Beauty of the market

In the previous post I talked about the article I read. This post is also related to it.

In the article de Carteret (the author of the article) (2008b) quotes a person who works in the market at Traralgon in the Latrobe Valley: "We like to make some extra cash but we all love chatting away with mates we'd never see otherwise; we chat, swap experiences and advice on all sorts of things" (quote in de Carteret 2008a cited in de Carteret 2008b: 506). This shows that stallholders at the market not only run the market for economic interests and purposes but they also enjoy the social aspect of the market.

This situation is relevant to the South Bank market too. When I had dialogue with one of the stallholders, she said “We talk to each other and look after each other”. In addition, my house mate, who is one of the stallholders, also enjoys talking with other stallholders and sometimes invites them for dinner after the market or other times to chat about not only market but also what is happening in their daily lives. From my observation and dialogue I had with some stallholders, I can see they know each other relatively well and the connections among them seems to be well-established. Moreover, stallholders and customers can build relationships as well. My house mate loves to invite even customers for drinks and meals and he makes friend with them. In fact, one of them now works with him at the market!

I think this social aspect/capital is the beauty of the market and I want to promote it more as a way of revitalisation of the market :)


Image Source:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonivc/416853172/ (creative commons license)

References

de Carteret, P. ed. 2008a. Peripheral vision: women’s stories of home in Gippsland, Churchill. Victoria: Monash University.

de Carteret, P. 2008b. ‘Diverse pleasures: informal learning in community’, Australian Journal of Adult Learning, 48 (3): 502-521.