Weaving a market: The informal economy and gender in a transnational trade network between Turkey and the former Soviet Union

This dissertation studies the emergence and development of informal trade between Turkey and the former Soviet Union (FSU)---particularly Russia---in the last decade of the twentieth century. It examines the economic structure of this trade network as well as the entrepreneurial activities of, and the gendered social relations between, its culturally diverse actors in Istanbul and Moscow.;Shuttle trade has emerged and developed as a small-scale entrepreneurial activity spanning many countries, from production and shopkeeping in Turkey to wholesaling and retailing in the FSU. All of these activities are characterized by a high degree of informality. This study seeks to locate the phenomenon of shuttle trade within the ungoing transformations in the world economy. It argues that, given its characteristics, shuttle trade cannot be explained either by the current conceptualizations of globalization, or by reference to the informal economy literature. Rather, it constitutes a transnational informal economy, which can be conceptually elaborated in terms of Fernand Braudel's notion of the stratification of economic life.;The dissertation specifically examines the economic and cultural interactions between the male shopkeepers in Istanbul and the predominantly female shuttle traders from the FSU. It also studies entrepreneurship within this transnational market and the process of capital accumulation. It scrutinizes the relationship between the upper circuits of global economic flows and small-scale transnational trade exemplified by shuttle trade.