Mercados ilícitos. Hambre y reconfiguración moral en la frontera hispano-lusa durante la posguerra

Abstract

In the Spanish post-war period, thousands of families were immersed in a climate of suspicion and persecution, compounded by hunger. Many had no choice but to resort to resistance maneuvers, including several illicit practices such as smuggling. We have approached this phenomenon in the little-studied context of the Spanish-Portuguese border with a particular combined approach of Anthropology and History. Based on ethnographic fieldwork complemented with consultations in Spanish and Portuguese archival collections, we have been interested in the human experiences and shared moral notions that surrounded it. We conclude that the dimensions of that illicit market would never have been possible without an ethical reformulation of social relations. A "new circumstantial moral order" in which much of society participated, including those who were meant to avoid them.