• Sign up for new title announcements and special offers.

  • Owners of the Sidewalk: Security and Survival in the Informal City

    Author(s):
    Pages: 352
    Illustrations: 34 illustrations
    Sales/Territorial Rights: World
    Series: Global Insecurities
  • Cloth: $104.95 - In Stock
    978-0-8223-6028-5
  • Paperback: $26.95 - In Stock
    978-0-8223-6045-2
  • Quantity
  • Add To Bag
  • Prologue  ix

    Acknowledgements  xiii

    1. The Fire  1

    2. Writing, Reality, Truth  10

    3. Don Rafo  15

    4. The Informal Economy  18

    5. Nacho  25

    6. The Bolivian Experiment  33

    7. Meet the Press 42

    8. The Colonial City: Cochabamba, 1574–1900  46

    9. Conflicts of Interest  54

    10. Decolonizing Ethnographic Research  58

    11. A Visit to the Cancha  64

    12. The Informal State  74

    13. The Modern City: Cochabamba, 1900–1953  80

    14. Market Space, Market Time  87

    15. Carnaval in the Cancha  95

    16. Security and Chaos  102

    17. The Informal City: Cochabamba, 1953–2014  108

    18. Convenios  117

    19. Political Geography  122

    20. Fieldwork in a Flash  131

    21. Women's Work  139

    22. Sovereignty and Security  148

    23. Resisting Privatization  154

    24. Don Silvio  161

    25. Character  167

    26. Exploitability  175

    27. Market Men  182

    28. Webs of Illegality  190

    29. Men in Black  194

    30. At Home in the Market  200

    31. Owners of the Sidewalk  207

    32. The Seminar  214

    33. March of the Ambulantes  222

    34. Complications  230

    35. The Archive and the System  235

    36. Goodbyes  240

    37. Insecurity and Informality  246

    Epilogue  252

    Notes  257

    References  293

    Index  313

  • "... a cogent and compelling critique of how the move toward neoliberal economic policies has affected the lives of formal (those with fixed stalls) and informal (street) vendors."

    "Weaving the background histories and theoretical discussions throughout the more narrative storytelling presentation, results in a thoughtful ethnography that contributes much to the field of anthropology as well as to the body of literature focused on markets in Latin America."
     

    "By being transparent about his methodology and research experiences, he successfully breaks down conventions associated with academic writing. The result is a highly readable and engaging ethnography that showcases the daily struggles of men and women in the Cancha. . . . This book will be of value to Latin American specialists from multiple disciplines, including history, anthropology, and political science, as well as students seeking an inside look at the promises and pitfalls of ethnographic research in informal spaces."

    “Even those without a knowledge background in political, economic, and cultural life in Bolivia can approach this work, which discusses cultural behavior, identity, conflict, political participation, and diverse forms of networking. This research is an impressive starting point for future research.”

    "Goldstein’s narrative writing style, joined with short chapters and excellent accompanying photographs, make this book accessible to students at all levels.

    "Goldstein is an anthropologist, but Owners of the Sidewalk will be of interest to scholars and students of urban studies, sociology, economics, and global development. . . . The complex relationship between workers and the state is intriguing, because claims of ownership for the city are made through the fijos and ambulantes’ occupation of public spaces. The Bolivian bureaucracy, meanwhile, maintains an uneven and selective involvement. Goldstein’s ethnography is an important addition to the corpus of knowledge on the informal economy."
     

    "The book is a great read for scholars interested in Latin American cities, in issues of the street, in the informal economy, but also for scholars conducting original ethnographic work in diverse urban settings."

    "Goldstein’s book is a must read for all students of informality and politics in cities of the South."
     

    "A strong example of engaged anthropology. . . . This is a lovely ethnography that illuminates important elements of 'informality,' markets, and neoliberalism."
     


    "Goldstein makes a splendid analysis of the way in which the different actors in the Cancha market – permanent stall vendors or fijos, itinerant street vendors or ambulantes as well as state officials and private security guards – continuously cross the line between the formal and informal, legal and illegal, albeit in completely different ways, and the various forms of insecurity it brings to the fore."

    "A quite motivating contribution for those interested in the turbulent urban worlds of the Andes. Cochabamba’s biggest market, its protagonists, dilemmas, and dynamics constitute both a widespread phenomenon and a key component of the collectives of this region."

    Reviews

  • "... a cogent and compelling critique of how the move toward neoliberal economic policies has affected the lives of formal (those with fixed stalls) and informal (street) vendors."

    "Weaving the background histories and theoretical discussions throughout the more narrative storytelling presentation, results in a thoughtful ethnography that contributes much to the field of anthropology as well as to the body of literature focused on markets in Latin America."
     

    "By being transparent about his methodology and research experiences, he successfully breaks down conventions associated with academic writing. The result is a highly readable and engaging ethnography that showcases the daily struggles of men and women in the Cancha. . . . This book will be of value to Latin American specialists from multiple disciplines, including history, anthropology, and political science, as well as students seeking an inside look at the promises and pitfalls of ethnographic research in informal spaces."

    “Even those without a knowledge background in political, economic, and cultural life in Bolivia can approach this work, which discusses cultural behavior, identity, conflict, political participation, and diverse forms of networking. This research is an impressive starting point for future research.”

    "Goldstein’s narrative writing style, joined with short chapters and excellent accompanying photographs, make this book accessible to students at all levels.

    "Goldstein is an anthropologist, but Owners of the Sidewalk will be of interest to scholars and students of urban studies, sociology, economics, and global development. . . . The complex relationship between workers and the state is intriguing, because claims of ownership for the city are made through the fijos and ambulantes’ occupation of public spaces. The Bolivian bureaucracy, meanwhile, maintains an uneven and selective involvement. Goldstein’s ethnography is an important addition to the corpus of knowledge on the informal economy."
     

