BAHARAT TİCARETİNİN KÜLTÜR EKONOMİSİ: KARABİBER ÖRNEĞİ
THE CULTURAL ECONOMY OF THE SPICE TRADE: THE EXAMPLE OF BLACK PEPPER

Summary/Abstract: This study approaches black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) not merely as a spice or an agricultural commodity, but as a historical meta-commodity that played an active role in shaping global economic systems, cultural interactions, and social transformations. Within the theoretical framework of the longue durée perspective, world-systems theory, and the concept of embedded economy, the circulation of black pepper within early global trade networks and its contribution to processes of capitalist accumulation are analyzed. The study further examines how black pepper acquired ideological legitimacy through its botanical and medicinal properties as well as through mythological narratives and practices of exoticization. These discursive constructions aligned patterns of consumption with prevailing social norms, demonstrating the extent to which economic processes were intertwined with cultural codes. In this sense, black pepper functioned not only as a trade commodity but also as a constitutive element of the cultural economy. From a gastronomic perspective, the diffusion of black pepper from aristocratic cuisines to popular culinary practices represents not only the democratization of consumption but also the permeability of cultural boundaries and the intensification of social interaction. In terms of cultural economy, the transition of black pepper from a luxury commodity to an item of mass consumption is closely associated with transformations in social differentiation, consumption hierarchies, and identity formation processes. In conclusion, the study proposes reconsidering black pepper as a historical agent that contributed significantly to the early formation of global capitalism, the establishment of colonial relations, and the expansion of intercultural contact networks.

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