Building a “Silk Road”: A View from Below of the Trans-regional. Links Between Algeria and China: A View from Below of the Trans-regional Links Between Algeria and China

Abstract : This article considers the simultaneous construction of the "Silk roads" at three levels, transnational in a commodity chain now extended between Algeria and China and national in a country where consumption increase and retail stores and markets multiply. The transregional level is an intersection of the two other levels that is organized from the anchor points of globalized trading posts and marketplaces located in East Algeria. Comparing these three levels enables us to shed light on the formation of global networks – what we call the route – that are situated at the crossroads of local, regional, national and transnational rationales and arise from arrangements at multiple scales among multiple actors. It is now possible to sketch a chronology of the growth in the marketplaces where Algerian importers have obtained supplies for almost 40 years, thanks to recent research using the accounts of Algerian traders collected during continuous and regular surveys conducted by the two authors in Algeria, Dubai, and China since the early 2000s. These studies identified the places and the construction stages of this (these) transnational route(s?).