    "The book is a great read for scholars interested in Latin American cities, in issues of the street, in the informal economy, but also for scholars conducting original ethnographic work in diverse urban settings."

    "Goldstein’s book is a must read for all students of informality and politics in cities of the South."
     

    "A strong example of engaged anthropology. . . . This is a lovely ethnography that illuminates important elements of 'informality,' markets, and neoliberalism."
     


    "Goldstein makes a splendid analysis of the way in which the different actors in the Cancha market – permanent stall vendors or fijos, itinerant street vendors or ambulantes as well as state officials and private security guards – continuously cross the line between the formal and informal, legal and illegal, albeit in completely different ways, and the various forms of insecurity it brings to the fore."

    "A quite motivating contribution for those interested in the turbulent urban worlds of the Andes. Cochabamba’s biggest market, its protagonists, dilemmas, and dynamics constitute both a widespread phenomenon and a key component of the collectives of this region."

  • "Superbly researched and beautifully executed, Owners of the Sidewalk will be particularly effective at teaching students about methodology and fieldwork as well as collaborative ethnography and its challenges, all while providing a great example of a really well written ethnography. Daniel M. Goldstein's detailed descriptions bring La Cancha and its characters to life, and his successful weaving together of history, method, theory, and the insights of the people he worked with has created a unique and outstanding book that will be welcomed by specialists and generalists alike." — Lynn Stephen, author of, We Are the Face of Oaxaca: Testimony and Social Movements

    "With great empathy, a keen eye for detail, and a novelist’s sense of drama, Daniel M. Goldstein vividly transports us to the everyday lifeworld of street vendors in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Owners of the Sidewalk sensitively portrays the conflicts and contradictions surrounding the organization of ambulatory and fixed commerce, and does so with more insight than any other book I have encountered. Goldstein’s respect for and rapport with his subjects informs this compelling narrative, revealing how street sellers pursue livelihoods in difficult conditions marked by insecurity, social conflict, gendered and racial divides, as well as a history of state intervention in which regulatory rules are ambiguously enforced." — Diane E. Davis, Charles Dyer Norton Professor of Regional Planning and Urbanism, Harvard University

  • Permission to Photocopy (coursepacks)

    If you are requesting permission to photocopy material for classroom use, please contact the Copyright Clearance Center at copyright.com;

    If the Copyright Clearance Center cannot grant permission, you may request permission from our Copyrights & Permissions Manager (use Contact Information listed below).

    Permission to Reprint

    If you are requesting permission to reprint DUP material (journal or book selection) in another book or in any other format, contact our Copyrights & Permissions Manager (use Contact Information listed below).

    Images/Art

    Many images/art used in material copyrighted by Duke University Press are controlled, not by the Press, but by the owner of the image. Please check the credit line adjacent to the illustration, as well as the front and back matter of the book for a list of credits. You must obtain permission directly from the owner of the image. Occasionally, Duke University Press controls the rights to maps or other drawings. Please direct permission requests for these images to permissions@dukeupress.edu.
    For book covers to accompany reviews, please contact the publicity department.

    Subsidiary Rights/Foreign Translations

    If you're interested in a Duke University Press book for subsidiary rights/translations, please contact permissions@dukeupress.edu. Include the book title/author, rights sought, and estimated print run.

    Disability Requests

    Instructions for requesting an electronic text on behalf of a student with disabilities are available here.

    Rights & Permissions Contact Information

    Email: permissions@dukeupress.edu
    Email contact for coursepacks: asstpermissions@dukeupress.edu
    Fax: 919-688-4574
    Mail:
    Duke University Press
    Rights and Permissions
    905 W. Main Street
    Suite 18B
    Durham, NC 27701

    For all requests please include:
    1. Author's name. If book has an editor that is different from the article author, include editor's name also.
    2. Title of the journal article or book chapter and title of journal or title of book
    3. Page numbers (if excerpting, provide specifics)
    For coursepacks, please also note: The number of copies requested, the school and professor requesting
    For reprints and subsidiary rights, please also note: Your volume title, publication date, publisher, print run, page count, rights sought

  • Description

    Many of Bolivia's poorest and most vulnerable citizens work as vendors in the Cancha mega-market in the city of Cochabamba, where they must navigate systems of informality and illegality in order to survive. In Owners of the Sidewalk Daniel M. Goldstein examines the ways these systems correlate in the marginal spaces of the Latin American city. Collaborating with the Cancha's legal and permanent stall vendors (fijos) and its illegal and itinerant street and sidewalk vendors (ambulantes), Goldstein shows how the state's deliberate neglect and criminalization of the Cancha's poor—a practice common to neoliberal modern cities—makes the poor exploitable, governable, and consigns them to an insecure existence. Goldstein's collaborative and engaged approach to ethnographic field research also opens up critical questions about what ethical scholarship entails.
     
     

    About The Author(s)

    Daniel M. Goldstein is Professor of Anthropology at Rutgers University, the author of Outlawed: Between Security and Rights in a Bolivian City and The Spectacular City: Violence and Performance in Urban Bolivia, and the coeditor of Violent Democracies in Latin America, all also published by Duke University Press.
     
     
Explore More
Share

TELL A FRIEND

ADD TO A READING LIST

Create a reading list or add to an existing list. Sign-in or register now to continue.


About

Help

Information For

Connect

Contact Us

  • Duke University Press
  • 905 W. Main St. Ste 18-B
  • Durham, NC 27701
  • U.S. phone (toll-free): 888-651-0122
  • International: 1-919-688-5134
  • orders@dukeupress.edu