Suq – Geertz on the Market

“At a time when there is a desperate need for better understandings of the Muslim world, this essay by Clifford Geertz, brilliantly introduced by his fieldwork partner and colleague Lawrence Rosen, once again illustrates the importance of cultural anthropology in providing insights into different peoples and places. This is anthropology at its best.” -- Akbar Ahmed, author of "Journey into Europe: Islam, Immigration, and Identity"
“This remarkable book is a tribute to Geertz’s capacity to combine observation, interpretation, and comparison. It is a product of the first phase of his long career, when his main inspirations were from Max Weber and his colleagues at the Committee for the Study of New Nations at The University of Chicago. Geertz’s analysis of the bazaar remains unmatched in its attention to social detail and its cultural grasp of an economic form.“ -- Arjun Appadurai, author of "Banking on Words: The Failure of Language in the Age of Derivative Finance"
“The brilliance of 'Sūq" lies in its analysis of terms well-known in anthropology, but usually for their political valences (broker, clientelism, dependency); the way it shows their pertinence in the marketplace and demonstrates how exchange is so much more than a merely economic transaction. Geertz demonstrates how the bazaar is a cultural form, emblematic of society, an ‘analytic idea’ as much as an institution.“ -- Deborah James, author of "Money from Nothing: Indebtedness and Aspiration in South Africa"