Final answer:
War resembles a marketplace in that lives are considered commodities, reflecting a shift from traditional values to a system where individuals have quantifiable value and can be traded for goods. This dehumanizing aspect is akin to the price system based on supply and demand.
Step-by-step explanation:
According to Etienne, war resembles a marketplace because lives are commodities. In the context of African wars and the trade with Europeans, African societies reached a point where they had to trade human lives for European goods and guns, which had become indispensable to continue warfare. The concept of commodity in this situation refers to the idea that human lives have a quantifiable value and can be traded for goods, much like objects in a marketplace. This is because the European monetized system started to replace other forms of exchange, like cowrie shells, and African societies increasingly relied on European trade goods, making human lives a currency in these transactions.
This compares to how the price system works, where prices adjust in response to supply and demand, unforeseen events like war, and are based on the value people place on items, jobs, or lives through their economic choices. It reflects a shift from the traditional values and systems of exchange, highlighting the dehumanizing aspects of war where individuals are reduced to units of exchangeable value.