The Quechua Hybrid Economy: Dual Market Access as Indigenous Resistance and Alternative Economic Development in Peru

Indigenous people in the global periphery are positioned in the crosshairs of neoliberal globalism that not only conspires to liberalize their national markets but also coerce their full integration into the global capitalist economy. This was the case in the Calca Province of Peru, where 1960s Green Revolution reform sought to integrate Quechua agrarian communities into the global economy. Neoliberal reform impoverished Quechua communities through increasing production costs and decreasing the retail prices of produce. As a protectionist reaction, Quechua women cultivated a network of barter markets to combat food insecurity. Using anthropologist Jon Altman’s (2011) theory of Hybrid Economy as a framework of analysis, this thesis evaluates economic activity in the Calca Province with qualitative, quantitative, and ethnographic evidence from two recently published case studies. This thesis argues that the hybrid economy in the Calca Province is one of dual market access, as Quechua people navigate through a non-monetized customary economy and a monetized economy. The hybrid economy expands market access and promotes the continuance of customary exchange. These findings contribute to our understanding of alternative economic development and valorize the customary economy as an autonomous institution that absorbs the blows of the global market and is not to be confused as transitional to capitalism