Rag Collectors: Mobility and Barter in a Circular Flow of Goods

Abstract This chapter traces a forgotten, yet important itinerant means of livelihood, namely rag collecting. Rags played an essential role as raw material for the paper and textile industries in the nineteenth century. The chapter identifies a business logic based on the idea that material perceive...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Wassholm, Johanna, Sundelin, Anna
Format: Book Part
Language:unknown
Published: Springer International Publishing 2022
Subjects:
karelian
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98080-1_4
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-3-030-98080-1_4
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spelling crspringernat:10.1007/978-3-030-98080-1_4 2024-03-10T08:35:40+00:00 Rag Collectors: Mobility and Barter in a Circular Flow of Goods Wassholm, Johanna Sundelin, Anna 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98080-1_4 https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-3-030-98080-1_4 unknown Springer International Publishing https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 Encounters and Practices of Petty Trade in Northern Europe, 1820–1960 page 69-94 ISBN 9783030980795 9783030980801 book-chapter 2022 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98080-1_4 2024-02-13T18:36:02Z Abstract This chapter traces a forgotten, yet important itinerant means of livelihood, namely rag collecting. Rags played an essential role as raw material for the paper and textile industries in the nineteenth century. The chapter identifies a business logic based on the idea that material perceived by one individual as worthless could be turned into something of economic value. As rags were commodified, they acquired new value in a different context. By analyzing newspapers, periodical articles and responses to ethnographic questionnaires, the authors follow a group of rag collectors from the Karelian Isthmus, who utilized their favorable geographic location to gain a livelihood from a circular flow of goods. The chapter demonstrates how an earthenware pot could be bartered for a discarded garment, which in turn became a piece of the puzzle in the process that kept industry and economic growth going. Book Part karelian Springer Nature 69 94 Cham
institution Open Polar
collection Springer Nature
op_collection_id crspringernat
language unknown
description Abstract This chapter traces a forgotten, yet important itinerant means of livelihood, namely rag collecting. Rags played an essential role as raw material for the paper and textile industries in the nineteenth century. The chapter identifies a business logic based on the idea that material perceived by one individual as worthless could be turned into something of economic value. As rags were commodified, they acquired new value in a different context. By analyzing newspapers, periodical articles and responses to ethnographic questionnaires, the authors follow a group of rag collectors from the Karelian Isthmus, who utilized their favorable geographic location to gain a livelihood from a circular flow of goods. The chapter demonstrates how an earthenware pot could be bartered for a discarded garment, which in turn became a piece of the puzzle in the process that kept industry and economic growth going.
format Book Part
author Wassholm, Johanna
Sundelin, Anna
spellingShingle Wassholm, Johanna
Sundelin, Anna
Rag Collectors: Mobility and Barter in a Circular Flow of Goods
author_facet Wassholm, Johanna
Sundelin, Anna
author_sort Wassholm, Johanna
title Rag Collectors: Mobility and Barter in a Circular Flow of Goods
title_short Rag Collectors: Mobility and Barter in a Circular Flow of Goods
title_full Rag Collectors: Mobility and Barter in a Circular Flow of Goods
title_fullStr Rag Collectors: Mobility and Barter in a Circular Flow of Goods
title_full_unstemmed Rag Collectors: Mobility and Barter in a Circular Flow of Goods
title_sort rag collectors: mobility and barter in a circular flow of goods
publisher Springer International Publishing
publishDate 2022
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98080-1_4
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-3-030-98080-1_4
genre karelian
genre_facet karelian
op_source Encounters and Practices of Petty Trade in Northern Europe, 1820–1960
page 69-94
ISBN 9783030980795 9783030980801
op_rights https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-98080-1_4
container_start_page 69
op_container_end_page 94
op_publisher_place Cham
_version_ 1793132121025413120

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