Walking the Tight Rope (Stockholm Studies in Human Geography Series): Informal Livelihoods and Social Networks in a West African City, Vol. 9 FROM THE PUBLISHER
This book is about processes of 'informalization' in the West African city of Bissau in Guinea-Bissau. It begins with a historical account of the way conditions of informality have evolved through the encounter of locally specific forms of informal relations with colonialism and the socialist era. This is followed by an analysis of how disadvantaged groups who rely on informal ways of provisioning are faring in the context of contemporary changes. The study looks at both the informal income-generating activities and the social networks that urbanites engage in to sustain their income activities and their consumption. It seeks to assess whether these groups are coping with these wider changes or are becoming marginalised from networks of assistance and from activities that provide sufficient incomes. The social relations pervading access to support and livelihood resources as well as the informal rules governing such access are in focus. Forms of regulation in the informal sphere are also discussed.
SYNOPSIS
Lourenco-Lindell's dissertation (in human geography, Stockholm U., completed June 2002) examines the dynamics and politics of informality in the West African city of Bissau, Guinea-Bissea. Based on fieldwork conducted in Bissau in 1995 and 1999, this qualitative study analyzes historical processes of evolving informality in Bissau, revealing a multifaceted process with a wide variety of agents and relations not evident in earlier analyses of informality. Of particular concern to the author is how disadvantaged groups who rely on informality for survival are coping within wider contemporary changes. No subject index. Distributed by Coronet Books. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Home
