Marketplaces

Trager traveled to Nigeria in 1973/1974 to study the Yoruba marketplaces.  She studied what they sold, where they sold it, how much they sold it for, who was selling it, and other aspects of the market places.  She compiled her research into a dissertation: "Yoruba Markets and Trade: Analysis of Spatial Structure and Social Organization in the Ijesaland Marketing System."  In the 1980s, she worked within the Ford Foundation’s West Africa office where she saw how important these markets were for a town's growth and development.  The markets change depending on which town is hosting them, and they bring in people from all across the nation to both buy and sell.  Yams were a major good that she studied extensively.