Informal moves, informal markets: International migrants and traders from Mzimba District, Malawi

Abstract

International migration from Malawi has changed profoundly since centrally organized mine migration to South Africa ended in the 1980s. Contemporary movements are more diverse and less tied to labour, as informal trade has developed alongside. This article replaces a common ‘productivist’ perspective on migration with a decentralized approach, using ethnographic observation and anthropological case studies to understand interrelated flows of people and goods. It shows how in an emergent informal market for South African goods in Mzimba, Malawi, price information does not structure trade practices. Historical continuities in the socio-cultural organization of illegal migration, rather than liberalized market forces, shape this economic configuration, including price formation.