Higglers in Kingston: Women's Informal Work in JamaicaMaking a living in the Caribbean requires resourcefulness and even a willingness to circumvent the law. Women of color in Jamaica encounter bureaucratic mazes, neighborhood territoriality, and ingrained racial and cultural prejudices. For them, it requires nothing less than a herculean effort to realize their entrepreneurial dreams. In Higglers in Kingston, Winnifred Brown-Glaude puts the reader on the ground in frenetic urban Kingston, the capital and largest city in Jamaica. She explores the lives of informal market laborers, called "higglers," across the city as they navigate a corrupt and inaccessible "official" Jamaican economy. But rather than focus merely on the present-day situation, she contextualizes how Jamaica arrived at this point, delving deep into the island's history as a former colony, a home to slaves and masters alike, and an eventual nation of competing and conflicted racial sectors. Higglers in Kingston weaves together contemporary ethnography, economic history, and sociology of race to address a broad audience of readers on a crucial economic and cultural center. |
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Contents
Intersectionality and the Politics of Embodiment | |
A Womans Domain? | |
Bait of Satan? Representations of SundayNegro Markets | |
Natural Rebels or Just Plain Nuisances? Representations | |
Whats in a Name? | |
Bodies Public Space and AfroJamaican | |
Understanding the Nuances of Informality | |
List of Higglers Interviewed | |
Bibliography | |
Index | |
Other editions - View all
Higglers in Kingston: Women's Informal Work in Jamaica Winnifred Brown-Glaude No preview available - 2020 |
Higglers in Kingston: Women's Informal Work in Jamaica Winnifred R. Brown-Glaude No preview available - 2011 |
Common terms and phrases
activities Arcade areas argues associated behaviors black women bodies brown Caribbean Chinese colonial color construction context continued contribute created culture customers described Development differences discourse distinctions dominant downtown elite embodied engaged especially examine example experiences families female Feminist field force formal formal economy gender hierarchies higglers ICIs identified identity imagined important influence informal economy instance interesting interview island Jamaica Gleaner Jamaican kinds Kingston labor lived market women means middle middle-class mulatto organized Papine Market particular peasant perceived physical plantation political poor population position presence Press privileged production race race/color racial reinforce relations reported representations represented residents respect responses reveal role sector sell serve shape significant slaves social society space spatial Spring status streets structures subjects sugar suggests Sunday town trade understand University uptown urban vendors woman World
Bibliographic information
| Title | Higglers in Kingston: Women's Informal Work in Jamaica |
| Author | Winnifred Brown-Glaude |
| Publisher | Vanderbilt University Press, 2011 |
| ISBN | 0826501907, 9780826501905 |
| Length | 240 pages |
| Subjects | › › History / Caribbean & West Indies / General Social Science / Women's Studies |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |