La Maroma, or Chile, Credit and Chance: An Ethnographic Case of Global Finance and Middlemen Entrepreneurs

This article seeks to explain the local business behavior of middlemen entrepreneurs engaged in global-level capitalism. Following the trajectory of one commodity, chile, this case illustrates the cultural dynamics articulated by Mexican middlemen in business transactions, tying peasant producers to transnational capital and global markets. La Maroma, a logic of strategy, illuminates the financial manipulation, balance, and control used in coping with large capital expenditures in a transnational market system.