Community Economies in Support of People’s Livelihoods: A Case of a Dairy Cooperative of a Mountain Village in Bhutan

抄録

The notion of community economies is key to redressing the contraction of ordinary people’s livelihoods under the sway of global capitalism. This study describes how a dairy cooperative in Shingkhar, a mountain village in Bhutan, has been advancing a community economy. It makes net profit while capitalizing on local residents’ practices of exchanging labour and materials for their agricultural and religious activities. The institutions of mutual help, founded on non-market transactions circulating goods and services, have been applied to the cooperative that draws its membership from all households, and distributes its profit in ways that replenish commons in support of the members’ livelihoods. The cooperative also showcases how a community economy is advanced with the support extended by an association of those raised in the locality and residing elsewhere. In this respect, the institutions of mutual help in Shingkhar extend beyond the village boundaries.