'A real romance': gender, ethnicity, trust and risk in the Indian diamond trade

This article examines the complex relationship between gender and ethnicity in the Indian diamond trade. Using an analysis of the marketing and consum ption of diamonds in relation to the practices of the trade, the article ar gues for the embeddedness of gender relations and genderic discourses withi n the trade. The essay focuses upon the role of the Jain community and the ways in which trust relations are central to the architecture of the trade. But, both trust relations and risk-taking, the article argues, are also im bricated in the discourses that construct masculinities and the identities of the diamanteurs.