Resistance and integration: Working with capitalism at its fringes

Abstract

This article focuses on a specific setting characterized by the strong presence of indigenous enterprises against the backdrop of a wider capitalist system associated with the national economy. Rather than adopting an essentialist approach aimed at the delineation of their special features, this study focuses on the idea of “indigeneity” and examines different ways in which it acts in the process of enterprising. Results show that entrepreneurs interpret indigeneity in flexible ways as they simultaneously pursue both integration and resistance while responding to capitalism. These opposing projects illustrate the performative action of indigeneity as it functions as a flexible tool in the articulation of diverse social formations in the context. The paper points to challenges and opportunities for the survival of alternate systems at the fringes of advancing capitalist formations.