American Indian Culture and Research Journal

INTRODUCTION This paper examines the role of white traders in two distinct locations: the Navajo Reservation in the United States and the Transkei, a former reserve in South Africa. Despite historical, cultural, and geographical differences, the imposition of colonial rule and the establishment of reservation structures in both regions meant that the indigenous populations endured many common experiences. In these situations, opportunities were present for a class of entrepreneurs to position themselves as intermediaries between these populations and the outside world, thereby becoming agents of change. These activities expanded and contracted in response to changing internal and external conditions. This paper’s intention is to further uncover the forces at work in the process of capitalist development in peripheral areas through a comparative analysis of these situations. TRADERS AND INCORPORATION World-system theorists use the term incorporation or broadening to describe the process whereby peripheral areas are absorbed into the global capitalist system controlled by the core nations. Primarily an economic process, incorporation is shaped by many related factors, including but not limited to: the social organization and culture of the people being incorporated; the role of the region in the world economy; historical epoch; and the driving incentive-such as land, labor, or raw materials-of the incorporating society.