'I Didn't Learn Any Occupation, So I Trade': Untold Stories of Transnational Entrepreneurial Experimentation in Northern Laos

摘要

Amidst intensified regional cross-border infrastructural and economic connectivity, northern Laos has witnessed an increasing number of small-scale retailers from diverse backgrounds aspiring to partake in the trade of Chinese and Thai commodities. However, their individual entrepreneurial trajectories have not been given serious scholarly attention. One reason for this could be their own discursive downplaying of their actions, stressing the smallness and insignificance of their endeavours. However, putting their self-deprecating narratives at the centre of analysis reveals instances of entrepreneurial success paired with a considerable degree of transnational knowledge, experience and skills. Their struggle to locate their work within the rigid occupational environment of post-socialist Laos provides in turn the necessary room for their flexible and skilful economic experimentations.