of previous migrations and work as well as on a similar socio-economic status among Akha vendors. An internal solidarity has been created that shapes altruistic forms of support for community
members. Under these conditions and contexts, Akha vendors can mobilize their social relations for information transfer relevant for potential migrants as well as current migrants. Moreover, Akha vendors’ social capital engenders social cohesion in conflict situations with district officials and tolerance and understanding towards an increasing number of newly arrived souvenir sellers and thus co-ethnic competitors. Furthermore, strong ties to family members and a tacitly required ‘mentoring function’ of experienced sellers facilitate further mobilization of social capital resulting in information transfer and advice and ‘supervision’ for newcomers. Through the widespread use of mobile phones among Akha vendors, information transfer regarding souvenir business start-ups and changing opportunity structures transcends geographic boundaries.
