Manly Merchants

Abstract

This article explores intersections between masculinity, mobility, generation and commerce through the everyday lives of Afghan men who make-up trading networks that are active across Eurasia. It is based on ethnographic fieldwork amongst Afghan traders in Ukraine’s port city of Odessa and in the Chinese international trading of Yiwu. Building on recent work in anthropology concerning the ‘emergent’ nature of Middle Eastern masculinities, the article brings attention to the flexible and adaptable nature of the notions of masculinity held and performed by mobile Afghan traders. It emphasises the need for such conceptions of masculinity to be treated historically and draws attention to the forms of care-giving that are especially important to the traders’ intimate lives and self-understandings. The article also highlights the significance of complex notions of trust both to the traders’ articulation of conceptions of manliness and to their everyday modes of securing a livelihood.