Les places marchandes du made in China au Caire et à Oran : mondialisation et transformations des espaces et des pratiques de consommation

Abstract

The urban marketplaces of al-Mûskî, in Cairo (Egypt) and Medina J’dida, in Oran (Algeria), are two main gateways of transnational trade between North Africa and South-east Asia, which have been booming since the 1990s. These neighborhoods are both specialized in retail and wholesale of small commodity products imported from China and more widely from Asia, and cater more particularly for urban lower and middle income groups. This paper aims at showing that the consumption of made-in-China goods, some standardized and some adapted to the tastes of local consumers, participates in the diffusion of new consumption cultural models and practices. This testifies to the modernity and dynamism of these commercial spaces, the urban souks, which, although ancient, are nonetheless transformed by globalization.

Keywords

• Transnational trade
• Urban marketplaces
• Globalization
• Consumption
• Public space