Subsistence Marketplaces Bottom-Up Immersion Conferences

The inaugural conference in January 2018 allowed organizers enabled field visits to explore urban, semi-urban, and rural subsistence communities near Chennai and Delhi. We envisioned submissions in the form of a statement of interests in the realm of subsistence marketplaces that would then be discussed and explored through field visits during the conference.

During the second conference in Arusha, Tanzania, organizers worked with participants to accommodate special requests to maximize immersive learning opportunities. Participants conducted visits in rural, semi-urban and urban settings, such as tribal communities and social enterprises all thanks to the Marketplace Literacy Project and OIKOS East Africa, who have worked together for more than five years with Maasai communities in the Arusha region.

Background Information

For more than a decade, the Subsistence Marketplaces Conference Series has been a leading biennial forum for evolving and sharing research, education and fostering best practices for social and commercial enterprises in subsistence marketplace communities.

Scholars and practitioners around the world have participated in these forums through conferences, publications, and educational initiatives, beginning with the first Subsistence Marketplaces Conference in 2006. Research by this community has appeared in a variety of outlets, sustained through a series of special issues/sections in academic journals (with more than 50 articles in conference-related special publications and many more in other outlets).

Since its origin, subsistence marketplace research has accumulated a substantial body of knowledge paralleling other approaches to poverty, such as the capabilities approach and base-of-the-pyramid research, providing unique and complementary insights.

The term “subsistence marketplaces” was deliberately coined to reflect the need to study these marketplaces across resource and literacy barriers in their own right, beyond being new markets for companies. Business and exchange happens in many different ways across the world. Such exchanges are worthy of study from the inside out as well as the outside in. The term “marketplaces” denotes this focus and emphasizes the need to understand preexisting marketplaces before designing or presuming solutions.

Conference History
Chennai and Delhi, India (2018)

This conference emphasized participation in full-day field interactions that embody the bottom-up methodology in the subsistence marketplaces stream,

We assigned participants to groups of four-eight people representing different sectors like academicians and practitioners, different geographies, and other interests with a trained translator.

Tracks included:

  • Agriculture
  • Consumers and Value Cocreation 
  • Education
  • Financial Inclusion and Governance
  • Health
  • Research Methods
  • Sanitation
  • Social Entrepreneurship
  • Subsistence Entrepreneurship
  • Technology and Innovation
  • Value Chains
  • Women’s Empowerment
Arusha, Tanzania (2019)

Much of the conference is conducted in the field, with time to return to the city to reflect on findings. We remain fluid in allowing ideas from the participants and insights from the field to emerge and guide the process. Our process is bottom-up in this aspect as well, but guided by experienced leaders.

Tracks included:

  • Entrepreneurship 
  • Marketplace Access
  • Marketplace Exclusion
  • Service Learning
  • Social Innovation
  • Sustainability
  • Women Empowerment

How to participate

To participate in the conference, we request a two-part application and registration process.  The application form asks potential attendees to provide an overview of subsistence marketplace interests, how/why immersive experiences will help develop deeper insights into those interests, and if you have an prior experience with subsistence marketplaces.  Please note previous experience is not required to participate. 

Due to COVID-19 and our dedication to health and safety, no conferences are scheduled at this time.