Community inter-changes: creating an inclusive moneyless economy in San Cristobal De Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico

Araujo, Erin (2018) Community inter-changes: creating an inclusive moneyless economy in San Cristobal De Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico. Doctoral (PhD) thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

This dissertation examines the theory and praxis of creating a decolonial anarchist moneyless economy in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico. El Cambalache (The Swap in English) is a community economies research project that explores what kinds of socio-technical networks arise through the use of consensus decision-making as a method and non-hierarchical relationships as a methodology for generative justice. The project has created its own practices of exchange value called ‘inter-change value’ in which anything that might be exchanged is deemed to be of equivalent value, either because it would normally be discarded or because it constitutes something someone wishes to share. What is exchanged via inter-change may include things one no longer needs or would normally discard (used clothing, cookware, laptops) and/or knowledge (workshops on skills such as herbal medicine or parenting), abilities (consultations with doctors and lawyers) or mutual aid (collective gardening, construction, or candle making) that people would like to share. El Cambalache is a project that focuses on participants as being resource-full though they might not have much access to money. The project strives to embrace non-capitalist economic relationships that support the well-being of the community that participates in it. This dissertation includes a collection of three published manuscripts. These manuscripts are accompanied by a literature review, historical context and the theory of inter-change value which are included in order to situate the published works.

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